Jaclyn Clark
Scoles / Dessauer
ELA 11 B 4th
6/12/17
1. An Analysis of Jay Gatsby
A) What is the significance of the novel’s title?
The book title “The Great Gatsby” makes you think, was Jay Gatsby truly great? Some may say otherwise, and some may agree. Some might think the ambition he had to try to keep Daisy was great, the love he had for her, him thinking of her everyday for 5 years while he was off in the war, but others might disagree and say it is extremely weird and creepy.
For another example where title really makes you think, Gatsby had a library with a bunch of books. Given the information that he attended Oxford and had a great education, people really believed that he read all of these books. But when the drunk man had opened all of the pages, he noticed that none of these books were even touched. The pages weren’t even cut, meaning they haven’t been opened. So, this makes you question, is Gatsby truly great like the book says?
Another example is that Gatsby lied about who he really is and how he inherited all of his wealth. He told Nick that he was from the West, and that he grew up in San Francisco, being that San Francisco is the very west west side of the state, that is a lie. Gatsby had also claimed that he came into his wealth by inheriting his money from passed family members, but he got all of his money from being in the bootlegging business and drug dealing. Some might say this is a great way to get money, but once again, is Gatsby truly great like the book says he is?
B) Is Jay Gatsby truly great?
No, in my opinion, he is not great at all. Even though the title of the story says, “The Great Gatsby”, it is a lie. The life James Gatsby has created for himself is an illusion: a made up character.
The story he Gatsby gives about himself and his backstory on page 65, to me, is a whole lie, but it sounds like he has told this to many people, like it has been rehearsed like words on a script. He claims that he grew up in the middle West, in San Francisco, which San Francisco isn’t even in the middle West, it is in the West West. So, there is one part of his made up life. Then, he claims that his family if very wealthy, and he inherited all of his money from his family and that they are all dead. Which is another lie, he inherited all of his money from bootlegging and selling drugs. Also, his family wasn’t rich, Gatsby grew up on a farm in North Dakota. And, his father isn’t dead, he is quite alive which we find out at the end of the story when Gatsby had died. And then, we find out that his name isn’t James Gatsby, it is actually Jay Gatz. He created this illusion about his whole life.
Gatsby also had a library, full of books, which created the illusion for himself and others that he was educated very well, however, the drunk man at the party had officially opened the books, and realized the pages weren’t even cut, meaning those books have never even been opened or even touched.
However, I would agree that Gatsby was great, and was going to be great before he met Daisy. On page 173,Gatsby’s father shows Nick sort of a diary that was called “Hopalong Cassidy”, and it had a page that was titled, “SCHEDULE” with a date of, “September 12th, 1906”, and it had “Rise from bed, 6:00 A.M”, “Dumbbell exercising and wall-scaling, 6:15-6:30”, “Study electricity, etc., 7:15-8:15”, “Work, 8:30-430”, “Baseball and sports, 4:30-5:00”, “Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it, 5:00-6:00”, and lastly, “Study needed inventions, 7:00-9:00”. His father says to Nick, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead.” Which to me,. I would agree that Gatsby would have been gotten ahead if he would not have met Daisy, when he met Daisy it seemed like his ambition toward certain things diminished, and he only wanted to care and be with Daisy.
C) Nick tells Gatsby that he is “worth the whole damn bunch put together”. How does our perception of Tom, Daisy, and Jordan influence our assessment of Gatsby?
I think he is telling Gatsby he is worth more than the rest of the bunch. He is worth more than Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and the rest of them. In my opinion, the only good trait each character -has going for them in this book is their money, their appearances, and parties. Nick is trying to say that he has more worth than that, even though he is very wealthy, throws great parties, and makes a great appearance, he has so much more going for him in his life than the rest do.
D) How does our awareness of Gatsby’s motivations and decisions affect our assessment?
One might think Gatsby’s heart and love for Daisy would make us feel sympathetic, but I would disagree. Gatsby was trying to break up a family, he was trying to steal a woman with a husband and a child. Gatsby thought non-stop about daisy while he was off to the war, replaying the moment they would meet again 100 times in his head over and over again, which to me is a little weird, not romantic. Imagine someone thinking about you all day and everyday: it’s kind of cute for a little bit, but after you realize that’s the only thing he thought about, it is weird.
