the great gatsby Flashcards
contextual points on ww1
- ended in 1919
- young men who fought come back and were emotionally scared so turned to wild life
- people got very rich at this time. Stocks and profits rose
- illegal to produce and sell alcohol was introduced but people carried on doing it. These people were bootleggers and they would make millions. Gags by was a bootlegger
contextual points on Wall Street crash
- caused this pleasurable lifestyle to end in 1929
- great depression
- cause unemployment and homelessness
- the great gatsby is based in between these times (the war ending and the Great Depression)
background of America
- empty when first discovered. Open land needed to be settled
- America was then advertised as the land of opportunity
define the American Dream
the idea that equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.
quote about Gatsby that relates him to the American Dream
- Gatsby was self made man as he started out with no money
- just before Gatsby’s funeral his dad says ‘Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind’
What is Gatsby’s dream and how does he achieve it?
- to become rich and powerful and through that he would have daisy to love him
- he does achieve his dream in some way as he does get rich and powerful but it’s at the cost of sacrificing his morals
- however, when he gets daisy he realises that she isn’t as amazing as he originally thought
what does F.Scott.Fitzgerald suggest in the novel
- that there are things you can’t achieve through the American Dream
- ultimately, daisy doesn’t choose to be with gatsby.
- you cant achieve things like love, happiness, inner peace. The only thing you can achieve is wealth which is meaningless and shallow.
what is the message of the novel
things you can’t achieve through pursuing the American Dream are love, happiness and inner peace, I.e. the important things. Everything else is shallow and meaningless
The American Dream is not able…
to make you happy, You can become rich but all this does is creates a shallow, materialist society
explain the relations between the novel and F.Scott.Fitzgerald himself
- like gatsby, he joined the army
- he met a hurl but he couldn’t marry her so he went to New York to become rich but he couldn’t get money so the girl broke of the relationship
- when Fitzgerald become successful and rich through his writing, the girl, Zelda, married him
explain the quotation ‘civilisations gone to pieces’
- tom says this in chapter 1
- he is talking about the development of black people but also it is in underlying example of how everyone is rich but immoral
explain the quotation ‘I want you to meet my girl’
- tom says this to nick in chapter 2
- introduction to the affair that tom is having on daisy.
- corrupt
- bragging about it
explain the quotation ‘right you are, agreed the policeman, tipping his cap’
- chapter 4
- gatsby is able to break the laws
- power
explain the quotation ‘incurably dishonest’
- describing Johan as she cheated in a golf game
- chapter 3
explain the quotation ‘who’s tom?’
- this is dish reply to Nick saying ‘bring tom’
- shows how the presence of gatsby has distracted her as she has forgotten about tom already
- fake love
America sees itself as…
a continent of equality but the places where people live show inequality
explain where all the characters live and the irony in this
- the Wilsons live above where they work
- Nick lives in the suburbs and travels into work
- gatsby lives in a huge mansion and doesn’t seem to work at all
-America sees itself as a democratic society but there is actually a huge division in social classes which are based on wealth
two points about the fake library
- at Gatsby’s party in chapter 3 a man in gatsby library is amazed at how they are real books
- highlights how the USA is artificial and how under the surface things aren’t how they seem
what does the valley of ashes represent
the spiritual side of America -this side has died
explain the quotation ‘the eyes are dimmed a little by many pointless days’
- talking about Doctor.T.J.Eckleberg
- just as people’s spirituality has been dimmed by neglect
- a spiritual metaphor
explain the idea of utopia and the great gatsby
- utopia = perfect society
- this society doesn’t exist at all
- gatsby what’s this perfect life but this is impossible as it doesn’t exist
explain how gatsby and the sabbath day link
- Fitzgerald tells us that gatsby celebrates the sabbath day with parties
- the suggestion is that he seeks a mystical Union, but not with God.
- his parties are designed to bring him closer to daisy (symbolising that she is his God)
explain how gatsby and Jesus can be linked
- cannot be a coincidence that gatsby dies about 3 o clock which is the same time that Christ died
- on the third day gatsby dads comes and reveals his true identity -on the 3rd day was Jesus’ resurrection
4 ideas from ‘new money’
- self made
- rich people
- like gatsby
- west egg
2 ideas from ‘old money’
- families who are historical well off
- east egg
How does Fitzgerald present the newly rich
- as show offs who lack in social grace and taste
- e.g. Gatsby has an enormous mansion and drives a rolls Royce
How does Fitzgerald present the people of ‘old money’
- They have grace, taste and elegance
- e.g. The Buchanan’s tasteful home
Explain the key theme of the treatment of women
- women are treated much lesser than men.
