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The Great Gatsby
Review of The American Dream, Symbols
Chapter 5 Analysis
April 2011
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Review, The American Dream
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Four Dreams of Consumerism???
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Dream of Abundance – material goods, rich country
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Dream of a Democracy of Goods – access to same products
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Dream of Freedom of Choice – fashion your own lifestyle
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Dream of Novelty – new and unexpected products broadened
consumer experience in terms of purchasing skills and awareness
of the market
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Review, Symbols
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The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg
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Cast an ominous shadow over the goings-on in the novel
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Symbolism is open to interpretation (and reinterpretation)
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George Wilson connects them to the eyes of God
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God looking down on Valley of Ashes – God looking down on a
morally bankrupt wasteland and doing nothing about it
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Modernist notion – God no longer lived, a symbol of the
modernists’ distrust of political, religions and social institutions
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Modernists – influenced by negativity of WWI
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Review, Symbols
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Valley of Ashes
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Located between West Egg and New York City – moral decay
associated with the uninhibited desire for wealth
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Symbolizes societal decay and the plight of the poor, victims of
greed and corruption
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WWI Battlefields – where existed a no man’s land – full of barbed
wire, unexploded mines and dead bodies
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East Egg vs. West Egg
East Egg
West Egg
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The established rich
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Nouveau riche
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Represented by Tom Buchanan
whose money has been
inherited
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Morally bankrupt – adulterer
and a liar
Represented by Gatsby who
has obtained wealth through
bootlegging and not-so-honest
endeavors
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Wealth is displayed gaudily
through outrageous
automobiles (Rolls Royce),
amazing parties, and
incredible mansions
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Only posses superficial
knowledge and cares little
about whom he destroys
through his carelessness
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What do East Egg and West Egg
have in common?
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Corruptness
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Chapter Five – Key Questions
1.
Why does Gatsby deliver so many goods and services to
Nick's house?
2.
Describe the effect of rain on the plot.
3.
Why does Gatsby offer Nick work? How does Nick feel
about this?
4.
Explain the significance of the green light.
5.
Why does Gatsby get so many phone calls? What does this
say about him?
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Chapter Five – Analysis
Initial exchange between Nick and Gatsby, uncertainty at
the heart of their relationships – is he using Nick to draw
closer to Daisy? Or is he genuinely fond of Nick?
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Gatsby uses money and power as leverage in all relationships
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Gatsby is insecure – does not think anyone would want to be
friends with him if he did not possess a mansion and make
several million dollars a year
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Ostracized by East Eggers
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Abandoned by Gatsby because of his poverty
Only Nick makes friends that are not based on class
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Chapter Five – Analysis
Gross materialism of the East and West Egg – explains the
obsessive care that Gatsby takes in his reunion with Daisy
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Collection of British antiques
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“Nice” English shirts – one of the most famous scenes in
American literature
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Dressed in gold and silver
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Chapter Five – Analysis
Time: Gatsby lives in the past – he longs to stop time and
act as though Daisy had never left him to marry Tom
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Nick calls him a “little boy”
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Three stages Gatsby experiences – embarrassment, joy,
wonder
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Nick describes Gatsby as “running down like an over-wound
clock.” In Gatsby’s nervousness about Daisy’s feelings towards
him, he knocks over a clock signifying Gatsby’s consuming
desire to stop time and his inability to do so
Daisy is more sympathetic in this chapter than any other
point in the novel – ceases to play the part of a worldweary sophisticate
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Overjoyed at Gatsby’s success
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Chapter Five – Analysis
Song “Ain’t We Got Fun,” played by Klipspringer, is
significant for a number of reasons
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Opening lyrics imply a carefree spontaneity that stands in stark
contrast to the tightly-controlled lovers reunion
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“In the morning/ In the evening/ Aint’ we got fun”
Ironic that Gatsby and Daisy should reunite to the strains of this
song, given the fact that she rejected him because of his
poverty
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“Got no money/ Bu oh, honey/ Ain’t we got fun!”