The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby

2. Pay It Forward Results • Most people reported that it was a rewarding experience, despite some negative comments from the beneficiaries • Those that were thanked as much as they would have liked tended to think the project was a waste of time, basing the project’s merit off immediate results • The homeless guy by Starbucks and the Salvation Army became tired of hearing “Pay it Forward.” That is a good thing • The grading scale was very, very light in honor of your “forced” graciousness. • Spend the first five minutes of class studying your notes for the Chapter quiz. I hope you read.

3. Which do you value most in people, an open mind or honest opinion? What is your opinion of wealthy people? Does it matter if their money is inherited or earned? Why? Chapter 1 Questions to Consider

4. Nick’s father advises him remember the advantages he had in life before he criticizes anyone. Therefore, he reserves judgments and is invited into the confidence of others. • However, Nick often finds himself accompanying people he dislikes and never comments on their behavior. Chapter 1

5. Note that the story begins in the summer. It represents vibrance, beauty and joy. Observe how the story changes as the seasons change. Symbolism of seasons

6. Nick describes Tom as physically powerful, confident, arrogant, and unconscious of how dumb he is. • Daisy is described as beautiful but naïve and weak. • Note how each one of Fitzgerald’s descriptions of people are tinged with flaw. • Remember back to Julius Ceasar, and his tragic flaw, that characteristic that leads to his eventual demise. Attempt to find those of the characters. Descriptions of the wealthy

7. Fitzgerald’s narrator is often annoyed by rich people, yet drawn to them. He sees the ugliness of their world, yet he cannot help being fascinated by it, maybe even wanting part of it at times. Ultimately his descriptions of their character make their lives seem shallow. Wealthy people

8. East Egg is meant to represent “old money” that has been passed down through families. It is a symbol of the Eastern half of the U.S. Daisy and Tom live in East Egg. West Egg is meant to represent “new money” that has been acquired by the individual in their life time. It is a symbol of the Western half of the U.S. Gatsby and Nick live in West Egg. Note the differences in the character traits. Symbols of east & West Egg

9. Chapter 2 highlights the immorality and immaturity of the wealthy and the wanna be wealthy in 1920’s New York. • Tom arrogantly flaunting his affair. • Myrtle speaking condescending of a lower class she belongs to • The guests laughing at the illegitimate couple’s wife and husband • Drinking until they pass out • Rumors about others (Daisy’s Catholicism) • Chapter 2 is also a testament the varied situations that Nick sits through that he disproves of and never speaks his mind. Chapter 2

10. I’m Rod and I like to party. Chapter 3

11. Chapter 3 is a commentary on the Jazz era society and its conduct at parties. • People composed as if they where at an “amusement park” • Nick only begins enjoying the party after he starts drinking. • The promise of a relationship between Nick and Jordan begins. However, Nick must first break off his engagement with the woman at home. • Nick admits his cardinal virtue is his honesty, yet he is dating women unknown to his fiancee. • The mystery of Jay Gatsby continues, as Nick’s admiration of the man grows. • One woman states he killed a man • One man claims he was a German spy • Jordan claims that she heard he was an Oxford man, but does not believe him • We know that he was in WWI with Nick Chapter 3

12. “It takes two to make an accident.” Jordan uses this phrase to explain her poor driving. However, it becomes a theme throughout the story. As we read, examine the relationships between the people in the story, and ask yourself if anyone is changed for the better. Nick claims that dishonesty is “something you never blame deeply in a woman,” yet he claims his cardinal virtue is honesty. Keep track of how many lies are told, and why people lie. Nick claims that Jordan does so to keep “an advantage” over people. Is this the only reason people lie. Chapter 3- Deeper thoughts

13. The benefit of text evidence- one can always use words to prove their point The importance of the rebuttal- more rounds were won or lost during the rebuttal round than the opening answer. If everyone else is wrong, then I must be right. An inability to connect the question to one’s interpretation or opening statement lead to confusion throughout. Made the rebuttal stage even more important. Thoughts on the debate

