The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby

• Chapters 6-9

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The Roaring Twenties Game

• http//www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/game_
  0_1920s/consignes

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Chapter 6 Summary

• Jay Gatsby-the Prince of Enchantment-indeed
  "sprang from his Platonic conception of himself."
• Nick tells the reader the truth about Gatsby,
  who is really James Gatz from a North Dakota
  farm.
• He attended St. Olaf college for two weeks, but
  dropped out because he did not like the
  humiliation of working as a janitor.

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• Dan Cody
• While working on Lake Superior, he sees a yacht
  and after rowing out to it to warn the owner of a
  storm, he meets Mr. Cody and ends up working for
  this very wealthy copper mogul.
• But Gatsby is, in some basic way, made of finer
  stuff than his "mentor" a romanticist even as a
  youth, he remains apart from the worst
  dissipation, and indeed had at this time acquired
  a dislike for liquor which was to last all his
  life.

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Gatsby and Daisy

• Gatsby himself, furthermore has a difficulty in
  "loving Daisy as just a woman. So completely
  has she been for him a Holy Cause that to
  accept her for a woman with a real life and a
  real past--a past complete with a husband and a
  childseems no longer possible. In a basic sense,
  Gatsby has not only idealized reality, but has
  replaced reality with the Ideal.
• Gatsby, at any rate, does not "want" Daisy as she
  exists he wants his Golden Girl, his Golden
  Dream of five years before. That this Dream has
  actually lived with another man for five years,
  and - even more intolerable - had actually borne
  a child by him - has no part in his vision. His
  romanticism has blinded him to reality that this
  ideal doesnt exist. . . .but can he recapture
  the past?.

6
Theme of Social Class Extended

• Fitzgerald continues to explore the theme of
  social class by illustrating the contempt with
  which the aristocratic East EggersTom and the
  Sloanesregard Gatsby. Even though Gatsby seems
  to have as much money as they do, he lacks their
  sense of social nuance and aristocratic grace.
  As a result, they mock and despise him for being
  new money. As the division between East Egg
  and West Egg shows, even among the very rich
  there are class distinctions.

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• Read the final two pages of chapter 6, which
  captures Gatsbys sense of the romantic ideal. .
  . .
• In many ways I wonder if young Christians
  maintain a type of spiritual ideal when it
  comes to dating and marriage. . . And in the end,
  this idealism may be detrimental to
  relationships, and even our own spiritual lives.
• Donald Miller page 205
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v0VhYMdnAsyM
• Note John Greens interpretation. . .

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Chapter 7

• For Daisy's relationship to her child is hardly
  that of a mother to a daughter the role of Pammy
  in Daisy's life is all too obviously that of a
  "darling" little toy - a toy to be "played with"
  and removed by the hired help when its presence
  is no longer convenient.
• Daisy's emotions, of course, are completely
  superficial indeed, her very praise of Gatsby
  (that he looks like a man in an advertisement!)
  defines the nature of her "emotion" - or rather,
  her infatuation with the entire gesture of
  "having" a love-affair. This so-called love is
  merely another toy, for Daisy is apparently
  incapable of deep human commitment or intimacy.  

9
The Plaza Hotel
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Gatsby and Wilson

•  Where Wilson is deeply hurt, however, almost
  physically ill because of his wife's betrayal,
  Tom Buchanan is merely angry, furious, like an
  overgrown infant deprived of "his" property. This
  is a vital difference between the two men, and is
  a basic reason why Tom will ultimately survive.
• Wilson's "weakness" is precisely the fact that
  he loves his wife too deeply for Tom Buchanan,
  on the other hand, "love" is itself a matter of
  ego and appetite, and if he is furious that
  Gatsby has engaged the affections of his wife, he
  is no less angry that Wilson is planning to
  deprive him of a mistress. It is men like Wilson
  and Gatsby-men defined by emotion or Ideals-who
  ultimately struggle more.