His decisions could have turned the book in a different direction if he would have gave up on Daisy and realized she was already married and realized they had no chance. Gatsby could have possibly achieved a different goal, and maybe found love through a different person or outlet, but Gatsby not wanting to give up on Daisy gave the reader the outcome that Fitzgerald wrote. If Gatsby would not have went into his pool to swim he may still be alive. One may speculate that Gatsby may have been able to achieve the level of greatness that his father ascribed to him if he would have stayed alive longer and not obsessed over Daisy.
D) Why has this character maintained a place in the canon of American literature?
This character is unique in the way that he masks his true identity and his source of income in order to provide himself with a cover as James Gatsby, not Jay Gatz. This makes him an example of a person who just wanted to fit in: a character that many people can identify with because of the illusion he created for himself. Also, his love towards Daisy provided the reader with a romantic impression of the man. Lastly, he showed his true identity as a tragic character when his character flaws started to show that he was a very loving person, that went after everything he desired for, even though he was obsessive to a fault, and would not let a married woman live her life in peace.
F) Should this novel be renamed for today’s society? Why or why not?
I believe F. Scott Fitzgerald was trying to show holes in Gatsby’s character when he called him “great”. The reader quickly realizes the obsessiveness of Gatsby and realizes that he is not the “great” character he is advertised to be. This being said, the name of the book may be a sarcastic remark towards the character of Gatsby, and maybe serves as situational irony because he is not great. The book name should not be changed. How would people recognize the novel and know the main character’s goals for himself and his love and ambition for Daisy without the name of the book being “The Great Gatsby”. For example, if the Bible was proven to be wrong, would they change the name of it even though the word Bible means “holy writ”. No, the name would not be changed because the text is and forever will be the Bible. Changing the name of literary works because they are not accurate depictions of what actually happens in the story would be destroying Fitzgerald’s work.
2. The American Dream
A) What is the American Dream?
The American dream for mostly everyone is to have wealth and live a great life. But in the story, Fitzgerald in my opinion uses colors to represent the American dream. Yellow, is represented as money, and death. On page 84, when Gatsby prepares to meet Daisy again for the first time in five years, Gatsby is wearing a gold tie. He is trying to remind her of his wealth. Also, yellow represents Jordan Baker in the story. He references to Jordan’s body parts as golden, on page 44, he calls Jordans arm golden, and on page 77, he calls Jordan’s shoulder golden. Yellow, also represents death. The car that killed Myrtle as she ran out into the road, was yellow.
White, represents innocence, peace, and remembrance. When Gatsby meets Daisy again for the first time in five years, he wears an all white suit, trying to make Daisy remember that their relationship was innocent and pure, and the last time he saw Daisy was when she was wearing all white. He was trying to create the moment of when he saw her last.
When we think of green, we think of trees, grass, and nature. Fitzgerald uses Green to represent the future. The last page of the story, Nick looks out on the horizon, he imagined what the world would have looked like before we had came here. He imagined all of the houses , disappearing, along with what it would look like through a sailor’s eyes, finding the land for the first time, thinking it is beautiful, “a fresh, green breast of the new world. It’s vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity of wonder”.
B) Do any of the characters in the novel find their American Dream?
No, they do not. Gatsby dies because he was chasing his only dream, Daisy. He isn’t able to achieve his american dream.
Nick, he doesn’t achieve his own american dream because he got to caught up in everyone else’s drama, that he forgot about his own life. He forgot his own birthday because he was too caught up in everyone else’s lives.
Daisy and Tom might have. They might not have achieved their own specific dream, but I know they aren’t happy with the outcome. Daisy and Tom are meant for eachother, even though the way Tom cheats on her, Daisy is the same way. Tom is a self centered person that only cares for himself, and his money, but Daisy is the same way. You deserve what you give. So you could say they achieved their American dream, by running away from it all.
C) How does Fitzgerald relate Gatsby’s dream to the American Dream?
