gatsby v2

• The green light

  'Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.'

  
  

  'It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.'

  
  

  '[H]e stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way.'

  
  

  'You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.'

  
  

  'I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world.... And as I sat there, brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out Daisy's light at the end of his dock. He had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it.
• [H]e stretched out his arms

  toward the dark water in a curious way.' p25

  
  

  Symbolizes Gatsby's unwavering love for Daisy at the beginning of the novel.

  
  

  Nick begins to recognise the green light as a symbol of Gatsby's unhealthy desperation for Daisy- parallel to his experience with the American Dream and money.

  
  

  Represents the futility, hope and inaccessibility of the American Dream

  Forever motivating feats of improbable achievement.
• You always have a

  green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.' p90

  
  

  The American Dream as a facade and false reality is zoomed in through the metaphor of the green light. The light being the promise and vitality is equally matched by it being small and distant; an important symbolic representation of Gatsby's unattainable love for Daisy as well as the difficulty of realising the American Dream
• Possibly it had occurred to him that

  the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.' p90

  Over the course of the novel, the green light seems todiminish in its power and meaning.This could be due to a number of factors, including thecorruption and greedthat seem to pervade the world of the wealthy.
• His count of

  enchanted objects had diminished by one.' p90

  
  

  What is a dream to Gatsby is nothing but a discardable object to these upper-class elites, with little symbolic significance
• What may the 'green' light symbolise?

  Jealousy- Gatsby's lovesickness

  
  

  Wealth and money- Gatsby's pain is connected to love and money, as they are intertwined for him
• For a long time, what are all symbolically one?

  The green light, Gatsby's ambitious hope, and Daisy
• When does this change?

  When Daisy has an affair with Gatsby, showing that she is a flesh and blood person with her own desires, fears, and flaws, does she separate from this idealized symbol of hope.
• What is it symbolic of following Gatsby's death?

  The ways that money and affluence ruin the lives of those withoutand the way that the American Dream ruins the lives of those eternally reaching for it.
• What does Nick see the green light as on his last night in Long Island?

  Compares the early American settlers' wonder at the new world and its infinite possibilities with that of Gatsby's wonder at having Daisy just out of his reach. 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.
• For Nick, what does the light symbolise overall?

  How life is a constant struggle between our past mistakes, experiences, and sense of reality.

  The green light is a symbol of unrealistic hope that drives us to think we will do better and achieve more the next day.
• Daisy

  'Her voice is full of money.' (Gatsby)

  
  

  'That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'

  
  

  'There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.' (Nick about Gatsby towards Daisy)

  
  

  'She blossomed for him like a flower.'

  
  

  'Daisy Fay
• Her voice is

  full of money.' p115 (C7)

  
  

  Rarefied under the Patriarchy. Has her identity determined by her value to the men of the novel.

  
  

  Gatsby's possession of wealth, to him, is entirely dependent upon his possession of Daisy

  
  

  Symbol for Gatsby's American Dream, as he cannot separate love and wealth- reflection of Conspicuous Consumption and Capitalist values of time

  
  

  Connections have been made between Daisy's voice and the sirens in Homer's Odyssey. Daisy's voice is representative of both her charm and of the captivity of commitment. Her voice, though delicate, holds immense power and enchants various characters throughout the novel. Arguably, the focus on the way Daisy's voice says things as opposed to what she says can be attributed to the patriarchal gaze of Nick. The idea that her voice is celebrated for its aesthetic value as opposed to the messages it carries is further symbolic of Daisy's own silencing.
• That's the best thing

  a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.' p23

  
  

  She wishes for her daughter to be a fool, too ignorant and simple-minded to realise the harshness of the reality she lives in. This is also a pointer towards how Daisy wishes herself to be as well - rather than face up to the fact of Tom's infidelity, she prefers to live comfortably but in denial, partaking in the hollow extravagance both he and American 1920s society can offer a woman like her.

  
  

  If Daisy does not reflect the New Woman in her actions, she does in her thoughts, and this is signaled by her cynicism about her role and her daughter's future role.

  
  

  "She has realised that she, like all women, is just a pawn in the game" (Linn Karlsson), a trophy to be desired.
• There must have been moments even that afternoon

  when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams... because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.' p92 (end C5)

  
  

  Daisy is placed on a pedestal as this beautiful, delicate and popular girl who is deserving of men's love and attention. However, Daisy neither lives up to Gatsby's idealised vision of her nor reciprocates his excessive love for her. While some readers may vilify Daisy for toying with Gatsby's affection, others might argue Gatsby has created an idol of her and an illusion so vast she cannot help but buckle under it; it is Gatsby alone who sets himself up for a fall.

  
  

  He obsessively built every part of her up in his mind
• She blossomed for

  him like a flower.' p107 (end of C6)
• Daisy

  Fay.'

  
  

  Evokes fairylike connotations, associating her with romantic supernaturalism, rising above the realistic.

  Gatsby also idealises her, projecting onto her and ignoring her true nature.

  
  

  Links to 'a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing.' P96
• Daisy and Myrtle parallel

  Both Daisy and Myrtle are trapped in unhappy relationships. They escape this through engaging in extramarital affairs. Daisy is held captive by her traditions and status and Myrtle is held captive by her poverty.
• Additional Daisy

  -Adecorative personawithout any real social role, only appears to have a lifestyle of freedom.

  -Advocate of tradition, not change. Accepts her unhappy marriage as security for her social class.

  -To Gatsby, Daisy needed to be untarnished by those years away from him, as though none of it ever happened.As though she had no life, no existence outside of Jay Gatsby.