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The Confrontation

• At the Plaza the conflict between Gatsby and Tom
  over Daisy brings to the surface troubling
  elements in both characters. Tom uses his
  knowledge of Gatsbys illegal activities to
  disgrace the hopeless romantic.
• When Gatsby attempts to force Daisy to tell Tom
  that she never really loves him, she balks. . . .
• Tom invokes their personal history to subdue
  Daisy. Of course he is upset by her infidelity
  and Gatsbys immoral activities, but is himself a
  hypocrite.
• Tom has won when Daisy cant openly say she has
  never loved her husband. . . He has such
  confidence in his victory that he encourages
  her to ride back with Gatsby. . .

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The Tragedy

• The ride home. . . Myrtles tragic death, and
  Gatsby gallantly taking on the blame further
  confirms his romantic delusion.
• Finally we see Nick discovering Gatsby holding
  vigil outside the Buchanans home, waiting
  expectantly for Daisy to come to him, or to
  rescue her from an irate Tom. At the start of
  book he had reached out his arms to the green
  light now, physically much closer to his
  dream, he vainly waits on their plush green
  grass.

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(No Transcript)
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Follow your dreams. . .
This is what precisely Gatsby did. . . But what
if our dreams have been corrupted, or what if
they were never real or never consisted of
genuine moral content? For Fitzgerald, there is,
in fact, no overriding moral content that
exists in this world. . . No justice, no real
love, no higher purpose.
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The American Dream
Are there innate problems with the American
Dream, or does this novel simply present a
perverted version of that Dream? America was
after all founded upon the hope to realize life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Didnt
the millions of immigrants who sacrificed
everything to come to this continent have a
dream? Didnt Martin Luther King express the
hope of this dream in his famous speech? And
isnt our current Presidents audacity to hope
incumbent upon the reality of that same dream?
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Chapter 8 The Great Gatsby
Gatsby, back home in the morning, is visited by
Nick. Gatsby tells of his relationship to Daisy
back in Louisville before the War. What are
some significant aspects of the Gatsby-Daisy
courtship we learn in this conversation? How
does the weather continue to reflect the
direction of the plot in this chapter and the
previous chapter? And how is this fact
significant?
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• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vnAyNAsZPRxUfeature
  related

Baz Luhrmann is looking for the right woman to
play Daisy Buchanan in his upcoming adaptation of
F. Scott Fitzgeralds literary gem, The Great
Gatsby. Maybe this story was picked up too early
in the process, but apparently every single young
actress in Hollywood is up for the role.
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Gatsbys Dream

• Why does Gatsby refuse to give up his dream?
• What does his dream represent in the broader
  scope? And what might the author be attempting
  to convey through these dreams?
• What is even ironic about where Nick finds
  Gatsby, having already been shot by Wilson?
• How does Wilson, in this chapter, interpret the
  eyes on the billboard of T. J. Eckleburg?

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Chapter 9
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• Nick has come to see America not as just a
  nation, but as a geographical entity. It has
  become a land with distinct regions embodying
  contrasting values. The Midwest, while dreary
  and simple compared to the glitz of the East,
  does contain an element of moral fiber. The
  East, for all its glitter is superficial and
  depraved. This sense of distortion that lures
  and eventually dooms the characters of The Great
  Gatsby, is repulsive to Nick. In the end he
  returns to Minnesota.

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The failure of Gatsbys dream

• Gatsby, out of all of Nicks acquaintances, has
  the ability and the audacity to dream for a
  radically different future for himself. But it
  ends in failure largely because
• His methods are criminal
• He can never gain acceptance into the American
  aristocracy, and
• His new identity is largely an act, not unlike
  those to whom he aspires

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The Setting
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Creative Group Activity

• Learn and perform the Charleston
• Create a dialogue on the News of the Day. . .
  current events, entertainment, sports etc.
• In class report on one infamous gangster of the
  Prohibition times perhaps a monologue or
  dialogue.
• Do a short skit on the more common folks of the
  time. . . Workers, servants, minorities, ethnic
  immigrants etc.
• Represent the American Dream in an art form

