Gatsby Themes Flashcards
The American Dream as an ideal and symbol of hope for the working class
- “The old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes’ “+ “a fresh, green breast of the new world”
Allusion to discovery of America as a new land
Nature imagery which represents life and growth to show the potential opportunity America promised, a reflection of how the American dream is a symbol of hope for the working class.
The American dream as an unrealistic ideal that cannot truly be attained
- Death of Myrtle
- Death of Gatsby
-Failure to fit in with the Nouveau riche
-Failure to attain Daisy
Death of Myrtle
Myrtle is described on multiple counts repetitively to be “full of vitality” and “pumping vitality” but in her death this “vitality is extinguished” and “dust” mingles with her body, demonstrating her inability to escape her social standing as her blood is that of the lower class represented by “dust” which is an extended symbol of those in the Valley of ashes.
Failure of the American Dream
- “Tomorrow we will run faster, Stretch out our arms further”
D: Green light motif, Ellipsis: Through the use of punctuation, he creates a pause, building anticipation for what is to come after one tries to strive farther. Yet, these are let down by a cynical, defeatist conclusion, that even if there was the possibility of a greater dream, it can no longer be believed in, reinforcing this sense of futility for the reader.
2.”So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
D1: Allusion
Use of boats alludes to the many immigrant came to America via boat to fulfil their dream
D2: Metaphor
Describes he desire to chase one’s dream as one filled with resistance, difficult and futile, skin to boats trying to sail against unrelenting currents
E: Due to the inescapable past that renders such efforts meaningless, which is similarly echoed by Gatsby’s tragedy, where he is constantly bogged down by the past in his attempts to get Daisy. This led to the failure of his dream as he cannot accept the present, but instead is stuck in the past.
D3: Kinesthetic imagery
Gatsby’s dream of reunification with Daisy to the illusory nature of the American dream
“Like an overwound clock”
D: simile
evinces his devotion towards Daisy, the release of tensions accumulated from years of waiting for her. Devotion shrouds the true reality of Daisy’s current status as a married woman in his mind, leading him to continue pursuing his dream of attaining her, creating an illusion that the dream is possible. Illusion of his reunification with Daisy likewise parallels the delusory nature of the American dream that any dream is possible to achieve hard work and yet people like Gatsby is unable to attain his dream as they are limited by their class and social background.
Gatsby’s unrealistic ideal of Daisy
- Gatsby’s ideals of Daisy
When he kissed her, Daisy “blossomed for him like a flower” The simile likens Daisy to a flower and while on the surface, it showcases her sweetness and beauty as a flower at he peak of its bloom, but like the natural course of all living things, flowers wilt and die as well so it is very much fragile and ephemeral, an apt imagery as it suggests that when Gatsby pins all his hopes on her, his dreams are bound to lead to a devasting end - Daisy is metaphorically likened to an “incarnation”, someone who embodies a goddess. As an incarnation, Daisy has become an embodiment of something greater than her earthly and mortal self- the tutelary goddess of his immense ideals. Gatsby desires more than Daisy herself as he has attached a huge symbolic significance to her
Daisy as a person that can never live up to Gatsby’s perception of her
The reality is strikingly surfaced in the motif of “green light” in which Nick believes that Gatsby views the green light with a “colossal significance” that had “now vanished forever”.
The “green light” has come to represent Daisy herself who is the subject of Gatsby’s dream and the diction of “colossal” suggests that Gatsby has pictured Daisy beyond who she truly is, magnifying his romantic vision of her as an “enchanted object”, an item he seeks to possess back.
We see the grandiose manner of his dream when ‘his count of enchanted objects had diminished by one’, the immense disappointment he felt by how Daisy appeared to him in reality that tumbled short of the Daisy he imagined in his mind.
Valley of ashes
- “Shrink away from a certain desolate area of land” “A valley of ashes… men who move dimly and crumbling through the powdery air
E: The valley is a fertile land, yet the valley of ashes has an abundance of waste and desolation and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and lifelessness, acts as a symbol of cultural and spiritual bankruptcy.
D1: Personification of the motor road “shrinking away” from this place to show the social stratification between the rich commuters and the Valley of ashes.
