The Great Gatsby: Key Quotes + Analysis

Question 1

After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end… Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock - Ch5

Answer 1

• Shows the futility of love + the grandiouseness of love when it doesn’t exist
• Gatsby true emotions are being highlighted for the first time rather than his construted persona
• Simile emphasises the escalating tensions which lead to the tragic climax

Question 2

“can’t repeat the past? he cried incredulously. Why of course you can!” - Ch6

Answer 2

• Insistence that he can reapeat the past + recreate - the breaking up of the cyclical structure shows the chasos caused by the American Dream
• Juxtaposition between the naivete, optimism + delusion of what Gatsby thinks is possible comapred to the cyncial Nick
• Fitzergald highlights how the American Dream has meant the w/c take chances that destroy their life in comparison to the u/c who have security + prosperity guaranteed

Question 3

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” - Ch9

Answer 3

• Nick portrays Gatby as delusional about a future he could never attain - Gatsby is seen as a man who believed in a world better than the one he found himself in
• Nick shows his jealously at Gatsby’s optimism as he pities Gatsby- he feels empty about society due to the preoccupation with money + success
• Gatsby is every reader as the cyclical link back to green light depresses readers who realise that the ‘dream’ will always be unattainable

Question 4

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” - Ch9 - last line

Answer 4

• The line is written in iambic pentameter akin to poetry (link to love) + the alliteration of the letter b matches the unvocied p of the word past
• Borne denotes to both a heavy burden to carry + to give birth which suggests that people’s lives are essentially a repetition of the same burden due to the inevitable all powerful class structures
• The metaphor about boats suggests that boats attempt to propel themselves forward but the current pushes them back - empahsises futile relationship between the past + future for people who have a limited time to do advance + in the end are stuck in the same place they always were

Question 5

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” - Ch1

Answer 5

• Establishes Nick as privileged but thoughtful of his position in society - encourages the reader to trust his judgement + that he’s truthful
• Goes to the past when potentially Nick was more vunerable + he’s now lost this to the influence of bad surroundings + capitalist society - he also views the advice with ambivalence + highlights one of his main weakness judging people without consdiering context or circumstances
• a sense of morality that Nick calls “the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth” implying that he is ethically above most other people
• Fitzergald intentionally portrays Nick like this to deceive readers - replicates how love, fantasy + the American Dream decieve people - criticises the lack of opportunities given to people + the caring faces approach
• Implies that laws giving women the vote etc are essentially falsely portraying gender equality when women in male jobs such as Jordan are constantly critiqued (AO3)