The Great Gatsby Flashcards
When and where was The Great Gatsby set?
1922 America
(The Great Gatsby) What social problems were going on at the time?
The prohibition
Organised crime
Massive social divide
The American Dream
Which character does Fitzgerald show himself through?
Nick
What is the difference between East Egg and West Egg?
East Egg - old money, posh, where Gatsby, Tom and Daisy live
West Egg - new money, rough area, where George and Myrtle live
(The Great Gatsby) When was the novel first released?
1925
(The Great Gatsby) Where was Fitzgerald born and how does that link to context?
Minnesota (American Midwest) meaning he hares his midwestern routes with all of the main characters.
(The Great Gatsby) Was Fitzgerald from old or new money?
New money.
However, he attended Princeton University where many of his peers were from old money with far wealthier backgrounds than his own.
(The Great Gatsby) Context - alcoholism
Fitzgerald struggled with alcoholism throughout his adult life and it was thought to have affected his work.
Alcoholism is shown in TGG.
(The Great Gatsby) Context - reaction against WW1
People became much more materialistic.
Issues such as music and fashion started to influence society.
The ideology of love also changed.
(The Great Gatsby) Context - the prohibition
1920-33 - a law which made it illegal to create, transport and sell alcohol
(The Great Gatsby) Context - Zelda
Fitzgerald fell in love with Zelda while he was the second lieutenant in WW1.
He asked her to marry him and she said yes but delayed the wedding day until Fitzgerald was a successful man as all she desired was wealth, leisure and luxury.
How is Fitzgerald like Gatsby?
They both:
- idolise wealth and luxury
- fell in love with a woman outside of their social class
- tried very hard to prove their social standing in order to secure love
- suffered a lot of sadness in thier endless pursuit of happiness
(The Great Gatsby) Context - women
Flappers - subverted social and gender norms, cut their hair short, wanted liberation
Jordan Baker - Jordan and Baker were makes of cars, subverts femininity with her job as a golfer, described as masculine
Myrtle - uses femininity/sexuality to climb the social ladder
(The Great Gatsby) What was the American Dream?
Advertised as the ‘land of opportunity’: a place where if you worked hard enough you would be successful and wealthy, regardless of social background.
However, it was actually unachievable.
“It was an extraordinary…”
“… gift for hope”
Nick talking about Gatsby - Chapter One
Gatsby’s hope/desire to reunite with Daisy.
Before Gatsby is even really seen in the novella.
(The Great Gatsby)
“Her eyes flashed around her, in a defiant way, rather than like Tom’s.”
Nick talking about Daisy - Chapter One
Recurring image of eyes throughout the novella.
While Daisy and Tom may dislike each other and they have significant problems within thier marriage, there is something very similar about them that keeps them together.
(The Great Gatsby)
“His [T.J. Eckleburg’s] eyes brood on over the solemn dumping ground.”
Chapter Two - The Valley of Ashes
VOA would have been a very dirt-stricken area and it is where both George and Myrtle live.
The use of eyes again. His eyes “brooding” makes it seem as though something is about to happen. The VOA is where everything happens in the end.
Verisimilitude
The appearance of being true/real.
(The Great Gatsby)
“Young men didn’t drift coolly out of nowhere.”
Chapter Three - Nick talking about Gatsby
Just before he meets Gatsby.
Shows how calm Gatsby is. He is trying to be effortless like the Buchanan’s as he is from new money - not old.
(The Great Gatsby)
“Endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host.”
Chapter Three - Nick describing Gatsby at the end of their first meeting.
Gatsby truly is alone and “isolated” - no family etc.
Described as a “figure” rather than a human relating to Gatsby’s image/stereotype is a projection rather than who he truly is.
(The Great Gatsby)
“…all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages hat you’ve had.”
Chapter One - a quote from Nick’s dad
Clearly establishing the fact that Nick is from a position of privilege. But at least he is grateful for it and is thinking of others rather than just himself (like the other wealthy characters in the novella).
(The Great Gatsby)
“Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face.”
Chapter one - Nick describing Tom
Eyes are a recurring image in the novella.
Tom’s physical and brutish nature is showing through the “dominance” of his eyes.
“I hope she’ll be a fool-…”
“…that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
“He invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy…”
“…would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed things up…”
“…then retreated back into their money…and let other people clean up the mess they made.”
“I married him because I thought he was a gentleman…”
“…but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.”
“I wasn’t actually in love…”
“…but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.”
“This is a valley of ashes…”
“…- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat…where ashes take the forms of houses.”
“I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house…”
“…I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited.”
“I am one of the…” (Nick, Ch 3)
“…few honest people that I have ever known.”
“Yeah, Gatsby’s very careful about women…” (Wolfsheim, Ch 4)
“…He would never so much look at a friend’s wife.”
“There are only the pursued…” (Nick, Ch 4)
“…, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.”
“I think he revalued everything in his house…” (Nick about Gatsby, Ch 5)
“…according to the measure of response it drew from her well loved eyes.”
“If it wasn’t for the mist…” (Gatsby, Ch 5)
“…we could see your home across the bay… you always have a green light that burns all nit at the end of your dock.”
“There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-…” (Nick about Gatsby, Ch 5)
“…not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.”
“Women run around to much…” (Tom, Ch 6)
“…these days to suit me.”
“A lot of these newly rich people…” (Tom, Ch 6)
“…are just big bootleggers, you know.”
“Can’t repeat the past?….” (Gatsby, Ch 6)
“…Why of course you can!”
“He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life…” (Nick about Wilson, Ch 7)
“…apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick.”
“They weren’t happy…” (Nick about Tom & Daisy, Ch 7)
“…and yet they weren’t unhappy either.”
“They’re a rotten crowd…” (Nick to Gatsby, Ch 8)
“…You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”