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Characters

• Nick Carraway -  The novels narrator, Nick is a
  young man from Minnesota who, after being
  educated at Yale and fighting in World War I,
  goes to New York City to learn the bond business.
  Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve
  judgment, Nick often serves as a confidant for
  those with troubling secrets. After moving to
  West Egg, a fictional area of Long Island that is
  home to the newly rich, Nick quickly befriends
  his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay
  Gatsby. As Daisy Buchanans cousin, he
  facilitates the rekindling of the romance between
  her and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is told entirely
  through Nicks eyes his thoughts and perceptions
  shape and color the story.

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• Jay Gatsby -  The title character and protagonist
  of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy
  young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg.
  He is famous for the lavish parties he throws
  every Saturday night, but no one knows where he
  comes from, what he does, or how he made his
  fortune. As the novel progresses, Nick learns
  that Gatsby was born James Gatz on a farm in
  North Dakota working for a millionaire made him
  dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth.
  When he met Daisy while training to be an officer
  in Louisville, he fell in love with her.
• Nick views Gatsby as a deeply flawed man,
  dishonest and vulgar, whose extraordinary
  optimism and power to transform his dreams into
  reality make him great nonetheless.

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• Daisy Buchanan -  Nicks cousin, and the woman
  Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville
  before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of
  officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with
  Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However,
  Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when a
  wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan
  asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait
  for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful socialite,
  Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the
  fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She
  is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and behaves
  superficially to mask her pain at her husbands
  constant infidelity.

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• Tom Buchanan -  Daisys immensely wealthy
  husband, once a member of Nicks social club at
  Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a
  socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant,
  hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are
  laced with racism and sexism, and he never even
  considers trying to live up to the moral standard
  he demands from those around him. He has no moral
  qualms about his own extramarital affair with
  Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and
  Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged
  and forces a confrontation.

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• Jordan Baker -  Daisys friend, a woman with whom
  Nick becomes romantically involved during the
  course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan
  represents one of the new women of the
  1920scynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan
  is beautiful, but also dishonest she cheated in
  order to win her first golf tournament and
  continually bends the truth.
• Myrtle Wilson -  Toms lover, whose lifeless
  husband George owns a run-down garage in the
  valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a
  fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way
  to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her,
  she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object
  of his desire.

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Literary Essay

1. Use your journals and notes as prewriting
2. Choose a topic of limited focus, and write an
   introduction (opening paragraph) with a clear
   thesis.
3. Do an outline that includes at least eight
   specific points, quotes, or examples from the
   story to support your thesis.

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Sample of Possible Essay Topics

• The pitfalls of the American Dream
• Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for
  example, two countries, two cities or towns, two
  houses, or the land and the sea) to represent
  opposed forces or ideas that are central to the
  meaning of the work.
• Choose a novel or a play that contrasts two such
  places. Write an essay explaining how the places
  differ, what each place represents, and how their
• contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

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• Is Nick a reliable narrator? How does his point
  of view color the reality of the novel, and what
  facts or occurrences would he have a vested
  interest in obscuring?
• Trace the use of the color white in the novel.
  When does it falsify a sense of innocence? When
  does it symbolize true innocence?
• Do a close reading of the description of the
  "valley of ashes." How does Fitzgerald use
  religious imagery in this section of the novel?
• What does the green light symbolize to Gatsby? To
  Nick?
• How does Fitzgerald juxtapose the different
  regions of America? Does he write more positively
  about the East or the Midwest?

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• What is the distinction between East and West
  Egg? How does one bridge the gap between the two?
• In what ways are Wilson and Gatsby similar?
  Dissimilar? Who is Nick more sympathetic to?
• How does Fitzgerald treat New York City? What is
  permissible in the urban space that is taboo on
  the Eggs?
• Is Tom most responsible for Gatsby's death?
  Daisy? Myrtle? Gatsby himself? Give reasons why
  or why not each.