14. Gatsby gives Nick a bit of background information. • He is the product of a wealthy family in the Midwest, who died leaving him an inheritance “I am the son of some wealthy people in the mid-west– all dead now.” • He tried to die in WW “trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago”, yet ended up being promoted and decorated for his service. Received service medal from Montenegro for valor • He went to Oxford University- shows Nick a picture of him and some friends at the gate as evidence • He did the police chief a favor, leading the chief to give a card that prevents him from being ticketed. Chapter 4 highlights

15. We are introduced to character of Meyer Wolsheim • He is a gambler who fixed the 1919 World Series • He sees the city as a place “filled with faces dead and gone” • Has human molars as cuff links • He has known Gatsby for several years • He claims Gatsby is an “Oggsford man” and states he will not even look at another man’s wife. • Unclear what his connection is to Gatsby Meyer wolfsheim

16. Gatsby refuses to shake Tom’s hand • Jordan relates that Gatsby and Daisy dated during the war. • During his absence, Daisy married Tom, despite wanting to change her mind- Tried to run away, tried to give the pearls back “Tell ‘em al Daisy’s changed her mind” (note the poor grammar in the stressed state) • Within weeks after the marriage she seemed to desperately love Tom. • She stayed with Tom after he had a car accident while out on the town with another woman. • Gatsby bought his house across the bay from hers, and throws his grand parties in hopes that Daisy would walk through his door and see what he has made of himself. • “He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he starlight to casual moths so that he could “come over” one afternoon to a stranger’s garden.” – romantic or creepy? Daisy

17. “There are only the pursued, the pursuing , the busy, and the tired.” She is a “hard, limited person who deals in universal skepticism.” Jordan is a scornful character whose charm comes in the difficulty in getting to know her. Is there a character from Fitzgerald’s life that reminds you of Jordan? Daisy? Jordan

18. Gatsby informs Nick that he “carr(ies) on a little business on the side” that may net Nick more money than he is used to. Nick feels “under different circumstances that conversation might have been one of the crises of my life.” Chapter 5

19. Daisy arrives at Nick’s house as Gatsby wanders around in terror at the meeting. Gatsby even runs out of the house at one point. During the meeting, Gatsby’s nerves make him nearly unable to speak, as one whose dreams are within his reach and he is afraid to break them, like the clock on the mantle. After whispered words, the mood seems to change. It is unknown what is said, but given their history, it is likely that something was said about the rekindling of their relationship. Gatsby takes Daisy to see his house, that he apparently bought working only three years, bringing her to tears with the variety of his shirts. Daisy is impressed with his money. Daisy’s entrance into his home seems to cause a re-evaluation within Gatsby, whose entire fortune has been utilized to bring Daisy within his reach. Her voice is described as “deathless” a heightened form of perfection where nothing can go wrong. CHAPTER 5: THE REUNION

20. “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought that house.” “Its been five years in November.” “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.” “I said small town…He is no good to us if Detroit is his idea of small town.” “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams--- not through fault of her own but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.” Closer look At Gatsby

21. “All the lights were going on in West Egg now; the electric trains, men-carrying, were plunging home through the rain from New York. It was the hour of profound human change and excitement was generating on the air.” A symbol of the growth in the West and the change it brings to America Growth of West egg

22. What is the business that Gatsby tries to involve Nick in that scares Nick a little? What words were said between Gatsby and Daisy, and is it enough to separate her from Tom? Is Daisy the one for Gatsby, or is she another possession for him to obtain? Do you find Gatsby’s actions up to this point “romantic” or “obsessive”? What is the difference between the two? Chapter 5; remaining questions

23. Romantic / Creepy- 1st • Flowers • Buying Dinner • Flowers • Song • FacebookCreepin’ • Shrine/ Hair Doll • High Shorts Old Guy

24. Romantic/ Creepy- 2nd • Chivalry • Deep Breathing • “I like the way you look out your window.” • “Somehow” obtaining your phone number • Calling someone the “Pilsbury Dough Boy” • Constant staring • Looking creepy • Conor-like activity

