Unattainable love Flashcards
Gatsby as Trimalchio
- Fitzgerald perhaps viewed Gatsby as almost an ‘american Trimalchio’ has a clock in his dinign room to keep telling him how much of his life is lost and gone – gatsby’s concern with the passing of time is equally obsessive. This obsession is partially the trimalchian fear of transience – there is always too little time left, a deep refusal to accept the linear irreversibility of time. Trimalchio is obsessed with a green ball, Gatsby is obsessed with a green light – an inaccessible focus for his yearning.
‘possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever’
Love as unattainable due to social class difference due to the inability of social mobility
‘the living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it so that to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles’
European image links to fascination with trying to emulate old money. The tapestry is not functional and makes them trip – the dream of old money is not possible for them to achieve, and it causes frustration
Myrtle’s attempts to be tom’s social equal
‘Mrs Wilson had changed her costume some time before and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon of cream coloured chiffon, which gave a continual rustle as she swept about the room’
Attempts to put on a façade of wealth which is superficial – it is also not functional.
She changes from a blue to a chiffron dress – bleu is a working class colour. Daisy and Jordan where white dresses 0 representing the purity of old money – she wears cream, with the off-white colour reflecting how she will never truly be like them.
True love as unattainable due to the loss of the sanctity of marriage in a morally corrupt society
‘neither of them can stand the person they’re married to’ Marriage is losing its value, serving to trap people. Marriage is not the spiritual connection that Shakespeare claims that it is in Sonnet 116.
‘I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrow somebody’s best suit to get married’ Myrtle has a completely materialistic perception of George, and of love – myrtle is on a pursuit for wealth with George cannot provide – materialistic. Love is overshadowing real love she shared with him – reflecting the breakdown of their marriage
Myrtle in relation to her affair with tom: ‘You can’t live forever, you can’t live forever’ Selfish hedonistic pursuit of pleasure motivates debauchery.
Colour symbolism of yellow v. gold
Colour symbolism of the colour yellow: gatsby’s car ‘scampering like a brisk yellow music’ ‘yellow cocktail music’ Jordan Baker’s ‘golden arm’ Yellow is not the same as gold – aysmbol of high society and prestige – golden arm reflects a sense of idealised unattainability
The green light
possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vaqnished forever…now it was again a green light on a dock’
Before this day the green light symblised his unattainable dream of daisy. He sees the pursuit of money as a substitute for love – therefore his American dream pursuit is for purusing love and pursuing daisy. Buys everything/earns money for the purpose of winning daisy back – now he has her he is almost disenchanted. Reality hits, and he realises that this isn’t necessarily the life he has romanticised – almost a sense of emptiness. The dream has lost its enchanting quality and it leaves his unsatisfied. He is in love with an unattainable ideal rather than the reality. His love for daisy is symbolic of the American dream for fitzgerald – is fitzgerald dispelling the myth – the reality you have will never live up to your dreams.
his obsession with an ideal and its contrast with reality
‘there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams…because of the collosal vitality of his illusion’
An obsession with an ideal, romanticised version of her – so many years apart means that he has falled in love with the idea of her memory rather than reality. Nick recognises the idealised version of Daisy for Gatsby. He doesn’t blame them – it is more a criticism of the pride/arrogance of men in new America. Gatsby has embellished his life with material objects in the pursuit of love and money. Nick points out that this has no impact on the version of love created in man’s heart. This makes the reality of love fall short.
Daisy and gatsby’s meeting is a pivotal chapter in the novel – feels almost climactic. It highlights the relationship between past and present – repeated time references show how Gatsby is trying to control and orchestrate time in the same way that he controls every other aspect of his life – returning to 5 years ago when eh met daisy. However when they meet it is an anti-climax as she can never live up to the intensity of his dream, suggesting the idea of love is more powerful than the reality. Fitzgerald therefore dispels the myth of the American dream – that you can ever truly achieve happiness.
Attempts to relive the past
‘as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand’ Self created man can only turn to the past as he knows it is an inescapable context. He is forced to turn to the future as he is always curating his own identity. Ominous description – nick is aware that the past Gatsby is obsessed with will lead him to tragedy.
flashback of their kiss - reflects romanticisation of memory
Flashback of their kiss. ‘the sidewalk was white with moonlight’ ‘she walks in beauty’ both speakers assume their lover has an innocent heart. Romanticised image, purity and femininity.
The kiss is narrated through nick’s second person perspective in past perfect tese. Emphasises that gatsby’s kiss belongs to the nostalgic past. Romantic prose here is used, and the kiss is entwined with philosophical images – Gatsby is here at his most vulnerable as he is lost in a Romantic dream.
Gatsby as in love with the platonic ideal of Daisy
‘he knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable vision to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of god’ He is in love with the platonic ideal of Daisy. ‘Wed’ – images of marriage, sacramental. His obsession with daisy replaces all his other dreams.
image of incarnation
‘at his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete’ Reborn in a life of unfulfilled love – image of incarnation – blurs his percepton of the world and becomes more important than anything else, his love for her sustains him and becomes part of his identity. Image of delicate femininity contrasting with ‘crushed flowers’ . structural juxtaposition of dream like chater 5 and harsh reality of chapter 6.
gatsby’s delusion as unattainable
‘a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing’ Adds a dreamlike quality to the story – emphasising the delusion. Mythical imagery of the birth of gatsby’s American dream.
Gatsby as trimalchio - realisation of the reality of his illusion
‘it was when curiosity about gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night – and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over’ Trimalchio plays with a green ball – gatsby’s green light – it is a suitably inaccessible thing that he can focus his enery and desire onto. He maintains the magic by keeping it just out of reach – if the green ball fell to the ground it would be too much of a reminder of gravirt which pulls ddreams back to reality – in the same way, the light (daisy) is less attractive/m ore realistic up close. Furthermore, trimalchio also becomes rich through devious means – they are both famous fo lavish parties and are undermined by how vulgar/garish they are – disease of corruption bringts them down.
social class difference between Gatsby and daisy
‘her voice was full of money’ Suggests the innate affluence and ease of her wealth – suggesting an almost inherited, genetic old money trait which cannot be replicated despite gatsby’s attempts – her voice transcends the physical units of money reflecting her innate superiority.
Gatsby as a courtly lover
‘now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail’ Grain – something unobtainable and destined to fail/ He has sacrificed his identity, sanity, and his chance at a normal life to pursue her. Religious imagery given by FSF to gatsby’s love [parallels the religious journey of the pilgrims to the new world, and the intensity of the viison of the dutch sailors who first saw the shores of this ‘virginal land\ - fsf therefore makes a connection between the sexual destiny of Gatsby and the national destiny of America.
It links gataby to medieval knights who follow strict chivalric codes in a gallant manner. They’d complete dangerous quests to win a lady – FSF does this, harking back to a fantasy past – Gatsby is in love with what daisy represents rather than who she actually is.
ending of novel - green light
gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms further’
Green light represents uattainable viison/dream. Nick connects this ‘greenness’ to how the first settlers viewed America as full of vitality and promise of a flourishing life – but this dream is firmly rooted in the past. America tried to distance itself from the traditional class sytem of Europe promising wealth and social mobility to anyone, but it failed. The social hierarchy still exists therefore its dream is unattainable. The fragmented nature of the sentence means it is unfinished – no conclusion to what this dream will give you.
Gatsby’s undying hope
‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past’ Gatsby’s undying hope. It is an impossible dilemma – paradoxical – universal problem – the American people (collective we) are striving for what america was supposed tp be, the ‘ideal’ rather than reality.