Gatsby’s dream was all about one thing, Daisy. The American dream is something you work hard for, it is something you accomplish. You don’t get wealthy by just sitting around, you actually have to do something to achieve it. Gatsby worked very hard for Daisy when he met her again, he was trying to create the illusion that he never left, she was never married, and that they would be happily ever after. Even though Gatsby isn’t very successful with this, he worked hard for her, just like people do to live their own American Dream.
E) Has the American Dream changed since Gatsby’s time? How? Why?
Yes, the American Dream now has changed because people back then had to work for the American Dream and what it is now today. These days, the American Dream is assumed to be a right to every single person. It wasn’t like this back then. Also, the American Dream is now available in other countries now, not just the United States. Such as Canada, Japan, and Great Britain.
People in the United States and other countries just expect the American Dream to come to them and them not having to work for it, but just like it was back then you actually have to work for it, that is the only thing that has not changed.
F) What seems to be the author’s message concerning the Dream as found in the last four paragraphs of the novel?
I think he is trying to say what we have now, we take for granted. As Nick looked out and imagined a Sailor’s point of view, the Sailor probably thought it was treasure, but as we see it today, we just see it as where we live everyday. That sailor worked to find that land, just like you have to work for the American Dream. And when he discovered it, I’m sure they had pure happiness, just like someone would if they accomplished their own American Dream.
Gatsby believed in finding that future, or known as “the green light” as he says in the second to last paragraph on the last page of the story. “The orgastic future that year by year recedes before us”, this means that Gatsby believed in that beautiful land that there was still hope, even though the beautiful land is receding and we weren’t able to realize it, but Nick realizes that it doesn’t matter now, they just have to create a new beginning, given the evidence that he says “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther”. And then he says, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”, which in my opinion means that as they try to move on, with their “boats against the current”, they still end up being back in the past. The current, or known as themselves, are bringing them backward, then moving on.
3. Love & Marriage
A) How are marriage and love depicted in the novel?
The married couples, and so called relationships with ¨love”, are cheated on, emotionally and physically abused, and lied too. One of the first married couples that have a lot of problems, are Tom and Daisy. Tom cheats on his wife Daisy, and possibly abuses her, but Tom isn’t the only bad guy in this relationship, Daisy cheats on her husband with Gatsby. Even though Tom does a lot more of bad things to Daisy, Daisy does the same things right back.
The relationship between George and Myrtle isn’t so successful either. Myrtle, is cheating on George with Tom, Daisy’s husband. Now, George and Myrtles relationship isn’t the same as Tom and Daisy’s. Daisy and Tom do not care for one another at all, both of them are cheating on one another, and George and Myrtle’s relationship is different because even tho Myrtle is cheatin on George, George isn’t cheating on his wife at all, he actually cares about Myrtle, but Myrtle doesn’t care about George at all. It’s kind of like a small world, how all of them still talk to each other and are friends while this goes on.
B) How successful is the marriage between Daisy and Tom Buchanan?
The marriage between Daisy and Tom Buchanan is not very successful at all.
Page 12- Tom and Daisy had there first argument in the story, and as she was describing Tom and accusing him of her bruised knuckle(possible evidence for domestic abuse), she uses the word “hulking”, and Tom says “I hate the word hulking”, and Daisy replies, “Hulking”, obviously in a bad way to make him more angier.
Page 15- we find out that Tom is cheating on his wife Daisy. Evidence for this from the story, Tom gets a phone call that interrupted dinner, and apparently it is the girl Tom is cheating on Daisy with. Jordan says, “Tom’s got some woman in New York”. We find out later, that this woman is Myrtle.
Page 16- Daisy admits she is unhappy in her marriage.
Page 17- While Daisy was giving birth, Tom was nowhere to be found, he was most likely running off with Myrtle or even another mistress. Daisy had there child by herself.
Page 37- Evidence that Tom is abusive. While Myrtle was with Tom, Myrtle kept saying “Daisy” over and over again, and Tom got mad, and punched Myrtle in the face.
Page 83- Daisy acts like she doesn’t know who her husband is.
Page 133- Daisy admits she never loved her husband.