D2: Nightmarish imagery, inverting the usual agricultural landscapes associated with American prosperity.
D3: Imagery to describe the men illustrates their feeble-ness, reflection of their lives being withered away due to their harsh living conditions
+ ending up resembling the “powdery air” around them shows how invisible they are to others (as if living in the valley they are basically dead)
Social stratification
“Indiscernible barbed wire”
D: Metaphor of the barbed wire to the social class that Gatsby cannot transcend. Exacerbates the difference in social status between Gatsby and people of higher class like Daisy
E: The idea of “barbed wire” shows the inexorable nature of such a barrier between him and the old rich. At the same time, it is “indiscernible” which makes it harder for Gatsby to overcome as he cannot see it. Despite qualifying a part of the old rich material rise, class and breeding is something that he cannot overcome no matter how much he has.
Carelessness of the rich (Daisy and Tom)
“They smashed up things and creatures, then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness”
D: Kinaesthetic imagery shows the energy and vigour of destruction contrasted with the timidity of their withdrawal afterwards. The old rich are careless because they are not concerned with the struggles of he other and are only fixated on fulfilling their own desires. Through this, they end up harming others and leaving a trail of careless destruction in their wake “to let other people clean up the mess they had made” only to retreat back into their material wealth.
Jordan
Metaphor of Incurably dishonest’ —language of medicine and disease to liken Jordan’s dishonesty to a disease that is permanent and repulsive. Furthered by ‘cool, insolent smile’ —a casual, collected and yet arrogant demeanour that highlights that her stance is morally wrong, and the arrogance therein eliciting sentiments in the reader that this is unjust, inciting sentiments of wrongdoing and unfairness. (She cheats in the golf competition but could also reflect how women have to resort to dishonesty to gain leverage and power over their circumstances.
Daisy and the allure of wealth she represents to Gatsby
“and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor”
D: Simile of daisy compared to silver, a sign of wealth. Daisy being born of the old rich is likened to the material associated with the old rich. The shows that to Gatsby, Daisy is a symbol of old money and status. Furthermore, to Gatsby, she is “safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor”. This is alluring the Gatsby because attaining her would mean he himself would be on the same level, free from his poor background and the physical heat associated with it.
Gatsby lusts after daisy as if she is a prize to be won, where she is described as a “golden girl” with a voice “full of money” He defines Daisy symbolically through her association with wealth, emphasizing it as the source of her mystique and his devotion to her. This turns Daisy from a flesh and blood woman into a mere embodiment of an idea, a fetish object- just another possession of many to adorn the house he had bought to keep her in. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is shown more to be self-absorption than altruistic love, with Gatsby’s possession of Daisy symbolic of his own desire for wealth and status.
Daisy’s discontent with her reality
- “Summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes” Sibilance creates an impression of soft, subtle sadness in the first half of the sentence. It links the ideas of wealth (silver) and the possibilities of life. In Daisy’s case, the suggestiveness of life is the force she waits for to shape her life, and she undergoes sadness waiting for it. The alliteration further links to the recklessness and lavish parties of the wealthy “Silver slippers shuffled the shining dust” with the earliest wistful wish that there could be something more to life.
Though she indulges in a life of reckless dating and lavish parties, she is acutely aware of a need for something more. Given her escapist nature, this “something more” to her must come as an external force to shape her life. - Daisy’s emotional breakdown before her wedding night. Juxtaposition of her wedding pearls, a lavish and expensive gift with her drunken weeping state detracts from the glamour of her jewellery and makes it seem like inadequate recompense for her marrying Tom. (Wealth being merely facades that conceal the underlying cruelties and misery of the characters.
Myrtle’s pretensions ironically reflect her lower class origins that she is so keen to escape.
- Death
- Motif of clothes “Changed her costume…now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-coloured chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room” Her clothes are like her character, malleable and suited to the situation they are in. The cream colour gives the impression of being a tainted, impure entity as it is a derivative of the colour white. When considering the motif of “white” as quintessential representation of purity in the aristocratic world, it suggests Myrtle’s inability to fully synthesise with the upper class dude to her lack of artistocratic roots
- Most of these fellas will cheat you every time”
