Great Gatsby # 15

Dear AP students:


Let's do a little Close Reading Analysis. Here is a passage from the beginning of Chapter VIII.

His house had never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night when we hunted through great rooms for cigarettes. We pushed aside curtains that were like pavilions, and felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches--once I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys of a ghastly piano. There was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere, and the rooms were musty, as though they hadn't been aired for many days. I found the humidor on an unfamiliar table, with two stale, dry cigarettes inside. Throwing open the French windows of the drawing room, we sat smoking out into the darkness.

What's going on in this passage? What words, literary devices are used to support the theme of the novel? What does the passage say about Gatsby or Nick Carraway?

Great Gatsby # 14

Dear AP students:

First, let's talk about the relationship between Gatsby and the narrator Nick Carraway. How exactly does Carraway feel about Gatsby?

In Chapter 8 Carraway talks to Gatsby one last time as he says ...

We shook hands and I started away. Just before I reached the hedge I remembered something and turned around.
"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."
I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.

However, I see a conflict here. If Carraway disapproved of him from beginning to end, why was he the only person (besides Gatsby's dad) that bothered to attend to his funeral arrangements?

Second subject for discussion...in most stories the reader sees the story from the main character's perspective. If the story is told in first person, the person telling the story is usually the main character. The main character can also be identified as the person have the central conflict--he is the one who has to make a major decision/choice. Additionally, the main character of a story is the one who experiences an epiphany or undergoes a change.

So my question for you is this...who is the main character of the story? Is is Gatsby? Or is it Nick Carraway? Is this Jay Gatsby's story? Or is it Nick Carraway's? Who experiences the change/epiphany? Who has the central conflict?

Great Gatsby # 13

Dear AP students:

First subject for discussion...The previous entry asks you to analyze the significance of New York City, but I also want you to discuss the significance of the West. In the last chapter, Nick Carraway says "I see now this had been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly un-adaptable to Eastern life." How does the West compare to the eastern part of the United States? What values does the West have that are not shared by the East, especially New York City?

Second subject for discussion...America at the beginning of the 1920's was considered a very unsophisticated place. Most people believed in the Puritan work ethic--an ethical concept linked to a religious group (the Puritans of the 17th century). The Puritan work ethic can be defined as the necessity of emphasizing hard work as a component of a person's calling and worldly success and a sign of personal religous salvation. Being frugal--not ostentatious about money, is also part of the Puritan work ethic. Related to the Puritan work ethic, is the idea that hard work will make you wealthy, and also build character/make you a nice person. This also meant that you didn't necessarily have to enjoy your job--you just had to work hard at it.

But the Lost Generation, that age group of men who had gone to Europe/World War and seen the horror of war and the beauty of European cities such as Paris came back questioning the value of the Puritan ethic. They appreciated the sophistication/culture of Paris. In fact, many of them moved to Paris as a way to rebel against quaint, strict American values. They didn't feel the need to work at a job they hated, and they didnt care about religious salvation. In the Great Gatsby, the characters are not very religious. There is only a mention of God, church, or religion in a couple pages, mostly in the last chapter. And of course, Jay Gatsby puts a spin on the concept of the Puritan ethic by working hard, but illegally, to make money and doesn't really becoming a better person/or relgiously saved because of it.

Regarding religion, what serves as a symbol for God in this novel? The symbol I have in mind is a very ironic object to be linked to religion, but it also serves as a symbol of the changing times in American business/culture. Any ideas?

Great Gatsby # 12

Dear AP students:

What makes a great story? The main character has to want something very badly...and then someone or something has to stand in the way of that person getting it.

That is certainly the case in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby yearns for Daisy and the American Dream. But certain things or people stand in his way.

Adding to Jay Gatsby's problem is "what" he wants. He seems to want too much. This is a case of someone's reach exceeeding his grasp. He starts from the bottom and strives to reach the very top, assuming an entirely different persona in the process. And he achieves success via bootlegging, no through normal. legal channels.

Those of you who have seen the move Scarface with Al Pacino have seen this story before. Tony Montana starts off as a Cuban refugee and becomes exceptionally wealthy via the drug trade. He too lives large. His is another version of the darker side of the American dream.

So let's relate and apply here. In what other ways are Jay Gatsby and Tony Montana the same? And how are they different? How do each view the power elite/high society that they intend to supplant? What kind of lifestyles do they pursue? What do they ultimately want more than anything else? What does them in?

And then let's relate and apply some more. Let's take another character we've studied this year...Mr. Kurtz from Heart of Darkness. How is Kurtz similar/different from Jay Gatsby? How does each become powerful? How do both deal with the issue of hypocrisy? What motivates each man? What does each man want? What influences each man/drives him to do illegal things? How does each man view the establishment/power elite?

Great Gatsby # 11

Dear AP students:

In the Great Gatsby we find our second book--Catcher in the Rye being the first--that uses New York City as a setting. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield uses New York City as a place where he undergoes a journey. In the Great Gatsby,the characters venture out of East Egg and West Egg to New York City, or have certain New York City people visit them.

In Chapter 4, we find the narrator saying the following as he and Gatsby head toward New York City...Anything can happen now that we've slid over that bridge," I thought, "anything at all...Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder."

In other parts of the story a number of different things--some very dramatic--occur in New York City. After reviewing those New York City scenes, and the scenes in which New York City people visit East Egg/West Egg, explain what New York City symbolizes in this novel.

Great Gatsby # 10

Dear AP students:


Let's analyze the significance of three items:


First, there is a curious episode at the beginning of Chapter VII in which the narrator Nick Carraway describes the replacement of Gatsby' servants with a strange group of people. He first describes these new servants as possessing "villainous" faces. He later describes one of the servants as sounding "dilatory" in the way he said "sir." Gatsby describes them as people who who used to run a small motel, and then mentions that they had been supplied by Wolfsheim. He said he wanted people who wouldn't gossip. What's with these mysterious people? What is their significance to this story's theme?


Second, we briefly meet Daisy's daughter in a scene where Gatsby is present. Nick Carraway says about this encounter..."Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before." Daisy subsequently says to the child " You dream, you. You absolute little dream....She looks like me. She's got my hair and face." What are we to think of this scene?


Third, what's with Gatsby always using the saying "Old sport"? Tom is the only one that seemed to have taken offense at his use of this saying.

Great Gatsby # 9

Dear AP students:

Daisy and Jay Gatsby finally meet in Chapter V. It's an unusual/awkward scene. What are your thoughts on this scene? What do we learn about Gatsby? About Daisy? About both of them?

There is a memorable passage in this chapter that goes like this....

After the house, we were to see the grounds and swimming pool, and the hydroplane and the mid-summer flowers--but outside Gatsby's window it began to rain again, so we stood in a row looking at the corrugated surface of the Sound.

"If it wasn't 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."
Daisy put her arm through his abruptly,but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now again it was a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.

What's going on the above passage? What's with the green light?

Related to the above, what's going on at the beginning of the chapter when the narrator arrives home at night to find Gatsby's mansion lit up like "the World's Fair." Gatsby informs Nick that he has been "glancing into some of the rooms." He then asks Nick if he wants to go to Coney Island, or go swimming in his swimming pool, which he hasn't used all summer long.

This is a somewhat bizarre scene, but I think it reveals something about Gatsby. What are your thoughts?

P.S. Take a look at clip from 1974 Great Gatsby movie, located under You Tube video in right hand margin of blog