Character

describe 3 characters and explain how they change throughout the novel

Describe three key characters and explain how they change throughout the novel. Nick: Nick Carraway begins in the novel as a young, hopeful businessman. Nick has ambitions and explains, “…so I decided to go east and learn the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business so I supposed it could support one more single man.”. This shows us that he has hope in the idea of this new life in New York, in business, where his ‘American dream’ can be accomplished. Throughout the story, his view on the old money society differs from desire and captivation to disgust and disbelief. This is captured during the story, when he says “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life,”, he is starting to realise that the ‘perfect’ lives of these people are much more flawed and cheated than they appear to the rest of society. He is aware that although he is in the room with these ‘high-class people’ he is not really in there with them, as they are of another status, and although he is ‘repelled’ by them he is also enchanted by the lifestyle they live. I think the fact that he has a deep desire for a life like theirs also influences his view on certain parts of the story, almost choosing to be unaware so it does not seem as bad. This is him changing because at the beginning he is set on being unbiased and honest but the effect these people have on him is clouding his judgment, this is presented when he is suspicious of Gatsby’s illegal scheme he chooses to see him as unflawed. Nick starts hopeful as seen above but as he enters his 30s, it is obvious after the dark side he has been exposed to (deaths, betrayal, lies) he is seen to lose his ambitions and naivety. At the end he eventually distinguishes the contrast between the good and the bad when he tells Gatsby “they’re a rotten crowd… you’re worth the damn bunch put together…”

Gatsby: The obvious change seen of Gatsby is his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. He changed his name because his old name was not the person he aspired to be so with his new name came new things. He decided to leave his old life behind him when he changed his name and when exposed to his ‘American Dream’. He so desperately wants to be apart of the high-class society consisting of only old money and this dream he chases changes him. In the beginning, he is a young, hopeful man in the military as soon as he meets Daisy and realises he cannot provide the life she craves he changes everything in order to have her and fulfil his dream. He lives an innocent life behind and enters the world of crime (bootlegging). He makes a fortune in this and adopts mannerisms and objects of a high-class person such as his phrase ‘old sport’, his many riches and a huge house. However, his optimism and hope for his life with daisy does not fault all through his 5 years without her. This is seen when he questions Nick, “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” . This just shows that he really believed all this time that he could make things the way they were with money hence his motivation for wealth. It is only until his last few moments where he rests in his pool and has an epiphany that daisy is not as amazing as his imagination led him to believe and realises that he merely loves the idea of her. However, by this time it is too late and he takes the fall for Daisy’s murder and is killed by Mr Wilson.

Daisy: At the beginning of the novel Daisy Buchanan comes across as a the perfect example of a rich, white and young woman in the 1920s. She seems so naive, ditzy and superficial that you almost feel pity for her. Right from the beginning, she is portrayed as materialistic and this aspect does not change but we are exposed to this on a deeper level during the book. She is very irresponsible and does not want to face reality this is seen as she is so vague and blunt about her daughter, which should be a big aspect of her life but is more such an accessory. The situation in which she seems to be oblivious to is that her husband is having an affair and she has no control or power to do anything about it. However as the novel progresses you see that she does have choices and it becomes more clear that her reputation and illusion that surrounds her is more important her self respect or happiness. This is shown when she chooses Tom over Gatsby at the end and although Gatsby may have as much money as Tom, he is not apart of the ‘old-money’ society that she craves so bad. It seems as though she has nothing to do and is bored as she says “Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ “, it seems a peculiar thing to watch for if you had better things to do, which it seems she does not. We as an audience change our views on her as the story goes on because it becomes obvious that she is very self-absorbed and cares only for her self (reputation, money, clothes), whereas Gatsby would do anything for her and it is frustrating because it is clearly not mutual. An example of this is that she plays him along and paints an image in his head that she will be with him in the end but in reality, she does not choose Gatsby. This is another example of how irresponsible she is because she also has a fantasy of being with Gatsby but does not want to comprehend the fact that she will never leave him, instead she avoids all sort of responsibility and real life.

