TGG quotes

• ironic as Nick is an unreliable narrator

• the adjective/determiner suggests that Nick doesn’t fully trust his friends?→ if so, then why is he friends with them→ odd and unreliable behaviour

• unreliable narrator→ drinking was popular at the time

• either Nick is lying (trying to impress us) or that night actually was his second time

• why are they day drinking?

• the use of the hyphen indicates that Nick doesn’t want to admit that he lives there

• the determiner adjective “less fashionable”→ ironic as he lives next to Gatsby→ unreliable narrator as he used an odd word→ links to all new trends in the 1920s

• fashionable= a temporary word, the whole Roaring twenties is only temporary, a phase

• Nick knows he’s different, but what his father says forces Nick to acknowledge his privilege (unlike other characters”

• the noun ‘advantages’ is confusing as Nick has less physical wealth than the other characters however, maybe it’s not about physical wealth→ maybe Nick thinks he has more advantages in terms of experience and being expose to different social experiences→ possibly makes Nick believe he is superior to the other characters→ Nick doesn’t criticise Gatsby because (maybe) he pities the fact that Gatsby has limited his life to one person

• although Gatsby achieved his American Dream (not just wealth but obtaining Daisy [despite the fact it was only momentarily]) he sacrificed the opportunity to form true friendships, leaving his funeral empty

• suggests that no one actually cared for Gatsby→ they only cared about his parties, wealth and the association with his reputation

• short declarative

• declarative is quite isolated much like how nobody came to the funeral

• Gatsby’s sacrifice for the American dream resulted only in his isolation

• Fitzgerald’s intention could have been to create an isolated atmosphere displaying the audience how lonely it was

  • Short declarative also suggests quite a disappointed tone

• collective pronoun “us”- makes Gatsby’s struggles universal→ as well as Nick’s and Daisy’s

• cyclical structure of the “green light”→ highlights repetitiveness of the American dream?

  • time frame “year by year”- reference to the pursuit of the American dream, links to the green light motif (established in chapter 1), everything Gatsby did was for ‘his’ American Dream (Daisy)

• “one of those men”- stereotypical→ nick trying to push his negative opinion of Tom onto us

• the rest of the quote clearly highlights nick’s dislike towards tom→ juxtaposes himself from earlier on when he said what his dad said has been turning over in his head but he’s neglected that→ it’s confusing

• metaphor→ Tom putting an end to daisy’s fantasy→ reference/foreshadow of tom ending Daisy’s relationship with Gatsby

gender theme

• daisy wants her daughter to be ignorant→ ignorant is bliss

• wants her daughter to be unaware of the bad things in life as daisy is aware of the hardship women have to face

• wanting to protect her daughter from the sexism and prejudice women face

• noun “green”= envy, jealousy but also hope and new beginnings→ highlights Gatsby’s hope for TAD

• cyclical structure (mentioned at the end of the book)→ symbolic for Gatsby’s life, his whole life has revolved around Daisy trying to obtain her as she is his American Dream

• alliteration “grotesque gardens”→

• repetition of noun “ashes” throughout the sentence describes a ghost like atmosphere→ idea of a ghost town, like everyone is already dead

• symbolise those who didn’t get the American dream→ people who didn’t benefit from the economic boom

• “boats against the current”- idea of resistance, despite Gatsby’s persistence, TAD still resists

• hopeful tone

• quote sums up Gatsby’s story→ Gatsby is the boat, trying to erase his past and obtain Daisy but he is unable to do either→ works hard to try regain what he lost (Daisy) but fails to do so→ current pushed them together but the forces pulled them apart?

• critique of TAD→ no matter how hard you work towards your dream, the dream is always out of reach

• the characters dreams were always unreachable with the forces against them, resisting them

• verb “clutching”→ displays his desperation despite Daisy still being married to Tom, technically unreachable→ displays a pattern of dramatic language used to describe Gatsby- symbolises his downfall

• links to theme of TAD, Daisy is his American Dream but she is out of his reach

• when daisy picks tom, gatsby has nothing left to live for

• verb “sobbed”- crying over shirts= very excessive, highlights Daisy’s materialistic views and desires

• quote highlights Daisy’s materialistic views and desires, implies Daisy’s priority is wealth

• the shirts could symbolise Gatsby’s journey and how far he’s come→ daisy crying because she knows she can’t be with him (she’s attracted to his wealth) now or can’t be with him because of how he got to where he is now→ shirts could symbolise the life daisy could have had if she had waited for Gatsby like she said she would

• Daisy’s arrival to Nick’s house

• noun “lilac”- very feminine, usually associated with the flower or colour- the flower symbolises purity, innocence and happiness and tranquility- symbolic of Daisy and her personality- reference to flower links to Daisy (botanical link)

• Daisy symbolised by flowers throughout novel→ metaphor for her and Gatsby’s relationship. Flowers are temporary, only able to keep them for a certain amount of time→ like daisy and gatsby, gastby only gets daisy for a certain amount of time before she abscises (sheds her petals) and eventually dies (leaves gatsby)