The Great The Great GatsbyGatsby

Chapter One

Gatsby and AmericaGatsby and America

Nick immediately establishes the influence of his father on page 7

Which relates to the idea of how the past influences the present

Gatsby’s past & present, America’sThe American Dream was founded on

hope:Gatsby has an extraordinary gift for hope.Nick too has hope as a pathfinder.However this comment may be ironic

NamesNamesWhat connotations does egg have?Nick and Gatsby are separate on

West Egg- separate from the community of the Buchanans

Daisy- connotations?Nature, delicate, pureCarraway also the name of a plant:Homely, natural

The Old WorldThe Old WorldThe influence of Europe is all around:Gatsby’s house is a factual imitation

of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy Q

What suggested by spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy?

Nick has served in EuropeThe Buchanans, in contrast, spent a

year in France for no particular reasonA nightingale come over on the

Cunard or the White Star Line

Nick’s BackgroundNick’s BackgroundMakes a point of stating his ancestry:Something of a clan…descended from

the Dukes of Buccleuch.But seems keen to put the emphasis on

the American and the entrepreneurial:The actual founder of my line…started

the wholesale business…look like himThis ancestor notably avoided conflict:Sent a substitute to the Civil WarFamily is important: All my aunts and

uncles talked it over

NickNickTone of: that delayed Teutonic migration

known as the Great War?He portrays himself at times as reservedvalues the fundamental decenciesAnd is concerned with people’s conductHe works in finance: the bond businessHe seems to revel in being near the rich:

twelve or fifteen thousand a seasonthe consoling proximity of millionairesThe white palaces of East Egg glittered

NickNickLook at the paragraph beginning

There was so much to read…What tone does he use?Midas- turned things to goldMaecenas- Roman patron of the artsHere he is looking back on his good

intentions with irony.Because he is looking back this also

colours the way that he describes Tom in particular.

Nick’s view of TomNick’s view of TomAlways leaning aggressively forwardShining arrogant eyesA body capable of enormous leverage-

a cruel bodyI always had the impression that he

approved of me and wanted me to like him with some harsh wistfulness

Wistfulness?Look at the paragraph beginning

Sometimes she and Miss Baker pp18-19

EnnuiEnnuiThe characters seem lifeless, lacking

in direction or purpose and full of ennui.

What word choice suggests this?YawnedUnobtrusivelyBantering inconsequenceAs cool as their white dressesImpersonal eyesThe absence of all desireA polite pleasant effortI meant nothing in particular

A change in moodA change in moodLook at pages 18-19.What words suggest that passions do

become stirred? Tom? Daisy?Page 20: her voice compelled me

forward…street at dusk.Daisy’s daughter on page 23.Daisy:Turbulent emotions possessed herof the ether with an utterly abandoned

feeling The basic insincerity

NickNick

There are suggestions that Nick too is suppressing emotions:

Memories of the Teutonic migrationHe jokes away questions about the girl

out West“I’m too poor”…I wasn’t even vaguely

engagedShe may be the reason he is beginning

over again.

Daisy’s daughterDaisy’s daughter

pp23

GatsbyGatsbyThe reader is kept in suspense

about GatsbyLike Nick we hear about him first

through rumour and gossipFirst description: emerged from the

shadowLanguage becomes quite poetic:

the silver pepper of the starsWord choice?A single green light The unquiet darkness