Identify how each of the characters present the idea of illusion in the text. Describe how they concealed their true self form from other characters in the novel. explain what helped you uncover their illusion.

Gatsby

illusions he created in his head:

• money is the key to his american dream
• true love shared betweeen him and daisy
• he can reverse time and go back
• rich family and up bringing (oxford, mid-west… sanfrancisco?)

Gatsby is the definition of illusion in this novel. His very name ‘Jay Gatsby’ is an illusion of the poor, low-class farmer boy ‘James Gatz’. He changed almost every aspect of his life in the quest of his American dream. This is shown in his name change, his background life when he tells Nick ” I’ll tell you God’s truth… I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west.”, he is talking of his ‘rich’ upbringing, this is not the case tho, growing up in the Mid-West ‘San Francisco’, going to Oxford college (lie), etc. When he changed his name, he changed his way of life in the hope and way you would expect “…that a 17-year-old would be likely to invent…” as said by Nick. His presentation (expensive suits), accessories (cars, homes), events (huge parties) and money was ALL in hope that Daisy would notice him, none of it was purely because he wanted it but because she would. He put up a show of being popular and famous by throwing these huge parties with hundreds of people. We later discover this was an illusion he created for himself and other peoples views on him. We find that he is actually very lonely and uncared for when no one turns up for his funeral except Nick and owl eyes. He is controlled by the illusion that Daisy and he share a deep love for one another. Because he is from a low-class background he felt the need to hide that and create lies such as going to Oxford College (quickly whipping out his ‘picture’ from it as proof) and his family being ‘all dead’, in order to present himself as an honest, wealthy man (not a came up bootlegger from a poor family). This is also shown when ‘Owl Eyes’ is in his library and becomes aware of the depth Gatsby goes into as he has real books instead of cardboard cutouts. Not only does Gatsby create an illusion for everybody but also him self when he believes that he can “…repeat the past? Why of course you can!”

Daisy:

Daisy also creates an illusion for herself, this is with Gatsby. Firstly she creates the illusion when they first meet and become madly in love with each other, she leads him to believe that she will wait for him after the war. This does not happen as she quickly marries Tom after a year. Then 5 years later when Daisy and Gatsby have an affair, she creates the idea that her and Gatsby will be together. Gatsby longs so desperately for daisy that he falls for her illusion and his judgement throughout is heavily clouded by his drive for his american dream with Daisy. Daisy never does leave Tom for Gatsby and this is confirmed when she cannot provide Gatsby with the statement that she “..never loved him…” (Tom).

Nick:

In the beginning, before Nick has met Gatsby, Nick assured us the audience that he would be honest and free from judgment, however, this is contradicted almost straight away. I think the illusion Nick created in his own head is the idea that he is “…inclined to reserve all judgments…”. We as an audience can quickly see that he is actually very judgmental when he When Nick is asked about Gatsby from fellow party members he does not know what to say and acts like he is not fazed or amused by the rumours that fly around Gatsby. These include that he ‘…killed a man…”, “…he’s a German spy…” and “…I would hate him to have anything on me…”. This builds an illusion of him in Nicks mind before he has even met Gatsby. So when he does meet Gatsby for the first time he is instantly compelled by Gatsby’s “… one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it…” him because of this great illusion he has created in his head. The illusion that he creates of gatsby shields his view of Gatsby’s faults and he sees him as ‘great’ because of his ability to attain things he dreams of.

Describe 3 important relationships in the text and how they were presented as being ‘false’.

