The Great Gatsby

• "I lived at West Egg, the - well, the less fashionable of the two"


  - (Referring to East and West Egg on Long Island) despite both being very wealthy estates, one is still viewed as superior - Nick and Gatsby live in West Egg, and Tom and Daisy Buchanan in East Egg

  - East Egg's residents hail from old money, and so are respected more, showing how the American Dream is a lie because those who have earned their 'new' money (West Egg), and are just as rich as those with generational wealth are still not viewed the same due to classist prejudice
• "The white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered across the water"


  - West Egg is described as 'less-fashionable' earlier on in the paragraph, again showing how there is a distinct separation of respect between these two wealthy estates because of the snobbery of people in East Egg

  - This idea is emphasised by describing the houses in East Egg as 'palaces' in contrast to the more modestly-described West Egg houses
• "I had a glimpse of Mrs. Wilson straining at the garage pump with panting vitality as we went by"


  - This visual contrasts Myrtle's lifestyle with that of Daisy and Jordan, who are usually described as resting in Daisy's home, never even close to "straining" or "panting."

  - Just as the physical desolation of the valley of ashes is in direct contrast to the beauty of East Egg and West Egg, so are the lifestyles of those who live there
• "Is this absolutely where you live my dearest one?"

  - Daisy arrives at Nick's house and asks this question innocently; however, there are deeper connotations to her words; Daisy is from East Egg, a place of extreme riches, and even though West Egg is still very rich, she views it differently from her own home because having been raised in a noble household her whole life, she understands that people who attain their wealth are not the same as those who born into it

  - Shows that East Egg people cannot let go of their internalised snobbery
• "I think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor."


  - Gatsby has tried so hard to recapture his past with Daisy and get back what he thought would make him so happy; he doesn't live in the present because he doesn't think it matters without her, just like he tries to ignore the past five years that he spent alone; this is the catalyst for his downfall

  - Time is Gatsby's enemy; he lives in the past, in a distant memory of him and Daisy together. He sees the world through the lens of his dream, showing how he has never truly moved on from that point in time because he is so obsessed with Daisy. He has kept pushing against the clock, disregarding the real people and feelings involved
• "Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!"


  - Gatsby's mind is occupied singularly by Daisy; everything he does, from the beginning to the end of the book, is done in hopes of catching Daisy's attention and rekindling their relationship. He doesn't understand, or perhaps doesn't want to acknowledge, the possibility that Daisy's feelings have changed and evolved; she did love Gatsby, but she married Tom, and her life is much different now.

  - Daisy is long-drifted from his grasp even before the novel begins, but through Gatsby's delusions, he has convinced himself that she is totally attainable.
• An Oxford man!' He was incredulous. 'Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit.''

  - The reader (as well as Nick) already knows that Gatsby has term-8lied about nearly everything from his backstory, including his education at Oxford, because this is his attempt to create an awesome image of himself and present himself as an ideal version of himself

  - The fact that Tom calls him out for his outfit symbolises that the rich are aware of the class system and intend to reinforce it. This disables the idea of the 'American Dream', which is an ideology that claims that anyone can achieve anything and not be judged, no matter where they started off
• "He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy."


  - Nick deduces that Gatsby has sold himself an illusion; he has lost something from himself—time, love, hope—because of his obsession with Daisy. But even she is simply an idea, because Gatsby's dreams are so impossible Daisy cannot even live up to his expectations when they finally meet again.

  - Gatsby remembers their 'love' as a fantastic memory when they were young, but he begins to realise that marriage with her is impossible now, he is restricted by reality - yet, he pushes on
• "She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. "It's full of—" I hesitated. / "It's full of money"


  - Daisy's voice is dwelled on heavily throughout the novel, and is emphasised as her tool of seduction and power. Her voice is what draws people to her; it's almost magical, something is so ethereal about it.

  - As Nick is attempting to verbalise just what makes her voice so enchanting, Gatsby answers that it's because her voice carries her status and wealth within it; this shows us again that it is not Daisy herself who attracts Gatsby, but rather it is what her position in society can offer to him; her demeanour, voice, and personality are all attractive because by these traits, as it's just evident that she is rich
• "You may fool me, but you can't fool God!"

  George Wilson is the husband of Myrtle; he is victimised by the 'American Dream' - his paranoia has manifested in him thinking that the Dr T.J Eckleberg billboard is like the eyes of God, seeing everything, judging everyone - term-4however in this world, God has been replaced by greed and money
• "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. . . ."

  The extremely wealthy are aware of their privileges in society, and are very selfish as a result. Tom and Daisy both destroy whatever threatens them throughout the novel (Daisy kills Myrtle and Gatsby is blamed, and Tom kills Gatsby, but orders for George Wilson to pull the trigger). They feel entitled to use others as pawns, if it means they can stop those in lower classes 'polluting' their society.
• "I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock."


  Nick wonders how early European settlers must have felt when they discovered America, as an untouched vast of opportunity and curiosity - he compares this to Gatsby's fascination of Daisy (his desire to marry her and have a leg up in society ultimately). The green light is a symbol not only of Gatsby's desire for Daisy but also of the American dream in general, which is often just out of most people's grasp
• "must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream."


  - Nick imagines that Gatsby must have felt a sense of grief about how the events of the previous day had unfolded. Nick describes this grief, referring to the loss of 'the old warm world.' This summarises Gatsby's desire for Daisy and his hopes for their future together, both of which Nick thinks are dreams of delusion

  - 'the old warm world' could refer to Gatsby living within his idyllic safety net of his dreams, but his fantasies have now been shattered and ruined, and he is rudely returned back to reality

  - 'living too long with a single dream' refers to the fact that Gatsby's desperation for status has destroyed him in the long run, he never focused on real life because of it
• "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us."

  Gatsby never achieves his true ambitions in life (to marry Daisy, thus achieve his desired status and become as respectable as those in East Egg), this shows that the American Dream is flawed, however it is Gatsby's unwavering determination which makes him an admirable character to Nick nonetheless, no matter how much Nick may actually come to dislike him