THE GREAT GATSBY

1. THE GREAT GATSBY CHAPTER 4

2. In today’s lesson we will deepen our understanding of the following in relation to Chapter 4: • CHARACTERISATION – GATSBY, NICK, DAISY, JORDAN • STRUCTURE/STYLE • SYMBOLISM • THEME – FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM • SETTING – NEW YORK

3. CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY • “He hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford’, or swallowed it, or choked on it,...bothered him before” • Suggests that Gatsby is lying and further adds to the mystery surrounding him. This is continued: • “After that I lived like a young rajah in all capitals ...trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago.”

4. CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY • “With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter.” • DISCUSSION: What does Nick’s reaction to Gatsby’s story reveal? • STYLE/STRUCTURE: This quote again reminds us that Gatsby may not be what he seems – manufactured? • Nick’s impression is challenged when Gatsby shows him a medal he received in the war.

5. CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY • “To my astonishment, the thing had an authentic look” • Gatsby then shows Nick a picture of himself at Oxford and Nick says, • “Then it was all true.” • He now sees Gatsby in a different light. • This means his past is still a mystery as we are still unsure what to believe.

6. CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY • Discussion: Why does Gatsby spend so much time convincing Nick of who he is? Why is Nick so important to a man who seems to have everything?

7. CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY • Gatsby’s car is an extravagant automobile: ‘ terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns…….with fenders spread like wings we scattered light through half Astoria’ • Gatsby’s headlights are blazing even though it is sunny. • His car takes natural light and multiples it twelvefold. • Reinforcing the FLAMBOYANCE of a wealthy man who wants to be noticed. • QUESTION: Why does he want to be noticed?

8. CHARACTERISATION - GATSBY • DISCUSSION: • The incident with the policeman is a strange one. What does it suggest? • Does Gatsby have influence over people because of his past? • What does this add to the reader’s impressions of him?

9. GATSBY’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS • Mr Wolfshiem: • Represents the criminal world • He seems open about it in contrast to Gatsby’s secrecy, page 76: “His expressive nose” “Let the bastards come in here…” “Fine specimens of human molars” Gatsby is a “mystery”

10. GATSBY’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS • This acquaintance suggests that Gatsby’s business and his associates are shady and that they are up to no good. • DISCUSSION: Does this suggest that Gatsby’s fortune is gained from illegal activities? • How does this make us feel about Gatsby?

11. GATSBY’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS Gatsby’s association with Wolfshiem shows another side to his character. Implication that his lavish lifestyle is funded by crime. Gatsby symbolises both the luxury and corruption of the Jazz Age. Tom Buchanan also being in the restaurant conveys that even established families and OUTWARDLY respectable people ignore the Prohibition law. This reflects that New York’s corruption has spread throughout society.

12. GATSBY’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS • “They can’t get him, old sport. He’s a smart man” • This suggest admiration on Gatsby’s part.

13. GATSBY’S RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS • Jordan: • “Oh, it’s nothing underhand...Miss Baker’s a great sportswoman...she’d never do anything underhand” • The reader and Nick know that this is not the case – does this cast doubt on his judgements. • Gatsby’s opinion is coloured by the fact the he is trying to use Jordan to arrange a meeting between him and Daisy.

14. CHARACTERISATION - JORDAN • “His name was Jay Gatsby...even after I met him on Long Island I didn’t realize it was the same man”

15. CHARACTERISATION - JORDAN • The change to Jordan as narrator here is important. It enables us to have an insight into the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. • Jordan can tell the story better than Nick because she was there but also has the distance needed for a successful narrator because she was not directly involved.

16. CHARACTERISATION - DAISY • “She had a bottle of Sauterne in one hand and a letter in the other...’Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change’ her mine’...She wouldn’t let go of the letter...only let me have leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow.” • DISCUSSION: What impression does the reader get of Daisy’s feelings for Gatsby from this section?

17. CHARACTERISATION - DAISY • The incident before the wedding suggests that Daisy did care for Gatsby BUT.. • “Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three month trip to the South Seas.” • Her ability to forget her ‘true love’ so quickly suggests she is unfeeling. What does this add to (or confirm about) our initial impressions of Daisy?

18. Characterisation - Daisy • Her behaviour is contrasted to that of Gatsby. • She is briefly distressed, but marries Tom ‘without a shiver’. • Gatsby’s constancy highlights his loyal and romantic nature.

19. CHARACTERISATION - NICK • “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” • Nick’s perceptions of Gatsby’s character have changed – he is no longer just a show off • Have the reader’s perceptions of Gatsby changed because of this new information – how do we see him now?

20. CHARACTERISATION - NICK • “Then it was not merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendour.” • LINKS TO GATSBY CHARACTERISATION – Contradictions of possible criminal businessman to lovesick person desperately trying to secure the woman of his dreams.