Daisy and Gatsby

Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby relationship is presented as false. When Gatsby fell in ‘love’ with her 5 years back, he was captured by the idea of her rather than her actual self. He liked her more and more as he became aware of her ‘value’, “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy, it increased her value in his eyes.” and her “…wealthy status,”, he pursued her more because other people did. This trait becomes apparently clear as the novel develops because he is chasing his ‘American Dream’ that will supposedely make him happy rather than real happiness and he simply wants what others want/have. It is obvious that although Daisy and Gatsby have a connection it is not as deep as Gatsby imagines, as Daisy cannot leave her marriage with Tom, her status and old money society even if it is for ‘true love’. Also when she cannot admit that she “…never loved him…”, because she did enough so that it is clear she was not attached to Gatsby like he was her.

Daisy and Tom

from the beginning of the novel it becomes lcear that Daisy and Tom buchanan have an unsteady relationship. This is shown as Tom takes a phone call during tea with as Jordan reveals “…some woman in New York.” who is later known as Myrtle. This is one of the many affairs Tom takes part in whilst being married to Daisy. Both these characters- Tom and Daisy, are obsessed with the society they are involved in and their marriage binds them into this. They both use each other to portray the perfect marriage which is an illusion, as it is not. They do not seem happy nor sad and this is shown in the beginning and end when Nick describes their presence together as “they weren’t happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale—and yet they weren’t unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture…”. This shows contentness with factors other than love and the marriage they are in.

Myrtle and George Wilson

The relationship between George and Myrtle Wilson is presented as being false in various scenarios. This includes Myrtle unhappy with her social status with her husband and the desperate need of ‘more’. She talks of “…I was never any more crazy about him as i was about that man over there !”, potentially she was more involved with him when they first married, but since then the 12 years lacking of money and improvement wore her down. Not long after their marriage day, Myrtle finds out that George borrowed a suit rather than get his own, this upsets her and rubs her in a snobbish way, which it should not matter if she truly was interested in him. This shows us how materialistic she is, this is also complemented by the idea that she is not an intellectual, seen how she reads gossip magazines, the ‘Town Tattle’. She is not content with her life in the ‘Valley of Ashes’ and when given the opportunity to climb higher in the ranks she grasps at the idea of her relationship with Tom. George, however, is a hardworking man supposedly content with what they have, however his extreme violence towards the end shows built up rage coming out and the idea that he maybe was not as satisfied as we originally thought. In conclusion, this relationship was loosely tied together by law and their love for one another was apparently absent, therefore presented as ‘false’.

Symbol

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aORnoq5nuO3VUg3y6Sm5QQC84A3-8F_Z193niLvznV4/edit

Setting

West Egg

“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” 

“Everyone in West Egg is a bootlegger”.

Firstly Nick describes West Egg as “the less fashionable of the two…” this is because East Egg is full of ‘old money’ people who have had money since they were born whereas West egg is full of up and coming ‘new money’ people. When Tom states that everyone in West Egg is a ‘bootlegger’, he is implying that the only way these wealthy people have come into money is due to illegal work. In some cases, this is true because they have attained large amounts of money extremely fast due to taking advantage of the liquor ban and using it to their benefit. This reveals some true reality about the ‘American Dream’ because it shows that although you may get all the money you want, you will never truly be fully associated as one of the ‘old money’ people.

East egg

“Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins…”

“Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry. with an alerting tone I’d be a God Damn fool to live anywhere else.”

East Egg is portrayed as the epitome of the American dream. Perfect families living in perfect houses reflecting to the outside world as a faultless life. however this is all an illusion conveyed by these old money society people that believe reputation and wealth is everything. It becomes extremely clear that their lives are actually very flawed with bad marriages and corruption. This is seen with Tom Buchanan’s continuous affairs and current one with Myrtle and Daisy’s affair with Gatsby.

Valley of Ashes

“This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.”

“The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. “

This dark and raw description of the ‘valley of ashes’ is a harsh reality check on the impossible ‘American Dream’. It is the symbol of complete poverty and the cycle that comes with it, every person “…already crumbling through the powdery air..” wants to leave but is unable to. The valley represents the vast difference between the rich and the poor, these people have nothing, the place and themselves are completely empty of any hope. This correlates back to the American dream because it shows that while the wealthy spoil their own desires, the hidden society of the poor suffers from their indulgences.

