1. The GREAT GATSBY

2. Chapter 1 Analysis COLORS inverted archetypes
White – impurity or loss of innocence
Daisy, Jordan in white billowing dresses
Tom in a “cheerful red and white house”
Whiteness is ironic
Tom disregards traditional marriage vows
Daisy “beautiful white girlhood”

3. COLORS inverted archetypes
“rosy-colored space”
Represents a fairy-tale, ephemeral quality, unreal, illusion
PASTELS

4. Associated with decadence, decay, desolation and waste
COLORS
Grey images
Associated with decadence, decay, desolation and waste
Wasted vitality, wasted morals, wasted dreams
Jordan Baker has “gray sun-strained eyes”
And she looks out of a “wan” or pale “discontented face”

5. Archetypal symbol of death or dying
Yellow
Archetypal symbol of death or dying
Jordan has “autumnal-leaf yellow” hair
Autumn images connects her with decadence – death of morality

6. Green – ambivalent interpretations
introduced first as the light at the end of a dock
Typically associated with growth, spring, and new life
Signals “go!, go! go!”
Color of money
All of these apply to The Great Gatsby

7. Green What or who is the green light? What does it mean?
Primarily connected with Daisy
She turns out to be an unworthy dream
What or who is the green light?
What does it mean?
Why does Gatsby have his arms stretched out to it?

8. Gold & Silver
Gatsby appears under the “silver pepper of the stars” looking longingly at “a single green light”
Appearing almost like a glittering god
Gatsby often wears silver and gold
At one point he wears a flannel suit, silver shirt and gold-colored tie
The point of the descriptions is to reinforce the idea that he is God-like (a demi-god)

9. Nick Carraway as the narrator
Quotes his father in beginning “…you feel like criticizing…”
Advantages he alludes to is not monetary
But “a sense of fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth.”
What are fundamental decencies here?

10. Reliable narrator Immediately gains confidence of reader
“privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.”
“riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.”
Nick is trustworthy

11. He represents traditional values from America’s past
He acknowledges that Gatsby “represented everything” for which he had “an unaffected scorn”, but he finds “something gorgeous” in him too
A dream-like quality

12. It’s not Gatsby that Nick rejects when he returns to the Midwest
Rather it’s “what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams”

13. Fitzgerald allusions “Midas and Morgan and Maecenas”
From myth, Greek civilization and recent past
Nick buys books for bond business with promise in his job
They are on shelf “in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets”

14. Alludes to country’s founders
“guide, a pathfinder, an original settler” when a newcomer asks him for directions
By juxtaposing money tycoons to original “pathfinders” Fitzgerald sets up the conflict between the untainted American Dream and the subsequent obsession with materialism and $

15. Further contrast w/ Midwest
Middle West as “the ragged edge of the universe”
A rugged pioneer image contrasted with the sophistication of the East, specifically New York City

16. Original settlers-who came west
Represents the quintessential work ethic while the moneyed people and their subsequent generations represent the consumption ethic

17. EAST EGG & WEST EGG
Bird’s eye view is identically contoured land formations shaped like enormous eggs and separated by water
They are dissimilar in every way except size and shape

18. WEST EGG where Gatsby & Nick live
“the less fashionable of the two”
Nouveau riche “new $”
Implies lack of refinement or class
Houses are random
Bungalows in between mansions
No apparent housing codes

19. And “eclectic melting pot” neighborhood
WEST EGG
And “eclectic melting pot” neighborhood
Takes on symbolism and character of the Old West,
The land discovered in the pure fulfillment of dreams

20. EAST EGG
Elite
Comes across as superficial and smug
To get from E. Egg to W. Egg the road must pass through the Valley of Ashes (ch. 2)

21. EAST EGG where Daisy & Tom live
“glittered” with “white palaces”
Old money
Well-groomed houses and lawns
Implies well-groomed and well-bred occupants who, at least superficially, are gentile and classy

22. AMERICAN DREAM Distorted Leads to worship at unworthy shrines
Beauty, youth, and pleasure become icons
Restless and unfulfilled lives
Ennui [an’-wee]
Pursuit of “ideals”
“idealization” and “idealizing”

23. C:\Documents and Settings\pbooth\Desktop\gatsby social groups.asf

24. Helps to visualize the characters
TAGS-
descriptive or recurring words/phrases associated with a principal characters
Helps to visualize the characters

25. Tom-physical tag Glory days of football career at Yale
Forever living in afterglow
“string of ponies”
Adulthood is extension of collegiate activities –good time Tom-
“great pack of muscle” and “aggressive”

26. Daisy-voice tag Low, thrilling voice
Luring people to “lean toward her”
Mythological allusion – Sirens lured sailors with their enchanting voices
“exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain”
Charming power for her

27. Jordan- chin tag
Chin is lifted a little as if she is balancing something on it
Has a “wan, charming discontented face”
Jauntiness is a word used often in association with her (lively; springy)

28. Houses-Buchanan’s & Gatsby’s
Gatsby’s estate - his house has “halls and salons and verandas”
High Gothic library, paneled with carved English oak”
A “feudal silhouette against the sky”
Somewhat of a period piece reminiscent of the past

29. Buchanan’s “cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion.”
Gleams with brightness
The lawn starting at the beach and running toward the front door “for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens.”
Fitzgerald's poetic language is used throughout novel

30. Image at chapter’s end
Gatsby, trembling, standing with outstretched arms, looking at the blinking green light at the end of a dock
Mystique and mystery surround him
Reinforces dreamlike quality of this hero on a quest to attain his dream