Page 151- We realize that the only reason that Daisy married Tom so quickly was because her life wasn’t together after Gatsby left, she wanted her life to be on track.
Page 119- Daisy tells Gatsby she loves him through her eyes, in front of Tom Buchanan.
C) How is the marriage between Myrtle and George depicted?
The marriage between Myrtle and George isn’t very successful at all. It isn’t as bad as Tom and Daisy’s, however, there is still cheating and lying going on. In my opinion, George really cares for his wife Myrtle, but Myrtle doesn’t care for George at all. Myrtle is cheating on George with Tom, and given the fact that when Tom came over with Nick, Myrtle and Tom were all over each other while George was in the other room. When I read this, I thought they obviously didn’t care if George saw or not. George never cheated, and he obviously cared for Myrtle because when she died, George went over and killed the person he thought killed Myrtle.
D) Why did Nick become involved with Jordan?
Nick met jordan through Daisy(page10). When Nick met Jordan, he was physically attracted to her(page 11). “I enjoyed looking at her. She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet”. Her physical appearance is what he falls for the most.
E) Why did he break off the relationship?
After the death of Myrtle, that was really the downfall of Nick and Jordan’s relationship. On page 142, this is when Jordan, Nick, and Tom had witnessed Myrtle’s dead body. Tom, invited Jordan and Nick to come inside and have supper with them, but Nick replied no, and then says ¨I was feeling a little sick and I wanted to be alone. But Jordan lingers for a moment more”. After Nick told Jordan no to him coming in, Jordan says “It’s only half past nine”, and this is what sets Nick off. “I’d be damned if I’d go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too”. After Jordan realized Nick wasn’t going in, she ran off. This was the start to the end of their relationship.
The next day, Gatsby woke up to a call from Jordan on page 155. “Usually her voice came over the wire as something fresh and cool, as if divot from a green golf-links had come sailing in at the office window, but this morning it seemed harsh and dry”. Then the conversation on the phone started, and this is when everything fell to pieces. Jordan claims that she left Daisy’s house, which Nick says is “tactful”, but he then claims that the act annoyed him. And then Jordan says, “You weren’t so nice to me last night”, then Nick replies “How could it have mattered then?”. And the conversation just continues on, then Nick in his own thoughts says “I don’t know which of us hung up with a sharp click, but I know I didn’t care. I couldn’t have talked to her across a tea-table that day if I never talked to her again in this world”. Nick is obviously fed up with Jordan, and he doesn’t really care to see her anymore.
F) Judging from their actions, how do these various characters define love?
Love is defined in many ways. Selfishness and cowardness. Selfishness because, Tom only loves Daisy so she can be his “trophy wife”. If he really loved her, he wouldn’t cheat on her. He doesn’t leave Daisy for Myrtle because Myrtle is more of a “trashy” girl, especially compared to Daisy. He only keeps Daisy for the looks, not the love. Cowardness, because Tom is going back and forth between two girls, only keeping one for the looks, and one for the fun, and neither for the love. There is only one true love in this story in my opinion, and that is George loving his wife Myrtle.
4. Flashbacks
A) What is Fitzgerald’s purpose in detailing the characters’ past lives and experiences?
The characters past experiences throughout their lives shape the character and who they are as people, and this shapes how they will act and interact with other characters in the book. The characters past experiences have great lasting impacts on their lives and will have enormous effects on the way they behave.
B) What is Gatsby trying to recapture, and how do his memories and experiences impact his goal?
Gatsby is trying to recapture the past. He was trying to act like the time he was off to war never happened, him leaving Daisy never happened, and they lived happily ever after. For example, he pictured the same moment as Daisy and him met again 100 times in his head, the same scenario over and over again, and as them meeting didn’t go as he pictured it would, he was still pleased. Gatsby turned Daisy into an incredible illusion for a girl, because he only remembers the good times he had with her, not the bad. For example, page 117, Gatsby sees Daisy’s child in person and he is upset because he knew it was there, but didn’t want to face the reality that it was because he wanted him and Daisy to be together.
C) To what extent is he successful?