New York

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”

“…a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish negroes… their eyeballs rolled towards us in a haughty rivalry”

The idea that in New York anything can happen and dreams are achieved with a bit of hard work and perseverance is the exact representation of the American Dream that catches people. When Nick talks of the “..wild promise…” that New York offers every single soul that enters he is referring to the illusion that the city holds a certain ‘wildness’ of ability to be able to achieve anything just with a singular glance when the “…city seen for the first time,”. The limousine full of ‘negroes’ represents this false hope perfectly because it seems anything can happen, however, this is probably a rare case, as racial segregation was very prominent in the 1920s and the inequality was prevalent. I think Fitzgerald creates this illusion and the harsh reality that comes with it to make us comprehend the fact that our ‘American dream’ will never be fully achieved. Everything is flawed in ways.

Language features

“Gatsby turned out alright in the end, it was what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.”

I think this quote foreshadows the misdeeds that lead to Gatsby’s untimely death and the fact his American dream was never fulfilled. How “Gatsby turned out alright in the end,” does not mean that he was physically ok (death) , but he was gone from the bad of his life such as Daisy, Tom and the rest of the morally corrupted society. The thing that “…preyed on Gatsby,” in this were Daisy and her unfulfilling promises that fuelled his dream. She was the “…foul dust that floated in the wake of his dreams…”, she and the old money society that would not allow Gatsby in, even with his huge wealth. These were the people that stopped him from completing his American dream.

“….,what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams…”

Nick foreshadows Gatsby’s unrealistic American dream and the trouble it causes, with this metaphor. This is a metaphor as there is no literal ‘foul dust’ but there are problems that ‘float’ and prevent his dream from becoming a reality. We can compare the foul dust ti Daisy because she feeds Gatsby’s dreams with false hope to only lead him on and leave him behind once again. She believes that her old-money society is more valuable than her relationship with Gatsby. The foul dust is ‘dirty’ and represents the moral decay that is ever so present, involving people, money and dreams.

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures 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.”

Tom and Daisy are referred to as being ‘careless’ because they have grown up in mountains of money and never have been faced with real problems that could effect them dramatically. This makes them careless with money, people and situations because they know that they can fall back on their status and wealth. Tom and Daisy both, “-they smashed up things and creatures…” the things they smashed up are relationships (Myrtle and George), dreams (Gatsbys’s American dream) and lives (Myrtle, Gatsby) and after “…then retreated back into their money…” . This solidifies the idea that they can do all these wrenching things but after the damage is done, can then rely on their money to not accept any real responsibility.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

nick states this when he is concluding the novel. At the time he is reflecting on Gatsby’s life and his obsession with the past. This is a metaphor. It compares human relationship with time to boats moving against the current. It suggests that as boats resist the current to move in the direction of their choice, humans often resist the passage of time. They hold onto the past even when time moves them further away from it. Gatsby holds onto his relationship with daisy from 5 years earlier, building his entire life around it. the expectation that this is unrealistic is commuicated via this metaphor because, like the current, time moves forward, preventing gatsby (and anyone) from truly recreating the past, therefore, making his efforts ceaseless.

” Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gats- by’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams…”

Nick states near the end of the book and he uses personification. He gives the trees human characteristics of whispering. I think that the trees are representing the American dream’s reality. The vanished trees are like his likely hood of his American dream, gone. The trees were what drawed us a society in, the green, hopeful trees, an it is ironic that the trees are what we end up destroying in pursuit of the ‘American dream’. In Gatsby’s case the thing that drew him in was Daisy, and the irony is that he ends up destroyed by her. The trees ‘had once’ held the whispers of the ‘greatest of all human dreams’ which is a soulmate. In this case it refers to Gatsby’s goal for Daisy his ‘soulmate’. I think Fitzergerald uses this personification to show that Gatsby’s love for Daisy is as real as the trees gossiping about his dreams, only to get ironically ‘vanished’ in the pursuit of his dream.