25. Romantic/Creepy- 3rd • Asking for someone’s name (Attractive) • Winking • Pick up lines • Ask for your number • Winning prizes • Asking for someone’s name (Unattractive) • Following someone • Unknown people on Facebook • “Hey, do I know you?” • Winking • Kissing someone’s hand • Pick up lines • Asking for your number • Staring at someone across the room • Child voice

26. Romantic/Creepy- 4th • Flowers • Songs • Chivalry • Pick-up lines • Notes • “I love you” • Hugging • Whispering in your ear • Songs • Following • Staring at someone across the room • Weird Noises • Yelling at them • Pick-up lines • Notes

27. Romantic/Creepy- 5th • Flowers (Attractive) • Staring • Being nice to kids (not too nice) • Smiling • Gifts • Songs • Playing instruments (Guitar, Pianos) • Notes • Secret Admirer • Flowers (Unattractive) • Winking • Following • Taking Pictures • Staring • Smiling • Gifts • Standing too close • Songs • Unasked numbers • Notes • Secret Admirer • Coach Hurst-like action

28. At seventeen years of age, James Gatz boarded a boat with the millionaire, Dan Cody. “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people.” Reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s father. He had known women at a young age and had become disappointed at the ease at which he could earn their affections. “Since they spoiled him he became contemptuous of them.” “His heart was in a constant, turbulent riot.” College bored as he became “dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny.” On Cody’s death, Gatsby leaves Cody’s boat with none of the money he was promised, but a first rate education in debauchery. Chapter 6

29. Jay Gatsby and George Jung George was born to a poor family in New England, who lived pay check to pay check. George swore he would never live that way. He was an average high school student, but a gifted leader. So, he took his hobby, pot smoking, and turned it into a $250,000 a month transportation industry. By the early 80’s Jung had joined the Medellin Cartel with the help of his prison cellmate and was the major importer of cocaine into the United States. After being sold out by his friends, Jung was jailed for life plus 135 years. George Jung is now the subject of the movie “Blow.” Modern Connections

30. Tom is upset that Daisy knows Gatsby at all. “Women run around too much these days to suit me.” “Grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably saddening to look at new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.” “But what had amused me then turned septic in the air now.” “The rest offended her- and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion. She was appalled by West Egg… She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand.” Fitzgerald’s comment on the French Riviera and the debauchery that took place there. The party and prose

31. Tom feels Gatsby is “just some big bootlegger” Daisy spends the entire party talking with Gatsby while Tom talks to the guests. However, Gatsby wants the Daisy of five years ago “just as it were five years ago” When Nick responds that “You cant repeat the past,” Gastby explodes with “Why of course you can.”– “I am going to fix everything the way it was before.” “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath his mind never romp again like the mind of God.”- Daisy was one of the first women he did not disdain; she represents a part of his dream for his life.

32. “But they made no sound and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever.” Note between the end of the chapter and the description of the party how the story’s tone has changed from one of excitement and possibility to one of strain, desperation, disappointment.

33. Projects are due tomorrow Book need to be turned in by the end of the week Reminders

34. Nick and Gatsby travel to Tom and Daisy’s place for lunch Daisy introduces Gatsby to her daughter, whom does not seem impressed “Where’s daddy?” “You always look so cool.” Tom discovers that Daisy is in love with Gatsby Tom takes Gatsby’s car to the city He stops at George Wilson’s gas station to discover that he has locked Myrtle in her bedroom. Myrtle is incensed with jealousy, believing Jordan is Daisy. Chapter 7

35. “Why don’t you let her alone old sport,” Gatsby remarked. “You are the one who wanted to come to town.” – Very subtle beginning to an argument “I hear you are an Oxford man.” – “I went there.” – Gatsby only visited Oxford for a period of a few months “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions”– Tom continuing in his hypocrisy. Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy never loved him; Tom insists that Daisy loves him and that he loves her- Daisy is noticeably silent. Daisy “at last realized what she was doing- and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.” Chapter 7