He is successful for a short moment, when Daisy is almost leaving Tom and admits she is leaving him for Gatsby on page 119. And then, he loses Daisy between his fingertips as Tom goes on and on about Gatsby.
D) Why do some critics view this novel as a precautionary tale?
This novel is viewed as a cautionary tale because it reminds us that dreams without action are worthless, and that time runs out over our lives. For example, Gatsby had one dream, and that dream was to come back from the war and be with Daisy. The reason why I said dreams are worthless without action, and the time runs out in our lives, is because Gatsby’s time did run out, it ran out while he was waiting for that phone call from Daisy, still thinking that he was going to be happily ever after with her, and then he got shot and killed. You can’t wait for dreams to come to you, you have to go after your dreams instead of waiting for them to happen.
E) Is reminiscing about the past a benefit to one’s physical and emotional development?
Though reminiscing about the past can not reasonably improve one’s physical state, a person could learn from their past mistakes and not make them again. This being said, dwelling in the past is not recommended because it distracts you from the present. Gatsby seemed to believe that everything would not change, and you could see this regarding Daisy. He saw changes in Daisy, especially when he said “‘And she doesn’t understand’, he said.” on page 109. This shows the Daisy must have once been able to comprehend what Gatsby was talking about, their future.
F) What is the author’s view concerning this?
I think Fitzgerald is trying to say you can not recreate the past, you can not try to re-live the past, it is the past for a reason, you can only worry about the future and what the future holds. He created the character Gatsby to show what living in the past can do. He wanted to represent Gatsby, in my opinion, like a time clock. Gatsby got caught up trying to recreate the past so much, that he ran out of time.
5. An Analysis of Nick Carraway
A) In the opening pages, Nick Carraway says he is “inclined to reserve all judgments”. Do you agree that he is an impartial observer?
No, to be frank, Nick Carraway does not even try to reserve all of his judgements. When Nick meets someone, he right away points out all of their physical features before even speaking. For example, page 30, Nick meets Myrtle’s sister. He is obviously not impressed, given the features he is describing, and when he meets Mr. McKee, he describes him as well before he even said a word. Then, after describing both Myrtle’s sister and Mr. Mckee, he describes Myrtle herself. He points out that Myrtle has changed her costume many of times. This time, she is wearing a nice cream colored dress, which looks very appealing. Then, Nick says “With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur”. In my perspective, given the fact that “hauteur” means to act like someone you are not, Nick is trying to say Myrtle is acting like a stuck up, fake person that is trying to hard to be someone she is not. She is trying to impress the people around her, even though she is not as rich and classy as Tom and Nick are, she is trying to act like she is all that, even though everyone knows she is not.
B) What are his character flaws and how might they affect his narration?
Nick Carraway’s personal flaws are the fact he has to big of a heart. People might say that’s a good thing, but that is only a good thing in certain times. For example, after the climax of the story had happened, Gatsby still thought him and Daisy were going to be together. Nick, knew that Daisy didn’t want anything to do with Gatsby anymore, but he was too afraid to tell him, he gave him hints around it, but he was too scared to come out and say it.
Another example, is that Nick let’s others influence him to only care what they do, and makes him be their person they go to for the drama they encounter. And Nick, being the nice guy that he was, was too scared to stick up for himself until the very end of the story. Being so caught up in there drame, he forgot it was his own birthday. “I just remembered that today’s my birthday”. He invested so much time into their drama that he forgot one of the most biggest parts of a person’s year, their birthday.
C) As narrator, how does his outlook influence our perception of characters or events?
Nick is a very judgemental person. He claims that he is “Reclined to reserve all judgements”, but as I said before, I’d disagree. Nick doesn’t hold back on what he thinks of people. From him speaking, he really bashes the characters, he doesn’t hold back when he has something to say about them.
D) What does Nick learn from his experiences in the East?
Nick learns what being caught up in the lovely rich lifestyle can do to a person. He realized what the East egg life was like. Nick moved to the east egg to experience a wealthy lifestyle, and a new beginning. But after his experiences with all of the characters and Gatsby himself, he realizes that no one moves one in East egg, they hold on to the past. And Nick isn’t a self centered person as most of the characters are in the novel, he doesn’t expect things to be handed to him in a way.