- women treated as objects to satisfy sexual pleasure
Two examples of the treatment of women
- in chapter 7 when Wilson talks about myrtle ‘I’ve got my wife locked up in there’ highlights gender inequality and sexism in America
- daisy know she is being cheated on but she just accepts it
Explain the quotation ‘the consoling proximity of millionaires’
- nick says this in chapter 1
- saying that living near millionaires makes you happy
Explain the symbolism of ‘the green light at the end of the dock’
- end of chapter 1 we see it
- by the end of the novel we realised gatsby is looking for daisy
- the colour green is a symbol of wealth as American money is green
- shows how he believes money will help him reach his desire (Daisy)
Explain why nick is an unreliable narrator
- the only perspectives are his so we can’t necessarily trust everything he tells us .
- e.g nick says that after the war he moved east to start a new life but the war ended in 1919 but he didn’t move to the east until 1922
Explain how nick as a unreliable narrator is seen in chapter 1
- at the end of this chapter nick tells us that Jordan baker is dishonest (she cheated at a golf game) and that he doesn’t trust her
- nick states that the only person he trusts is himself as he doesn’t lie .
- however, in chapter 2 gatsby quotes that Jordan would ‘never do anything that wasn’t all alright’
- gatsby contradicts what nick previously said about Jordan.
- however, gatsby views on people are influenced by Daisy (Jordan is Daisy’s best friend)
Explain the point that nick doesn’t really show his emotional relationship with Jordan
- shows that he isn’t open with the reader. Private person
- reader is shocked when the pair kiss as we didn’t realise they were actually together
Another point on nick being an unreliable narrator
- difference between what narrator thinks and what is actually reality
- nick always criticised tom but tom often gets a lot of things right
Two points to suggest that Fitzgerald is criticising the American dream
- America presented itself as a peaceful nation but the reality is different to this
- gatsby and nick were both soldiers which shows America isn’t a peaceful nation
- America is in denial of what it’s really like
Quotation that links Gatsby to the American dream
It is gatsby’s ‘extraordinary gift for hope’ that mike really likes.
Explain how in chapter 6 gatsby symbolises the American dream
- Nike tells gatsby ‘you can’t repeat the past’ to which he replies ‘why of course you can’
- likewise America was wrong to think that people could live there in a garden of Eden environment as this wasn’t the reality of it
Explain the quotation ‘mr nobody from nowhere’
- tom says this about gatsby
- chapter 7
- the Greek word ‘utopia’ means perfect society but it’s literally meaning means nowhere
4 points on Michaelis to show culture
- represents the change that America saw during the 1920’s as more immigrants moved to America and it eventually become more racially diverse
- ‘Michaelis and several others’. Chapter 8. Fitzgerald has deliberately chosen to say his name. Highlights him from others as he is racially different
- Michaelis is supporting George - shows that he is nicer/ more human than the other characters
- ‘Michaelis made a clumsy attempt to distract him’ use of the adjective ‘clumsy’ suggests he is useless
contextual point on alcohol
- the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcohol was the 15th January 1919
- this was the 18th amendment
- was undertaken to reduce crime, corruption and to solve social problems
point on romanticism and how it can be seen in fitzgeralds novel
- romanticism emerged at the end of the 18th century
- ’ a cultural and artistic move,Meg which valued imagination over intellect ‘
- creates contrast between the figurative language used to describe the atmosphere, e.g. ‘heightened sensitivity’ with the materialistic world , e.g. ‘my neighbours mansion
Who in real life fixed the World Series in 1919
Arnold Rothstein
What is structure and narrative voice especially important in chapter 4
- change in structure
- narrative voice comes from nick to Jordan
- shift
- flashback
- ‘I was walking along from one place to another’
Explain the importance of ‘and all day long the telephone rang in her house ‘
- Jordan says this about daisy in chapter 4 when narrating the young life of Daisy
- the phone rang because men were calling her up
- the phone rings in her house now because myrtle is calling Tom - affair
Two quotes about Daisy’s voice in chapter 5
‘ Daisy’s voice on a clear artificial note ‘
‘ her voice as matter-of-fact as it could ever be’
A metaphor in chapter 6
‘He could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder’
The limits daisy has on gatsby
Simile in chapter 7
‘Like silver idols’
Nick describing daisy and Jordan
Quote in chapter 7 about Gatsby’s dream
‘ only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible’
Flashback in chapter 8
‘ now I want to go back a little and tell what happened at the garage ‘
Pathetic fallacy in final chapter
‘ the sky had turned dark and I got back to west egg in a drizzle ‘
Quote about Tom and daisy in final chapter
‘They smashed up things and creatures and then retrieved back into their money ‘
Two compound words in chapter 2 to describe the valley of Ashes
Ash- grey
Dust-covered
Explain the significance of Rom having Myrtle as his mistress
- she is a lower class women
- her powerlessness makes his own position that much more superior
Explain the quotation ‘Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself ‘
- Nick is referring to the idea of the platonic ideal, a philosophical construct presented by Plato in Ancient Greece
- according to this theory every object and every being has an ideal representation, a ‘perfect’ version .
- Gatsby is trying to create the idealised form of himself
