Gatsby

Question 1

Context- Frontier

Answer 1

• Published in 1925, century and a half since the Declaration of Independence= Identity of modern democracy
• Gatsby defines himself to European Values; educated in Oxford, car from England and mansion based on a French architecture
• Still has the nervousness of the Midwest, shown in his awkward moments with Daisy

Question 2

Frontier- Nick

Answer 2

• Nick claims that his grandfather’s brother was able to avoid the Civil War but Nick gets caught up in WW1 and has caused significant disruption in his life
• On returning he remarks that the Midwest which was once “the warm centre of the universe” is now “the ragged edge of the universe”.

Question 3

Frontier- East Egg + West Egg

Answer 3

• East Egg holds connotations of the westward movement that characterised America’s frontier past
• Nick and Gatsby preserve the American ideals which have been lost in the East= ironic as they both live in the East Egg, further irony as eggs are often associated with new life whilst they are more like sterile rocks

Question 4

Daisy and Myrtle

Answer 4

• Name evokes a white flower, irony that her life has been created in a manufactured society
• Hightens irony when Nick uses the simile of her opening up “in a flower-like way”, unconvincing as Daisy compares Nick to a Rose
• Myrtle is a dark, hardy shrub. Classical allusions= Myrtle was considered to be sacred to Venus (goddess of love). Fitzgerald may have appropriately chosen this due to her role of Tom’s mistress.

Question 5

Myrtle and Tom

Answer 5

• Myrtle buying various items reflects how she is being ‘brought’ by Tom. By buying her many items including a dog shows how Tom views his relationship with Myrtle with material terms. A physical affair rather than a emotional commitment.
• Good contrast with Gatsby and his feelings towards Daisy

Question 6

Cultural Differences

Answer 6

• Nick sees some Black Americans who have attended a funeral being driven by a white chauffeur, image obliquely highlights Gatsby’s fate. Whilst also looking at the different cultures within America.
• The successful Black Americans shows the chance equality of social advancement

Question 7

Tom and Gatsby

Answer 7

• “Mr Nobody from Nowhere”= seems to criticise Gatsby’s class
• Tom is actually asserting that America belongs to him and his kind (old money)

Question 8

Gatsby and Daisy

Answer 8

• “Gatsby was overwhelming aware of youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor”.
• Expresses the desire for the advantages of wealth, whilst acknowledging that there is something inauthentic about the artificial preservation of “freshness”. Registers the discomforting existence of the poor.

Question 9

Gatsby’s father

Answer 9

-Gatz shows Nick a photograph of Gatsby’s mansion, the image “was more real to him now than the house itself”. House acts as a symbol of success, which matters to Gatsby’s father more than its physical reality.

Question 10

Daisy and Jordan

Answer 10

• Nick notes that their convocation at the beginning of the novel is “absence of all desire”, indicating that they’re wealthy women and have everything they need/want.
• Despite this don’t can any satisfaction from their material possessions and to some extent are deadened by their wealth, shown by the phrase “their impersonal eyes”. Can be linked to the ‘blankness’ of Doctor Eckleberg’s eyes

Question 11

Final passage

Answer 11

-The word “Last” frequent occurrence in the last passage creates an air of finality. The party is over in a literal and metaphorical sense, as Nick is preparing to move back West. Implying that his own life has ceased with the death of Gatsby, as the readers don’t find out what happens to Nick between returning home and writing the book.

Question 12

Final passage

Answer 12

• Gatsby believed in the “Orgiastic future”, as his goal in life was to have consistence exhilaration becoming rather than dull routine of being.
• Nick understands this purposeless shift in the modern world. Good contrast as the novel begins with arms outstretched and is the same at the end of the book with an image of human desire with an unspecified goal

Question 13

Context- American Ideals

Answer 13

• Arguably Fitzgerald is examining the fate of American Ideals when put under the pressures of modern day life. His preferred title for the book was; Under Red, White and Blue. Purposefully the colours of the American flag which is seen as an emblem of the ideals.

Question 14

Context- Frontier

Answer 14

• Fitzgerald’s opinion of American Ideals and ideology reflect the relationship between the old and new (Critic Henry James called this the ‘international theme’)
• Throughout the novel there is a reference to European fashions, manners and habits but this is placed into an American theme.

Question 15

Context- Frontier

Answer 15

• Gatsby is trying to recreate himself from his past, much like how America was trying to separate itself from its European Past. America did this by creating the declaration of Independence in 1776.
• Gatsby’s hope is held together by self independence and finds that the only way possible to disconnect from his past is by bootlegging.
• This is connected with Fitzgerald’s symbolism= the New World’s “Green breast” has become the “green light”, the artificial sign of wealth. This creates a paradox of success with material terms and shows the reader Fitzgerald’s dislike in the consumeristic society

Question 16

Analysis and Context- Frontier

Answer 16

• At the end of the novel, Nick has found life in the East unbearable to returns to the Midwest to write his novel.
• The Midwest connotes an authentic America which is set in its values but remains old-fashioned. These values are linked with characters such as Gatsby’s father and hold a kind of innocence to them. Despite this Gatsby sees his father as a failure.
• The East is the business centre with much stronger links to Europe.

Question 17

Critical Analysis

Answer 17

-Trilling= Gatsby could represent America as a figure

Question 18

Context- Roaring 20s

Answer 18

• Jazz Age= playful music represented the carelessness of the white listeners of the time
• Fitzgerald one of the key characterisers of the 20s (flappers with short skirts and short hair ect) but often has critical undertones
• Lost Generation= Groups of individuals who felt lost after ww1. The novel tries to encapsulate how life is pointless, what makes Gatsby’s feeling of hope such a rare commodity.
• Novel published in the middle of the decade= mindless quest for pleasure and a loss in direction of life. Fitzgerald shows how easily this need for pleasure can collapse into desperation.

Question 19

Context- Prohibition

Answer 19

• Prohibition occurred in 1920 and was repealed in 1933. Intended to raise the country’s moral standards, in practice it was difficult to enforce and easy to for drinker to find drinks.
• By 1925, there were 100,000 speak easies in New York. Bootlegging rose and criminals like Al Capone occurred.

Question 20

Context- Mayor Wolfshiem

Answer 20

• Wolfshiem based on a real life gambler called Arnold Rolfstein.
• Fitzgerald seems to make clear of his Jewishness as most of the power was held by the “Nordics” such as Tom and Nick. Tom identifies with this civilisation and any other prosperity open to other ethnic groups is seen as a ‘crime’.
• Critical= May see Fitzgerald fuelling this argument rather than enforcing against it
• However prohibition did offer some opportunity for finical advancement amongst ethnic minorities

Question 21

Old Vs New - Gatsby

Answer 21

• Photographs act as a reappearing motif in the novel= Gatsby has a photograph of Cody on his wall and Gatsby’s dad has a photo of his mansion.
• Photographs could be seen as a metaphor for the vision that makes Gatsby great= pursues his life with certain moments e.g the moment he fell in love with Daisy. To some extent Gatsby wishes he can ‘break the frame’ and ‘recapture’ the instant the camera caught his imagination.