He moved back to West egg to forget, to start yet another new beginning, and move on.
E) How does it affect his moral development?
Everything that happened in East egg caused his thoughts of the experiences he had in the East are haunted. It is like PTSD to a soldier, it is in the back of your mind constantly, the thoughts, the experiences. It is physically and emotionally hurting him.
F) Is he a believable representative of his time period and/or today’s time?
Nick is telling the story through his eyes, through his own kind of symbolism and personal judgement. He is telling the story during the 1920 time period, so the words they used and how the spoke were differently, and we as readers have to realize that. He is a believable representative for his time, because people had the same perspective in his time period. But in our time period, we do not talk the same, or act the same way as they did. So yes, it is hard for today’s time to believe the story he is undergoing, however we have to realize as readers what time period this took in.
6. An Analysis of Two Worlds
A) How does Fitzgerald describe the two worlds of the Midwest and the East?
He uses the two worlds to compare the behaviors and attitudes of the West and the East. West Egg, is the hometown of Nick Carraway, and he describes the West Egg as something like sort of a “small town”. Money, does not overpower them like the East Egg does, they do not care to show it off such as the people in the East Egg do. They are not afraid to be who they are.
The East Egg on the other hand is quite different. They are very wealthier, and it is like they are all made up characters in a fantasy. They act like who they want to be, they portray someone who is the complete opposite from whom they really are, it is like someone behind a mask or in a costume. For example, Gatsby creates the illusion of someone he is not or a made up character. Another example is when Nick meets Myrtle. “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before”, meaning that she looks like someone she is not. He also calls her “Hauter” which means to act like someone you are not, you are trying to impress people.
B) What do they represent for Nick and Gatsby?
For the East Egg, the East Egg represents a new beginning for Nick. Nick goes to East egg to experience a new richer lifestyle. The East Egg for Gatsby is perfect, because Gatsby is fake just like the rest of them, he creates the illusion for himself to impress other people, just like the people in East Egg do. Nick belongs in the West Egg because he doesn’t let money over empower him, he doesn’t try to re create a new personality like the other characters do to try to impress people.
C) How is Nick characterized and influenced by his Midwest upbringing?
As he comes back from his time from being at the war, he realizes that the Mid West is quiet, and not a place for him. He wanted more out of life, and while he moves he realizes that what he thought the East egg was like, is the complete opposite. It is more exciting and it is more of a wealthier lifestyle, however Nick isn’t like the other people, he isn’t characterized like the other characters in the novel, he is not self centered, and uncaring. He is the complete opposite.
Nick was raised with morals, to be inclined to all judgements, and he is a good person at heart. He isn’t careless like the others in the novel. That is what makes him different from the others in the novel.
D) How does the geography of the East and West Eggs and the Valley of Ashes contribute to the definition of social class in the novel?
Social class is identified as the rich and then the poor. The East Egg is where all the wealthy people live, the high class. Where the people are fascinated by the illusions that other people create over themselves. They are stuck up, self centered, and careless. They think their money defines who they are, which it doesn’t. They inherit their money, and grow up being wealthy, they don’t just become it.
The West Egg, however, is more of new money. They don’t inherit their money from family members or are born wealthy, the become wealthy. They aren’t stuck up, or let money over power them like the East egg does.
The valley of ashes is where the poor live. The valley of ashes is the total opposite from the East and the West. It is in the middle, separating between the West and the East. I think this is because it is making sure the Old money, and the New money are seperated.
E) What are some of the differences between old money and new money in the novel?
The old money is in the East. The people in the East egg inherited their money, or were born being wealthy. They do not earn it, they are just born being wealthy. The West egg, however, earns their money. That is the new money in the novel, they do not inherit their money from past family members or are born with it, they earn it.
F) How did it affect the author’s development of the characters?
Creating the old money and the new, created differences among the characters. Even though Gatsby lives in the East egg, he did not inherit his money, but he got his money by bootlegging and drug selling. It created stories and controversies for each of the characters, and it created back stories for each of them.