Allusion

Bootlegging

“Hes’s a bootlegger,” the rumour that followed Gatsby in the novel. This is a reference to the 13 year prohibition act that banned the producing, selling and transportation of alcohol. This was done to lower crime, social issues and corruption however instead crime and gangs thrived off this. Many young people came into great amounts of wealth by participating in these illegal actions such as bootlegging and in this case, Gatsby.

Racism

In the novel when Nick meets Tom Buchanan at their mansion in East Egg, Tom claims “Civilization’s going to pieces,…I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things.  Have you read The Rise of the Coloured Empires by this man Goddard?” . The book is about the decreasing numbers in white and rising numbers of blacks however Tom interprets it as a white supremest book. This shows that in the 1920s racial segregation and tension was very prominent and there was still a huge numbers of racists, because if people with power thought this, they had a big influence on the rest of society.

Gatsby’s Allusion

Owl eyes in the library during Gatsby’s party calls Gatsby “This fellas a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph.”. David Belasco, an American theatrical producer in the early 1900s was known for his realistic set designs and realism. Gatsby is compared to Belasco because of the effort he puts into making his life appear one way even though it is really not so. This is shown through his detail in his library and his real books not cardboard cutouts. Because he can fool people into thinking he is someone he is not, he is compared to Belasco and it is a triumph because of his success in doing so.

Ideas

The inevitability of time

• The inevitability of time is represented through the symbol of water.
• jay gatsby born at sea, died in a pool of water, water is the time they spent apart.
• The rain is pouring when Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time in 5 years. A lot has happened in this time. The rain stops and fades to dew as they become comfortable with each other again. It begins again after Gatsby has shown off his house. Water represents time in this. Time will always move forward. Life will move with it, regardless of how much we want to go back or stand still.
• ‘If it wasnt for the mist, we could see your home across the bay’ said gatsby. ‘You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock,’… possibly it had occured to him that the colossal significance of that light had vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed  very near to her… as close as a star to the moon.” Mist is water- water (time) is clouding the green light (hope). The mist(water/time) is masking their ability to see their dream as a reality. Time is The rain always begins again.
• The houses are separated by a body of water- time, the two are separated by the time they have spent apart, they grew apart, things change- they changed. In space the stars really arent close to the moon at all, this means its not necessarily a sign that they will be together.

Fitzgerald explores the ineveability of time through symbols and actions such as water and Gatsby and his quest for Daisy. These examples show us that as hard as we try to stop or rewind time it is not possible. Fitzgerald is telling us that we have to live in the present and not hold on to the past, because as we know we can’t repeat it.

The myth of the American Dream

• The East Eggers have the American dream. They have ‘perfect’ lives and lots of money, however, they actually live very flawed lives. This is seen by Tom’s affair with Myrtle and Daisy’s affair with Gatsby, showing an obviously very rough marriage between Tom and Daisy .
• The West Eggers are people that have come into new money by ‘hardwork’ from humbled beginnings, showing a perfect example of the American dream. These people are “just a bunch of bootleggers..” and actually founded their wealth from illegal doings and bootlegging. They represent the corruption of the dream and drive people to cheat their way to success.
• New York is the heart of the American Dream where anything can happen. People would and do go to new york to chase their dream. This is shown in Myrtle Wilson’s case, she was very quick to get into an affair with Tom as it meant a chance to live as an upper class woman. Their apartment in New York is where they would go and Myrtle could “…change costume…” in doing so also changing her personality. But as the night comes to an end she must go home and leave he fantasy life behind in New York.

I think that the way Fitzgerald presents the ‘myth’ of the American Dream is his way of exploiting it. He exposes to the audience (us) that the American dream really i just a dream and is not actually possible. The examples he uses shows us that even the elite of the people (East Egg) have many many flaws and although they may come across as perfect they are actually chasing that dream as much as anyone else.