Techniques Flashcards
Pathetic Fallacy
Pathetic fallacy is when the weather reflects the mood.
In chapter 5, pathetic fallacy is used to show how Gatsby was feeling self-doubt and anxious about meeting Daisy for the first time in five years. The day on which they met was “pouring rain” which reflects how anxious Gatsby was that he would not win Daisy back. However, when the meeting went fine “the sun shone again” which reflected how the two had rekindled their love.
In chapter 7, pathetic fallacy is used during the heated arguement which happens on the “hottest day of the summer”. During the arguements, Daisy wants more windows to be open. “Open more windows… there aren’t any more” which reflect how she was getting too hot from the heat and yet, there was no place to escape and thus, her affair with Gatsby was about to come out.
Colours
YELLOW = materialism & corrpution = “yellow circus wagon”, “yellow windows”, centre of Daisy flower
GREEN = optimism & aspiration = “a single green light” the leather in the car chp 7.
WHITE = purity, perfection & upper classes = “the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”, white of a Daisy flower
GREY = dust & decay = Valley of Ashes
BLUE = aspiration = “blue lawn”. They mark the change Nick’s been through from his first sight of Gatsby’s exotic, charmed gardens, to his last vision of these lonesome empty lawns in the moonlight.
Pool
He has been preoccupied by Daisy all summer so he never used the pool at all. Therefore, when he finally uses the pool it suggests that it is very unlikely that Daisy will call.
The pool is also where Gatsby died & thus, his dreams as well.
Time
“He was running down like an over-wound clock” relats to the idea that Gatsby wants redo the years that him and Daisy were split. However, he cannot do this due to the fact that Daisy is married to Tom and fell in love with him in that time. Therefore, Gatsby feels betrayed as “he felt married to her, that was all”.
Seasons
The fact that there love happened during the Summer shows that this was a time of joy.
However, as it came closer to the end of summer and the transition from summer into autumn started taking place, their affair was exposed and was over. This is because Autumn is a symbolic time when things die and fade away.
Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
Represents the eyes of Nick Carraway as he sees everything that goes on in the novel.
Also represents the eyes of God which looks over the Valley of Ashes - the moral dumping ground of the upper classes - and thus he can see all of the deaths and affairs that go on and is therefore, unhappy with the lack of morality of the upperclasses.
Dust
Represents death and decay in the Valley of Ashes
Carraway
Carraway is a seed which implies that Nick is not that significant to the novel. He helps us understand the plot, but the plot would probably still happen if he was not there.
Gatsby’s House
“a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville” symbolises how the people from “new money” lack the refinement of the upper classes from “old money” which is why they will never fit in.
Setting - Gatsby’s house vs Tom Buchanan
Gatsby’s house across the water from the Buchanan’s house which symbolises the confilct between Tom and Gatsby.
Gatsby
Represents the American Dream as he came from a lower class background and made him fortune as a bootlegger hence, why he is in West Egg and is “new money”.
