Gatbsy Context Flashcards
How can Instability of Modernism Be Applied to Gatsby?
- Social climbers
- changing gender roles
- infidelity
How can Futility of Modernism be Applied to Gatsby?
- gatsby’s dream of daisy
- Wilson’s loss of dream
- myrtle and Tom’s relationship
How can Pessimism of Modernism be Applied to Gatsby?
- nick at the end of the novel
- gatsby’s funeral
- daisy in chapter 1
- the valley of ashes
- Jordan as a whole
How can Chaos of Modernism be Applied to Gatsby?
- chapter 2 as a whole
- jazzage and speakeasy
- description of Gatsby’s past
- myrtle’s death
How can Loss of Faith of Modernism be Applied to Gatsby?
- Wilson moving west
- nick losing faith in daisy
- “church bells rang”
- marriage and infidelity
How can Collapse of Morality of a Modernism be Applied to Gatsby?
- “careless people”
- drink/drug taking
- infidelity
- change in gender roles
- nick keeping secrets
How can Disillusionment of Modernism be Applied to Gatsby?
- myrtle over Wilson
- nick at the end
- Wilson about myrtle
What effect does Fitzgerald’s use of Stream of Consciousness have on the novel?
- allows Nick’s thoughts to be integrated into the storyline
- creates his unreliable nature
- contradicts his opening line “inclined to reserve all judgements”
What does Tyson say about Gatsby?
“A scathing critique of American Capitalist culture”
What does Parkinson say about the character Gatsby?
“Divided personality, ambivalent even in his death”
How can I Apply Marxist Theory to Gatsby?
- Aristocracy = Old Money (royalty)
- Bourgeoisie = New Money (innovators)
- Proletariat = Valley Of Ashes (Poor)
How can I apply Psychoanalytical Theory to Gatsby?
- Id instincts = Tom and Gatsby
- ego = nick is supposed to act as ego but is very immoral himself.
- superego = Gatsby is paradoxically moral and immoral at the same time.
How does Fitzgerald use Beginnings and Endings?
- most chapters begin or end by introducing character or setting
- some endings focus on parallel relationships
- nearly all beginnings and endings focus on nick as an outsider
- most beginnings are positive and most endings are negative
- most endings involve nick reflecting on the events of the chapter
How would you address the ending of the novel?
- it relates Jay Gatsby to the whole population
- harshly criticises the American Dream
- empty feeling for reader is point of novel
Why is the ending a Philosophical Abstraction?
It zooms out of the world of the novel altogether and becomes a place for deeper analysis of the nature of life or human beings.