36. “I did love him once- but I loved you too.” – Spells the end of Gatsby argument. Gatsby wanted to believe that Daisy was all his and never belonged to anyone else Tom accuses Gatsby of bootlegging- Gatsby responds “What about it?” After accusing Gatsby of scaring someone into silence, “that unfamiliar yet recognizable look was back again in Gatsby’s face.” – Has Gatsby killed someone? “only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away” Chapter 7

37. Nick realizes today is his 30th birthday • “Thirty– the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief case of enthusiasm, thinning hair. Chapter 7

38. The subject changes to that of the “death car” The car hit and killed Myrtle Wilson without stopping The car was a “big, yellow car.” Tom believes Gatsby hit and killed Myrtle without ever stopping Nick finds Gatsby, dressed in his pink suit, watching Daisy’s house When Gatsby hears of Myrtle, he is un-phased Gatsby confesses that it was Daisy driving the car He claims Myrtle ran it them thinking “it was someone she knew” Nick leaves Gatsby watching Tom and Daisy who “weren’t unhappy” Chapter 7

39. “Her voice is full of money.” – “ the inexhaustible charm of it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it.” • Money becomes a Siren’s song, luring people in only to dash their hopes. Chapter 7

40. “she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light.” Daisy “was the first nice girl he had ever known.” “He was at present a penniless young man without a past, and any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders.” Gatsby “let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself.” “He found he had committed himself to the following of a grail.”– “surprised to find I loved her old sport.” Daisy was impatient for Gatsby “She wanted her life shaped now,” by “love” “money” or “practicality.” Chapter 8

41. On leaving Daisy, Gatsby “knew that he had lost that part of (his life), the freshest and the best, forever.” “You’re worth the whole damn bunch of them put together.” – “because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.” Nick ends his relationship with Jordan, “I know I didn’t care.”

42. George had seen Myrtle come from town with a broken nose and found the dog collar in her drawer. Begins search for the “yellow car” Believes that man driving the yellow car intentionally murdered Myrtle. “You may fool me, but you can’t fool God.” Staring at the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg George Wilson goes on a search of the murderer

43. George shoots Gatsby in the pool and then shoots himself Nick believed Gatsby “paid a high price for living too long with a single dream”

44. The police investigation found talks to Catherine, Myrtle’s sister, who tells the police that her sister never knew Gatsby or any other man than her husband. Nick calls it “character”- makes George look like a “deranged man” No one comes to check on Gatsby but Nick Only calls from police and Slagle, a fellow criminal Chapter 9

45. Gatsby’s father, Henry C Gatz, arrives to bury his son He shows Nick Gatsby’s early agenda Kipsplinger calls up Gatsby’s house, not to give his condolences, but to retrieve his old pair of shoes. Wolfsheim remembers back to when Gatsby first arrived and was so broke he had no other clothes but his army uniform. Nick finalizes his break up with Jordan; she calls him a fellow bad driver and accuses him of being dishonest.

46. Tom confesses to telling George Wilson that Gatsby was the driver of the yellow car Nick refuses to point out that it is not true. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed things up and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” Daisy and tom

47. GREAT GATSBY & The American dream

48. Gatsby instills Daisy with a kind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor possesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its object—money and pleasure. Searching for happiness where none can be found The american dream

49. Throughout the novel, the 1920’s is represented as a era of moral decay, both in the behavior of partygoers who behave as if they where in an amusement park, and the characters in their daily lives (adultery, bootlegging). The people of West Egg (new money) are represented as uncivilized, gaudy, and ostentatious, as noted by Gatsby’s pink suit, oversized mansion and Rolse Royce. The people of East Egg (old money) are presented as cultured, but careless. “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever held them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” Battle of the classes

50. The story begins in the summer with the hope of new life and new possibilities The hottest day of the year comes during the climax when all truths are brought to light. Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion corresponds to the cessation of rain and the reappearance of the sun. Chapter 8, where Gatsby is shot, comes in the fall. The final chapter finds Nick reminiscing in the winter. Seasons