F. Scott Fitzgerald’sThe Great Gatsby

Language TechniquesYear 11 Tertiary English – North American Texts

Narrative Techniques• Narrator, Nick, is a minor character merely an

observer; he is linked to events but doesn’t affect or trigger them.

• Gatsby, the protagonist often seems distant, is vaguely described.

• The reader must construct an impression of Gatsby based on a few impressions, rumours and indirect or unreliable descriptions.

• Boundaries between inanimate and animate objects seem vague/blury.

Gatsby as Protagonist“He smiled understandingly – much more understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five timesin life. It faced – or seemed to face – the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. ” (Fitzgerald, 1926, p.54)

Personification: Animating Attributes to Inanimate Objects

“The lawn started at the beach and ran towards the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens - finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from themomentum of its run.” (Fitzgerald, 1926, p.12-13)

“This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow likewheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes takethe forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally,with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men who move dimly andalready crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line ofgrey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm upwith leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, whichscreens their obscure operations from your sight.” (Fitzgerald, 1926, p.29)

Personification: Animating Attributes to Inanimate Objects

Foreshadowing“He snatched the book from me and placed it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse” (p. 52)

Simile“Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols, weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.” (Chapter 7)

“In his blue garden men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” (Chapter 3)

MetaphorDaisy, “You remind me of a rose, an absolute rose. Doesn’t he?” (p. 21)

"...he had committed himself to the following of a grail." (p.142)

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly to the past." (p.172)

Symbolism, imagery and allegories1. What do the following allegories represent in Gatsby?(a) The owl-eyed man and Gatsby’s books(b) The Green Light(c) T. J. Eckleburg

2. How does Fitzgerald symbolically use colours in the novel? (E.g. yellow and gold). Find three quotes from the novel that demonstrate this.

Is Gatsby overrated?'‘It was the first book where I recognised the beauty of prose.''

Interviewee of the Sun-Herald

''I didn't think it was possible to write with such grace and beauty and economy.'' Andrew Denton

1. How would you describe the tone of the language?2. What do you like/dislike about Fitzgerald’s use of language? 3. Do you have trouble believing the character of Gatsby?4. Can you find a shabby sentence in Gatsby? If so you need to explain

why you think this is a poorly structured sentence.

Chapter 41. List the details that Gatsby tells Nick about his life.2. Gatsby is not telling the truth about his life. What parts of his story that make you suspicious?3. What is your impression of Mr Wolfsheim?

Chapter 51. Think of something that you dream to acquire.

How can the attainment of the goal be less satisfying than the pursuit of the goal? Is it really worth it?

2. Why was Gatsby afraid to talk to Daisy at first?3. How does Fitzgerald describe Gatsby now that he

has met with Daisy? 4. Why does Daisy cry into a pile of Gatsby’s shirts

during the tour of his house?

Themes: The American Dream

1. What is the American dream? 2. List and describe people you know of or have read

about that have dreamed an American dream. 3. What do these people have in common?4. Do you think that the American dream is specific to the

United States in some way? If so, how and why?5. Is the ideal of the American dream central to America’s

national identity?6. How possible do you believe it is for Americans to

realise the American Dream?

The American Dream in a Recession

1. According to this article, what is the classic definition of the American dream?

2. Why do you think more people believe in the American dream today than they did four years ago, when the economic outlook for the US was much brighter?

3. Describe the shift in the definition of the American dream over the past four years? What do you think accounts for this change?

4. Which definitions of the American dream resonate most with you? Why?

The American DreamThere is no single definition of what this term means, but James Truslow Adams in 'The American Epic' described the USA as:

"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have

grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to

attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

But the root of the idea could said to be found in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 which stated:

"all men… are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights... [including] life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

Chapter 9: The Death of the American Dream

1. What does the final chapter reveal about the American Dream? Make a note of any quotes relating to the American Dream.

2. In particular, what does the final paragraph of the novel tell us about the American Dream?

3. What does the green light that shines from Daisy’s dock represent?

Gatsby – A Man of Our Times1. How does Gatsby embody the American Dream? 2. According to the New York Times, what ‘saves’ Gatsby and

makes him a masterful literary achievement? 3. Why does the article claim that Americans today ‘are

Gatsby’? 4. If James Gatz existed today how would he reinvent himself?

Write a paragraph describing what sort of a man Gatsby would be in 2013. For example, how would he make his money? Where would he live, etc?

The Great American Novel1. How is the Great Gatsby uniquely American?2. What does it reveal about American society

and culture?

American Dream‘American Dream’ can be defined as:The prospect of a new country where everybody is emancipatedfrom their former economic, religious, social, ethnic and any other identities and status; a new frontier for Easterns and a new home for those who lack the existence of or the sense of.

Contributing factors to the American Dream:– Mass immigration– The overly-exaggrated and misinterpreted ‘almighty America’ image– Ever-increasing urbanisation– Prospect of easy money– A hopeless/desperate economic and political atmosphere in post-war Europe

Gatsby’s American Dream

Gatsby’s American Dream can be analysed in two part:• Before he met Daisy• After his return from World War I

Gatsby after DaisyHe wants her to see his house,' she explained. 'And your house is right next door.''oh!''I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night,' went on Jordan, 'but she never did. Then he began asking people casually if they knew her, and I was the first one he found. (p.51)

He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom andsay: 'I never loved you.‘ …'And she doesn't understand,' he said. 'She used to be able tounderstand. We'd sit for hours - ‘ …'I wouldn't ask too much of her,' I ventured. 'You can't repeat the past.''Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can! (p.70)

Collapse of Gatsby’s Dream

Gatsby turned to me rigidly: 'I can't say anything in his house, old spoft.''She's got an indiscreet voice,' I remarked. 'It's full of - ' I hesitated.‘Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly.That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbal's song of it ... Fligh in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl… (p.70)

Fitzgerald portrates a failure rather than a success, so we actually read an American Failed-Dream.