21. STRUCTURE • Chapter divided into three parts: • Nick lists the party guests. He also lists their misbehaviour. This again links with the theme SHALLOWNESS OF THE UPPER CLASSES and the theme APPEARANCE vs REALITY • Gatsby’s lunch with Wolfshiem. We see the real Gatsby. What is he hiding with his outrageous stories? Does hisconnection with Wolfshiem suggest he may be a criminal?

22. STRUCTURE • Interestingly, Jordan’s description of Gatsby’s past romance with Daisy gives a different impression of Gatsby. It portrays him as innocent, romantic and shows another side to his personality. • This different impression adds another layer of mystery.

23. Structure • Jordan’s first person narrative makes Gatsby into a more sympathetic character. For Nick, Gatsby becomes a real person – ‘delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendour’. • Nick’s changing impression of Gatsby reminds reader that the novel is written from his point of view, which introduces the idea of bias.

24. Structure • Jordan’s story also suggests none of the characters have changed: • Gatsby is still obsessed with Daisy and continues to have a ‘romantic’ desire fo her. • Tom’s cheating clearly began early in his marriage and has continued throughout. • Daisy is easily led. She initially decides not to marry Tom, but is then persuaded to go ahead with the wedding.

25. STRUCTURE/STYLE • “He’s a bootlegger,” said the young ladies ... “One time he killed a man who had found out that he was a nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.” • Again the mystery surrounding Gatsby is emphasised from the very beginning of the chapter.

26. STRUCTURE/STYLE • DISCUSSION: The following words come directly after the quote above. What does it add to the themes of the novel so far. • “Reach me a rose, honey, and pour me a last drop into that there crystal glass.”

27. Structure / Style • The fact that accusations that he killed a man are made in between drinks from ‘that there crystal glass’ indicates that the relaxed guests have no concern about their host’s potential corruption – illustrates THEME Failure of the American Dream / THEME SHALLOWNESS OF THE AMERICAN UPPER CLASSES

28. STRUCTURE/STYLE • Fitzgerald listed the guests in order to give the impression of the nation’s wealthiest people. • This reminds the reader again of Gatsby’s wealth. • This reminder of Gatsby’s wealth is continued in “gorgeous car”. This suggests to the reader opulence.

29. STRUCTURE/STYLE • “peculiarly American” • This comment is in direct contrast with “Old sport” which is very typically English. This again adds a mystery to Gatsby. • DISCUSSION: In what way does this add to the sense of manufacture about Gatsby? Is there any other indications of this in the novel.

30. STRUCTURE/STYLE • “They shook hands briefly, and a strained, unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby’s face.” • Foreshadowing – this adds to the mystery. The reader questions why he is embarrassed. • Soon find out that this incident foreshadows the revelation we are about to hear.

31. SYMBOLISM • “It was a rich cream colour, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length...triumphant hat boxes...terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns...sort of green leather conservatory.” • DISSCUSSION: Identify words/phrases that connote wealth and size.

32. SYMBOLISM • The use of ‘green leather conservatory’ is using terms we normally associate with a house • This further suggests the size of the car and Gatsby’s wealth – is his car worth more (bigger than) some people’s houses?

33. SYMBOLISM • “Then it was not merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night.” • The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. Gatsby reached out to it in chapter 1. This symbolises him reaching out for Daisy. • Represents his love for Daisy • DISCUSSION: What is suggested by the word ‘aspire’?

34. STRUCTURE/SYMBOLISM • Jordan and Nick “Her wan, scornful mouth smiled, and so I drew her up again closer, this time to my face.” • This gives the reader an interesting contrast of someone who is actually physically there for Nick • Contrasted with Gatsby’s elevated passion for an idealised and distant object of desire.

35. Theme: Failure of the American Dream • Initially, Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy can be seen to symbolise the American Dream. The image at the end of Chapter One of him as a lone figure, reaching out for the green light, shows him striving for the object of his desires……..

36. But….. • The fact that Gatsby strives to win Daisy, who is shallow, snobbish and fickle, reflects the corruption of the American Dream – it has become focused on the shallow pursuit of wealth. • Gatsby doesn’t care about breaking up daisy’s marriage – ‘Nothing underhand’. The American Dream has become about individual satisfaction, not reaping the rewards of hard work.

37. SETTING • “Then the Valley of the Ashes opened out on both sides of us, and I had a glimpse of Mrs Wilson straining at the garage pump with panting vitality as we went by.” • This reminds us of the gulf between rich and poor – the contrast of Gatsby’s opulent car and the desolate valley of the ashes.

38. SETTING • DISCUSSION: Look at the underlined section – what does this add to our initial impressions of Myrtle.

39. SETTING - New York • Seems bright and full of possibilities • “Over the great bridge” • “In its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty of the world” • “Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge…anything at all” • “Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder