Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Context: The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925, six years after
WWI ended in 1919 and 4 years before the stock market crash in 1929.
Although Fitzgerald could not have predicted the Wall Street Crash, there
are clear indications in the novel that he saw the rampant excesses of the
jazz age as excessive and destructive. (Meyer Wolfsheim, The Valley of
Ashes etc.) This post-war society was named The jazz age and it was a
time of political corruption, the prohibition of alcohol, organized crime,
gambling, illegal speakeasies or bars, and the cultivation of an American
Dream which was increasingly focused on gaining wealth by whatever
means necessary. Gatsbys decadent parties reflect the hedonistic pursuit
of pleasure that was popular in the Eastern United states at that time. The
old- fashioned American values were being replaced by the pursuit of
success and money.
publication of This Side of Paradise on March 26, 1920, made the twentyfour-year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight, and a week later he
married Zelda Sayre in New York. They embarked on an extravagant life
as young celebrities. Fitzgerald became an alcoholic and Zelda spent many
years in mental institutions. The effects of their party lifestyle caught up
with them as their health suffered and they also had debts.
*(http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/biography/biography_p4.html)
(The effects of this excess can also be seen in the novel-Owl Eyes crash in
chapter 3 (page 55), the drunken remnant of the party, Klipspringer in
chapter 5 (page 91) and many more examples.
The narrator tells the story with a specific perspective informed by his beliefs
and experiences. As a reader, we view the events through the eyes of Nick
Carraway (Care away?) The narration is from a first person perspective. Nick
is not a completely reliable narrator as he does not see everything and there
are moments that are missing when he was tipsy or fell asleep.
Things to consider:
He comes from a middle class, Mid-Western conservative background.
He is educated and has strong manners and morals. On the one hand, he is
intrigued by his new surroundings yet on the other hand, he passes moral
judgments. Finally, the loose morality of the East disgusts him and he
leaves.
As a middle class man he is between the other classes represented in the
novel so is an inbetweener or observer and commentator on what he
observes from both classes.
He is also an outsider in the east so he can observe the society as it
unfolds before him more objectively and critically.
His narration is non-linear as there are many time shifts. This means that
it is also fragmented and unreliable. The influences of alcohol also make
him an unreliable narrator at other points. (Typical post-modern
fragmented perspective-the TRUTH is seen as something that is not set
but is fragmented and objective)
East Egg: Old money-home to the Buchanans. East Egg is symbolic of the
wealthy power structures of American society. These people have had money for
generations and in the novel, they are portrayed as being careless and reckless
with the power that they have. The description of the Buchanans home creates
an image of a well established and impressive home with a history rooted in
British colonial wealth. This reminds us that these people have had wealth for
generations:
Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and
white Georgian colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. 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 the momentum of its run.
The front was broken up by a line of French windows, glowing now with
reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan
in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch. (Fitzgerald,
F.S, page 12.) (Notice the lexis-what is suggested...history, elegance, established
affluence etc.)
***Lexis/semantics/diction/language choices all mean the same thing
West Egg: New money-home to Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. West Egg is a
more modern and more ostentatious (flashy or showing off) version of East Egg.
Gatsbys mansion is described as follows: a colossal affair by any standard-it
was a factual imitation of some Hotel De Ville in Normandy, with a tower on
one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming
pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. (Fitzgerald, F.S, page 10)
(Notice the lexis here-the huge size of the house is emphasized with the use of
the adjective colossal and the newness of the mansion is also emphasized
through the image of the thin ivy. The house is also and imitation of the real thing
and it has no history, unlike the Buchanans house.)
Nick mentions that there is a significant difference between the two eggs:
I lived at West Egg, the-well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a
most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast
between them. (Fitzgerald, F.S, page 10)
(Why sinister? Is this foreshadowing the vast class divide that becomes clear
later in the novel?)
The use of adjectives to describe the almost empty garage and the
personification of the dust covered Ford car brings to mind the theme of the
corruption of the American Dream. Ford could be seen as a sign of the strength of
American consumerism yet this Ford car is crouched and covered in dust
therefore indicating that there is a consequence of this greed and the benefits are
certainly not available to the poor like Wilson, who is only left with the scraps.
Adjective choice emphasizes the fact that the apartment is crowded and stuffy
and being in there is claustrophobic. Fitzgerald uses pathetic fallacy to add to the
oppressive atmosphere, leading to the climax at the end of the chapter when
Tom breaks Myrtles nose. The furniture has images of Versailles; this creates a
symbolic link to Gatsbys house, which is an imitation of a French mansion. The
lower classes are seen to imitate sophistication in a clumsy obvious way, rather
than actually embodying it.
Could the hen image be a symbolic representation of Myrtle? She is, like the
photograph, over-enlarged, in other words, she is trying to fit into a world that
is too advanced for her class and she behaves in an artificial and exaggerated
way to try to fit in. Nick also observes that the hen looks like a stout lady2 and
Myrtle has already been described in the same way by him. In this chapter she
pecks at Tom like a hen to the point where he physically attacks her like an
aggressive cock (male hen).
The reading material in the apartment is also symbolic of class as well as
indicative of the shallow preoccupations of the Jazz age and the corruption of the
American Dream. The Town Tattle (gossip magazine) and the novel Simon Called
Peter (Fitzgerald thought of this novel as immoral) are symbolic of an obsession
with celebrity, wealth and self-seeking.
New York City:
I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the
satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines give to
the restless eye
At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness
sometimes, and felt it in others-poor young clerks who loitered in front of
windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner-young clerks
in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.
(Fitzgerald, P. 57)
The adjectives racy and adventurous imply that New York was a city that was
vibrant and exciting while the adjective and noun constant flicker implying that
this energy never stopped, something that appealed to the restless eye.
However this appeal seem to be a lonely existence and many people live parallel
lives that do not intersect and they seem to live these solitary lives, mostly early
in the morning and late at night as they cross paths to and from work. The verb
loitered and waiting suggest that these solitary people spend a lot of their
time alone and in limbo with no real purpose in life, in fact, they are wasting
their lives.
Structure:
Structure is a general term applied to the authors way of ordering and putting
together the novel. This can be from a large scale (The progression of the plot
throughout the entire novel) down to a very small scale (the order of words in a
particular sentence). Authors spend a great deal of time focusing on aspects of
structure and language in order to obtain just the right reaction in the reader.
When analyzing an extract, it is important to demonstrate that you understand
the importance of structure. Look out for the following:
Syntax-word order and use of punctuation in a sentence. Comment on the
use of commas, semi-colons (;), colons (:) and dashes (-). Comment on the
use of long rambling sentences, stream of consciousness, short abrupt
sentences etc.
The structure of the extract. How is information revealed? Are there
flashbacks? Is there foreshadowing? Are there switches between different
time frames or perspectives? Is there listing which can build up a sense of
excitement? (See description of preparation for the party in chapter 3)
The placement of the extract within the whole novel? Where is the extract
positioned and how is it important within the structure of the whole
novel?
Motifs: Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that
further enhance texts themes.
Figurative Language:
Always consider framing devices, mood setting, sound and image.
Framing devices: Foreshadowing and flashbacks
Mood setting: Pathetic fallacy (how the surroundings, weather and
atmosphere creates the mood)
Imagery: Personification, metaphors and similes
Anything that creates a more visual response in the reader, for example:
On weekends his Rolls Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and
from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his
station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.
Bibliography:
Fitzgerald, F.S. The Great Gatsby. Penguin Classics, 1990
Tanner, T. Introduction, The Great Gatsby. Penguin classics, 1990.
(http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/biography/biography_p4.html
www.sparknotes.com