English Final - Great Gatsby Flashcards
summary
Nick caraway moves to West Egg on Long Island. His neighbor is Jay Gatsby. His cousin is Daisy Buchannon - she lives in East Egg. Gatsby builds up his fortune by bootlegging and throws large parities in the hopes that Daisy will show up because they were in love before he went off to fight in the war. He asks Nick through Nick’s gf Jordan to invite Daisy over for tea, and Gatsby would be there as well. Daisy and Gatsby become reacquainted and begin to have an affair. Daisy’s husband tom is also having an affair with Myrtle, who is also married and lives in the valley of ashes. Soon Tom finds out about the affair and they all go to a hotel fora confrontation. On the way back, daisy is driving with gatsby and she hits Tom’s lover, killing her. Gatsby takes the blame for Daisy. Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George that gatsby was driving, and George thinks that whoever killed her (gatsby) was also her lover. he goes to Gatsby’s house and kills him and then himself. Nick moves back to the midwest.
main characters
Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Myrtle Wilson
nick
narrator; friends with Gatsby; cousin to Daisy; dates Jordan for a little; helps Gatsby get back w Daisy; honest, tolerant, reserves judgement
Gatsby
does anything/everything for daisy; wants to get back to the past - the time before the war; becomes insanely rich; really believes you can repeat the past; Nick views him as flawed, dishonest, and vulgar; obsessed with the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock
Daisy
Nick’s cousin; gatsby is in love with her; married to Tom; low key still loves gatsby; wants to maintain her image; needs to be loved; wants it to be enough for gatsby that she loves him now even though she also loved tom at one point, but it isn’t; capable of affection bu not of sustained loyalty or care; indifferent about her own daughter; nick thinks she is careless
Tom
insanely wealthy; married to Daisy; arrogant, racist, sexist; gets so mad about Daisy’s affair even though he is in one himself; hypocritical bully
Jordan
Daisy’s friend; dates nick; pro golfer “new woman” cynical, boyish, self centered; dishonest
Myrtle
in an affair with Tom; wants to improve her life; Tom treats her as an object
themes
decline of the American Dream in the 1920s disillusionment wanting what you can't have going back to the past romanticizing the past
symbols
rain/water - cleansing, rebirth
the green light - gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future (also Daisy and low key the American dream)
valley of ashes - represents the moral and social decay that results from the selfish pursuit of wealth
the eyes of Dr. TJ Ekleberg - God always watching
