THE GREAT GATSBY

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THE GREAT GATSBY

• CHAPTER 9

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• SETTING MID-WEST
• SYMBOLISM
• CHARACTERISATION DAISY, NICK, GATSBY, GATSBYS
  FATHER
• THEMES AMERICAN UPPER CLASSES, AMERICAN DREAM

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CHARACTERISATION - DAISY

• I called up Daisy half an hour after we found
  him, called her instinctively and without
  hesitation. But she and Tom had gone away early
  that afternoon, and taken baggage with them.
• The novel ends with a negative impression of
  Daisy.
• She has simply dealt with everything by
  forgetting it and moving away.

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Characterisation - Daisy

• This is even more shocking when we understand
  that Gatsby was killed because of her
• She has no loyalty to Gatsby again displaying her
  shallowness.
• The fact that she doesnt even send a message or
  a flower suggests she wants to forget her
  involvement with Gatsby and move on with her
  life. This emphasises that she is shallow, weak
  and careless.

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CHARACTERISATION - NICK

• Nick picks up the pieces after Gatsbys death.
• I found myself on Gatsbys side, and alone.
• Nick has entered into isolation here. He
  empathises with Gatsby and further isolates
  himself from East Coast society.
• This is a further reflection of his
  identification with Gatsby.

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Characterisation Nick

• By the end of the novel the reader should
  understand why Nick thinks Gatsby turned out all
  right at the end.
• In his eyes, Gatsby embodied an ability to dream
  and escape his past
• This dream was possibly (ultimately) impossible
• But Nick cherishes and values it nonetheless.

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Characterisation Nick

• On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by
  some boy ... And I erased it.
• Nick is the writer and he wants his words to
  define Gatsby.
• Discuss Do you think Nick has succeeded in
  telling Gatsbys story?

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Nick a reliable narrator?

• By the end of the novel he is much more outspoken
  with his criticisms.
• He may be tolerant of people in public, but on
  paper he is harsh and critical.
• The ending of the novel therefore inverts the
  very beginning of the text as Nick clearly judges
  people. He describes Tom and Daisy as careless
  people because of the way they smashed up
  things and creatures and retreated back into
  their money.

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CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY

• Look here, old sport, youve got to get somebody
  for me. Youve got to try hard. I cant go
  through this alone.
• Gatsby is isolated, not only in death, but even
  at his own parties where he was a lost and
  detached onlooker.
• Discuss Why was Gatsby never accepted? What
  does this reveal about the other characters in
  the novel?

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Characterisation Gatsby

• He took off his glasses and wiped them again,
  outside and in. The poor son-of-a-bitch, he
  said
• We feel sympathy for Gatsby too, deserted by
  acquaintances and (more importantly) Daisy.

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Characterisation Gatsby

• Gatsby built himself up from nothing to a
  position of relative wealth and power. He could
  therefore be seen to have achieved the American
  Dream, but the poor attendance at his funeral
  highlights the hollowness and the emotional cost
  of his version of the American Dream.

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CHARACTERISATION GATSBYS FATHER

• Henry C Gatz is a figure of sympathy rather than
  admiration
• His eyes leaked continuously
• He was on the point of collapse
• Nick does not shatter the old mans illusion of
  his son
• Thats true

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CHARACTERISATION GATSBYS FATHER

• Gatsbys father keeps talking about the picture
  of Gatsbys house
• In a parallel with his son the picture was more
  real to him than the house itself
• He is infatuated by an illusion. He is so taken
  in by the grand display of Gatsbys wealth that
  he doesnt realise his son didnt achieve his
  dream.

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SETTING THE MID-WEST

• Thats my Middle West ...
• The Mid-West has been seen to be boring compared
  to the excitement of the East
• But the East is just glittering on the surface
• It lacks the moral centre of the Mid-West
• This moral depravity dooms the characters in the
  novel to failure

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Setting

• In the final chapter Nick concludes that this has
  been the story of the West because all the main
  characters are from the West and possessed some
  deficiency.
• Nicks view of East and West changes throughout
  the novel. After Gatsbys death the East coast
  becomes haunted and distorted for him.

