‘The GreaT GaTsby’
Revision
WhaT is “GreaT” abouT Jay GaTsby?
The title of the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is interesting and fitting.
• The Old World had its great rulers: Alexander the Great, Peter the Great, Frederick the Great etc…
•
In 1920s United States (the new world) the epithet ‘the great’ was more likely to be attached to the
name of a magician or stage illusionist. (Gatsby surrounded by props and assistants conjuring magical
effects – almost, but not quite, believable).
•
Gatsby defines himself according to European values of an Old World aristocrat (e.g. his mansion was
based on a French model). But, like an amateur stage illusionist, the traces of the truth (the boy from
the American Midwest), is evident through the veneer of sophistication (e.g. moments of
nervousness and uncertainty). Gatsby is closer to a New World version of greatness.
•
Social commentary of America (industrialization, standardization, cities, mass production, mass
consumption) complicates “greatness” – diminished status of the hero. Bring on the anti-hero!
•
The anti-hero: the passive victim, carried along on the tide of events, without control over his or her
destiny.
Nick Carraway makes Jay Gatsby into ‘The Great Gatsby’.
•
Why is Nick so drawn to Gatsby? What does the attraction reveal about his own character? Why
would a man who works in the NY financial sector write a book about a man with shady underworld
connections and unexplained wealth? Why would a Midwesterner with old fashioned values write a
lyrical account of a man tragically obsessed with a youthful love affair?
Ultimately, this is a book about a man writing a book!
‘The Great Gatsby’ – A range of
interpretations
• Straightforward Level: a love story, the tale of a man’s obsessive
desire for the woman he has lost and the tragic consequences of
that desire
• Deeper Level: it is a social satire, mocking the follies of
contemporary social life, the shallowness, hypocrisy and greed that
Fitzgerald recognized in America in the years following the First
World War.
• Another (more philosophical) Level: Jay Gatsby stands for America
itself. Gatsby’s fate is like the fate of American ideals in the modern
world.
Important questions raised by the novel:
- Does the acquisitions of wealth by some ( a few) disadvantage many
others and so create a divided and failed society?
- Does material prosperity lead to loss of valuable ideals such as
honesty, loyalty and fairness?
Revision Activity
Writing Thesis Statements
• Use the interpretations of the book to write 5
general thesis statements about F. Scott
Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’.
Significant Themes
Revision Task: Using your notes list the themes explored and presented in
the novel. Write the ideas out in full.
Note: The American Dream is not a theme. A theme is an important idea
(usually profound and complex) it cannot be summed up in one or two
words. Rather:
F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the tensions that exist between two variant
definitions of the American Dream. The first is and ideal version, which
preserves the sense of wonder and limitless possibility at the heart of
what America means. Another version of the American Dream is a
materialistic version in which the process of creating oneself is equated
with getting rich. The acquisition of wealth allows certain material
freedoms and possibilities that remain forever closed to the poor.
What is the author’s position? Examine his purpose in writing the novel.
Literary Techniques
• Intricate Patterning
Words and events foreshadow or echo others often with considerable subtlety
e.g. colour words – notably green, white and gold recur regularly. The familiar
associations of these colours are modified as the words appear in differing
contexts. White is applied to the palaces of the wealthy (chp1), and to the “ashen
dust” that coats George Wilson’s clothes (chp 2). Daisy refers to her “white
girlhood”, in the American South (Chp1), which might appear to mean one thing
in relation to her white dress (chp1), but quite another in the context of Tom’s
remarks on the supposed superiority of the white race (chp1).
Other threads: references to flowers, to clothing, to sight and vision, to accidents
and carelessness, and so on. Through intricate patterning the novel achieves a
richness and complexity of meaning. Rather than a straightforward statement of
fact with one interpretation; ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a tale which produces
meaning through suggestiveness.
Literary Techniques
• Symbolism
Shirt symbolises a social class and cosmopolitan sophistication
Car made to symbolise social mobility
Roses are a literary symbol for beauty and femininty
Fitzgerald was interested in the way that symbolism could produce a magical
transformation in which the physical world might, through an act of imagination,
come to assume the quality of the ideal. So, towards the end of ‘The Great
Gatsby’, when Gatsby’s aspirations have been shattered by events, he looks at the
world no longer filtered through symbolism and so robbedof its power of
enchantment. Nick remarks, “He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky
through frightening leaves an shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose
is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass” (chapter 8)
Literary Techniques
• The Narrator
Participant in the story – we find him increasingly
caught up in events
Creates a complex point of view
Involves us in acts of interpretation
Gatsby is presented to us through the narration –
filtered through Carraway’s narration presents an
intriguingly complex character.
Immediacy of the first person voice
Literary Techniques
• Dialogue
Without it the narrator might have become monotonous.
Nick recreates dramatic exchanges in dialogue
Nick mimics the idiosyncrasies of a range of voices. For
example, Gatsby has the affection of a nervous Anglophile,
while Wolfshiem’s is blatantly stylised as Jewish.
Scenic method of narration to create structural symmetry e.g.
larger parties in Gatsby’s mansion (chp 3 & 6); Myrtles
apartment party and the Plaza Hotel party (chp 2 & 7) at
the centre of the book (chp 5 ) Gatsby and Daisy are
reunited at Nick’s home over tea.
Dialogue is skillfully crafted and assists in the unfolding of the
story. It also serves to provide characterisation.
Literary Techniques
CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES
Cuts
Used to make transitions from scene to
scene, without obvious continuity e.g.
chapter 4: cut from Gatsby’s car to a cellar
where he has lunch with Wolfshiem.
Alternation between scenes
Small parties to large parties
Moving from close ups to panoramic
views (Nicks descriptive narration).
Lighting effects
Gatsby’s house is artificially lit like a stage
or a film set.
Tips for the Exam
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Spend some time dissecting and thinking about the question. What is the
question really asking?
Plan your argument.
Plan your essay (include important quotations and examples in your plan).
Plan how your going to link your paragraphs to form one coherent argument.
Write a thesis statement to begin with – make it interesting, make it thoughtprovoking, make it the “genius” behind your argument.
Remember your vocabulary words. Limited vocabulary often results in a less
convincing argument.
Write clearly and be as specific as possible.
Enjoy yourself! Let your argument “blossom” rather than hacking away at it.
Needless to say:
Don’t forget to write your name on your script, write the author’s name
(correctly) and the title of the book (in full).