Characterisation Flashcards
What characters do we see in The Great Gatsby?
- Gatsby
- Nick
- Daisy
- Tom
- Jordan
- Myrtle
- George
Daisy and Jordan
“two young women… CH1
“two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering”
However when Tom enters they “ballooned slowly to the floor” CH1
Tom
“a cruel… CH1
“a cruel body” CH1
Tom
“as if his sturdy physical… CH1
“as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory (authoritative and arrogant) heart” CH1
Daisy
“I hope she’ll be a… CH1
“I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” CH1
Jordan
“I’ve been lying… CH1
“I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember” CH1
Nick about Gatsby
“Only Gatsby… CH1
“Only Gatsby… was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby who represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn” CH1
Nick about Gatsby
“there was something ____ about him… CH1
“there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” CH1
Daisy
“Gatsby?… CH1
“Gatsby? demanded Daisy. ‘What Gatsby?” CH1
Myrtle
“ an immediate perceptible… CH2
“an immediate perceptible vitlality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering” CH2
George
“He was a blonde… CH2
“He was a blonde, spiritless man… When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes” CH2
Tom
“ Making a short, deft… CH2
“Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” CH2
Gatsby’s guests
“they conducted themselves according to… CH3
“they conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour associated with an amusement park.” “ticket of admission” CH3
Gatsby
“It was one of those rare smiles… CH3
“It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance” CH3
Gatsby
“He was never quite… CH4
“He was never quite still; there was always a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening and closing of a hand” CH4
Gatsby
“He stretched out his arms toward… CH1
[H]e stretched out his arms toward the dark water. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock. CH1
Gatsby diction
“Then came the war, old sport… CH4
“something very sad…
“Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life”
“something very sad that had happened to me long ago”
CH4
Gatsby juxtaposition
“Gatsby in a white flannel suit… CH5
“Gatsby in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-coloured tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes” CH5
Gatsby’s view of Daisy
“his count of… CH5
“his count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” CH5
Gatsby’s view of Daisy
“Daisy had tumbled… CH5
“Daisy had tumbled short of his dreams.. because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” CH5
Gatsby’s backstory CH6
“they were a satisfactory hint of…
“they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing” CH6
The Sloanes
“I’m delighted that you… CH6
“I’m delighted that you dropped in!” As though they cared” CH6
Allusion to Trimalchio CH7
“his career as Trimalchio was over” CH7 Trimalchio was a slave who becomes rich through devious means
Daisy
“What’ll we do with ourselves… CH7
“What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon,”cried Daisy,’and the day after that, and the next thirty years?” CH7
George
“Wilson looked so sick that… CH7
“Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgiveably guilty” CH7
Tom CH7 irony
“The transition from…
“The transition from libertine to prig was so complete” CH7
Gatsby argument with Tom CH7
“in her heart…
“in her heart she never loved any one except me!” CH7
Tom CH7
“once in a while I…
“Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time” CH7
separation of the dream and Gatsby
CH7 “only the dead dream…
“only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away” CH7
Myrtle death CH7
“Myrtle Wilson, her life _____…
“Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust.” CH7
Gatsby CH7
“my presence marred the…
“my presence marred the sacedness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight-watching over nothing” CH7
Gatsby CH8
“he had committed himself to…
“he had committed himself to the following of a grail” CH8
Daisy CH8
“Daisy, gleaming and…
“Daisy, gleaming and silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor” CH8
Gatsby CH8
“like that ashen…
“like thay ashen fantastic figure gliding towards him through the amorphous trees” CH8
On Gatsby’s death CH8
“ripples that were…
“ripples that were hardly the shadow of waves” CH8
Gatsby’s dad CH9
“It was a photograph of…
“He sought..
“It was a photograph of the house”
“He sought admiration from my eyes” CH9
Tom and Daisy CH9
“they were careless people…
“they were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money” CH9
Daisy cynical worldview
‘you see I think everything’s…
You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow, she went on . . . “Everybody thinks so—the most advanced people. And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything . . . Sophisticated—God, I’m sophisticated! CH1
-significant since her privilege protects her from many difficult truths
Daisy
‘The ____ girl’
‘The golden girl’