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Nicks view of the East

• A place that lacks morals.
• Host to a series of gleaming, dazzling parties
  that suggest a glittering surface, but very
  little underneath.

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THEME SHALLOWNESS OF THE AMERICAN UPPER CLASSES

• What I called up about was a pair of shoes I
  left there.
• Shows lack of morals and the shallowness of the
  upper classes.
• Klipspringer was Gatsbys lodger but would rather
  attend a picnic.
• He is not even phoning up to offer commiserations
  but to enquire about a pair of shoes.

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Theme Shallowness of the American Upper Classes

• Nobody came
• This illustrates the upper class shallowness.
• They attended his parties and abused his
  hospitality but have deserted him when he is no
  longer of any use.

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THEME THE AMERICAN DREAM

• Gatsby fails to achieve the American Dream Why?

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• Some suggestions may be
• He is a criminal
• He can never gain acceptance into the American
  aristocracy.
• His new identity is an act
• His dream was unattainable (why?)
• All of these question the idea of America as a
  place where all things are possible if one tries
  enough.

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• The American dream is the potential for unlimited
  advancement, regardless of where they come from
  or how poor their background is
• Gatsbys failure suggests it is impossible to
  disown ones past so completely

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SYMBOLISM

• He knew he had a big future in front of him.
  And ever since he made a success he was very
  generous with me.
• Ironic in his fathers mind Gatsby had achieved
  the American dream
• His father has no understanding of the
  intricacies of American society and the fact that
  his son would never be accepted.

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• Thats my Middle West
• Nick thinks of America as a place with distinct
  regions with different values
• Each area has come to symbolise different values
• Discuss What values are symbolised by the
  Mid-West, East, West within the novel?

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Symbolism - Setting

• I see now that this has been a story of the
  West, after all Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and
  Jordan and I, were all Westerners
• Throughout history the West has been seen as a
  land of promise, possibility, a symbol of
  American ideals
• But Tom and Daisy, like other members of the
  upper classes have betrayed American ideals by
  having a rigid class structure that excludes
  newcomers from its upper classes.

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Symbolism Gatsbys House

• Gatsbys house was still and empty when I left
• The party is over in both the literal and
  metaphorical sense.

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Symbolism Gatsbys lawn

• grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine.
• Gatsby has gone but time has moved on
• This contrasts with Gatsbys lawn when he was
  alive
• Discuss how does this link to Gatsbys
  relationship with Daisy? Consider how it changed
  and when grass cutting was significant in the
  past.

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Symbolism - Gatsby

• and perhaps he made a story about it all of his
  own.
• Even in death Gatsby remains the focus of gossip
  and speculation.
• Discuss do you think that Gatsby deserved to be
  the centre of such gossip?

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Symbolism Gatsbys House

• I went over and looked at that huge incoherent
  failure of a house once more.
• It is like a sign of material success, but like
  its owner it is flawed.
• word, scrawled by some boy
• In the corrupt America of the 1920s childhood is
  not even a time of innocence.

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Setting

• I became aware of the old island here that
  flowered once for Dutch sailors eyes
• Nick imagines what it must have looked like to
  the first explorers
• Seeing that America was once a goal for dreamers
  just as Daisy was for Gatsby.

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• Gatsby believed in the green light
• Nick pictures the green land of America as the
  green light shining from Daisys dock. When
  America was founded it tried to distance itself
  from the traditional class system, but the novel
  shows that the class structure still exists.
• Gatsby cant escape his PAST as he fails to
  overcome the class barrier.
• He believes that Gatsby had failed to realise
  that his dreams had already ended and that his
  dream was unattainable as it was rooted in the
  past.
• His goals had become hollow and empty.

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• tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our
  arms further And one fine morning
• So we beat on, boats against the current, borne
  back ceaselessly into the past.
• Symbolises that the return to paradise is an
  ideal not a reality, but GASTBY represents
  humanitys endless capacity for hope. The image
  of the boats in the ceaseless tide captures the
  mix of futility and hope.
• Discuss is this an optimistic or pessimistic end
  to the novel?

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GREAT GATSBY