The Great Gatsby Flashcards
When was Gatsby written?
- 1922
What was happening with the economy around the time Gatsby was written?
- rapid economic growth
- wealth was becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few at the top of society
What was happening with women at this time?
- women found new freedom after being given the vote
- resulted in changing behaviour/ fashion ie. flappers
- however, poorer women still had to play traditional roles
What were the impacts of WW1?
- devastating
- spurred beginning of a shift in people’s attitudes towards the state, religion, morality, culture and society
- arguably produced a ‘lost generation’ who were “shocked, disillusioned and embittered”
Had women overcome the patriarchy in this period?
- no, America was still firmly patriarchal
- they were still subjected to double standards and stricter moral standards
How did mass consumer culture influence women’s position?
- radios and cinemas exposed females to new role models and the ever-changing world of fashion and music
What role did the American Dream play in 1920s America?
- it was a real driving force especially for working class and immigrant population
How did mass consumer culture impact society’s thoughts about love?
- love stories became more plentiful and permeated popular entertainment
What are the conventions of classical tragedy?
- charts fall of a noble man
- good man makes a mistake
- often this good man has a tragic flaw/ weakness (hamartia)
- good man is punished by the Gods
- a chorus comment on his life
How could you consider Gatsby a modern tragedy?
- Gatsby falls victim to the Jazz Age
- he is a hero as well as victim - he wants something more than the flawed life of consumerism but also a victim of this
- religion is replaced by consumerism
- the choric voice is taken on by Nick (and perhaps other characters who contribute to narrative) who comment on Gatsby’s life
What things could be thought of as Gatsby’s hamartia?
- can’t comprehend not being able to live in the past
- desires to be a social climber through his material wealth
- love and Daisy
How can you see the influence of Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’?
- Daisy references how romantic a nightingale she sees is but the moment ends when there is a ‘shrill’ telephone ring
- ie. Fitzgerald borrows Romantic poetic imagery but juxtaposes it with 20th century technology
What are some traditionally identified features of a Byronic hero?
- often harbours a torturing memory of an enormous, nameless guilt that drives him to doom
- is aloof, and views himself as superior in passions and powers
- pursues his own ends according to a self-generated moral code
- he exerts an attraction on other characters that is all the more compelling because it involves their concern at his obliviousness to ordinary human concerns
What are some physical/ personality features of a Byronic hero?
- attractive
- wounded/ physically disabled
- moody, mysterious, gloomy
- passionate
- remorseful but unrepentant
- wandering
- isolated
- self-reliant
In what ways does Gatsby appear to be a Romantic hero?
- imagination becomes self-realisation
- he lives in the past and surrounds himself with a vision of recreating the past to the point that he can become delusional
At what point was modernism at its height?
1900 - 1930
What is a modernism influence on the structure of the novel?
- non-linear fragmented structure
What are some key themes explored in Modernist literature that can be found in Gatsby?
- disillusionment
- breakdown of communication
- alienation
- frustration
- loneliness
What are examples of modernist techniques used in Gatsby and how?
- juxtaposed characters, juxtaposed relationships etc.
- symbolism - key motif of the green light throughout
In what way is Gatsby presented as a courtly lover?
- Gatsby loves from afar
- he is unrelentingly devoted to Daisy
- Gatsby is enobled by love and becomes very chivalric, ie. Nick as the narrator elevates him to this position
- he tries to impress Daisy with parties/ shirts, she is eventually cruel
- sense of unsatified desire, just as he leaves out the climatic reunion, he leaves out sexual scenes, perhaps so the reader shares in Gatsby’s distress
Who else could be considered a courtly lover?
- Wilson
- he is lovesick and unrequited
- Myrtle is cruel and exploitative
In Gatsby’s case, how might the war context have influenced him?
- perhaps love sustained him
- perhaps he returns to the base values of love
- holds onto what is familiar
In what way is TGG not a love story?
- story about love, creates a realist observation about love but this is ultimately a social critique
What makes Gatsby anachronistic?
- he is presented as a courtly lover who expresses pure romantic commitment and is surrounded by people who have such loose notions of commitment
What is Daisy when she marries Tom and wears the pearls?
- a debutante (an upper-class young woman making her first appearance in fashionable society)
As well as a courtly lover, what other medieval tradition is Gatsby a part of?
- chivalric tradition
Who makes Gatsby ‘great’?
- arguably Nick, the text is perhaps more about Nick than Gatsby