  -A victim of this unfair system where rich white men take whatever they want. She was not a 'beautiful little fool', as much as she may have wished she were. She was a complicated human with very few choices available to her.

  The master stroke of Fitzgerald's portrayal of Daisy is how little we know of her. We see her through the eyes of the narrator who hardly knows her, and he sees her through Gatsby's eyes. Some say she isn't a well fleshed-out character but that is exactly the point:it was irrelevant to Gatsby who she really was so we never find out who she really is either.He didn't know her.To Gatsby, she was an idea — not a real person.
• Critical quotes Daisy

  Kazin- 'vulgar and inhuman'

  
  

  McMechan- "The impressions generated by Daisy Fay's name are of sunshine, transience and vague unreality"

  
  

  Karlsson- "She has realised that she, like all women, is just a pawn in the game"
• Gatsby

  'He felt married to her, that was all.'

  
  

  'He knew that when he kissed this girl... his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.'

  
  

  'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'

  
  

  'Watching over nothing' (Chapter 7)

  
  

  'I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy.'

  
  

  'He had waited five years and bought a mansion... so that he could 'come over' some afternoon to a stranger's garden'

  
  

  'Old sport'

  
  

  'Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us' (Chapter 9)

  
  

  'He was running down like an overwound clock' (Chapter 5)

  
  

  'Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.' (Chapter 4)
• He felt

  married to her, that was all.' p142

  
  

  Gatsby does not view the pre-existing marriage of Daisy as an entity that should be respected
• Can't repeat the past?'

  he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!' p106 (end C6)
• Watching

  over nothing' p139 (end C7)

  
  

  Enduring belief that Daisy's marriage and her past with Tom can be erased

  
  

  Ultimately, Gatsby's lonely pursuit for Daisy's love is unrequited and his dream is one that only existed with him alone. In the realm of love and relationships, a lonely one-sided pursuit invited probable doom. The trials of unrequited love are ones that are very much experienced alone. For Gatsby, love is commitment, obsession and conquers all.
• He had waited five years and

  bought a mansion... so that he could 'come over' some afternoon to a stranger's garden' p76 (end C4)
• Gatsby bought that house so

  that Daisy would be just across the bay.' p76 (end C4)

  It is Gatsby's willingness to meet Daisy's social status that propels his actions throughout the novel.

  Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy can be likened to the promise and downfall of the American Dream.Though his dream realises economic success it fails in granting him social acceptance.

  The bay between his mansion and Daisy's home serves as the physical barrier between the two classes. It goes to show all that Gatsby represents the antithesis of what the Buchanans and East Egg represent. Gatsby's house's location serves as a spatial metaphor for his social aspirations; buying the house is an attempt to cross social boundaries. However, this attempt will inevitably fail, just as Daisy and her 'old money' acquaintances are so close - "just across" from him - and yet forever separated by a body of water.
• He was running down

  like an overwound clock' p89 (C5)

  
  

  Gatsby's close association and obsession with time to the extent he becomes a clock.

  His overreliance on time is personified through his physical leaning on the mantel clock for support.
• Gatsby believed in the green light,

  the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . (C9)

  Clear distinction between past and future.

  "Green light"- full circle.

  The quote emphasizes the difficulties of moving beyond the burdens of the past. The past is like the "current" that moves against the direction we desire to walk in. This metaphor encompasses Gatsby's dream and the idea of the American Dream. It elucidates that both dreams are limited and thatthe past has a way of defining identity more powerfully than our actions in the present.However, this quote also shows that despite this, people continue striving for better lives.The struggle between reaching for the future and being anchored down by the past is what defines Gatsby's character: a vessel of the American Dream but unable to let go of his love for Daisy, as well as his roots of poverty.
• Old

  sport.'

  
  

  Gatsby's goal of integrating into the social elite is unsuccessful and forced as he calls everyone "old sport", which points Gatsby out as a nouveau riche.

  A dream of wealth and material acquisition
• Gatsby info

  Gatsby represents the corrupted Dream in its callous attitude towards the lower classes and the uncorrupted Dream of pure love and its earnest hope

  His sole focus on Daisy is myopic, as he becomes increasingly unaware of the societal constraints that surround him. In this way, his solitude is also representative of his ostracisation from society.
• Critics quotes Gatsby:

  A.E. Dyson- 'In one sense Gatsby is the apotheosis of his rootless society... He really believes in himself and his illusions'

  Tony Tanner- "The green light offers Gatsby a suitably inaccessible focus for his yearning"

  Lionel Trilling- Gatsby "comes inevitably to stand for America itself"

  Marxist literary theory (AO5) would critique the morals and ethics of 1920s American society as it promotes an artificial dualism of the individual as they aim to assert their chosen identity. (Gatsby)

  Marxist critics take the view that Gatsby is a personification or extended metaphor of America's path towards the American Dream, and with his death we see the failure of this idealised concept which motivates many of the novel's characters.

  A feminist critic- Gatsby is deluded,projecting onto Daisy in such a way that she is a mere cipher.While we may appreciate the seductiveness of Gatsby’s romanticism - a seductiveness that is mirrored by the novel’s evocative, gorgeous prose - we can step outside the box and see it for what it is.
• Tom

  'I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife.'

  
  

  'Brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen...' (Daisy)

  
  

  '...as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control.' (Chapter 7)
• Brute of a man,

  a great, big, hulking physical specimen...' (Daisy) p17 (Chapter 1)

  
  

  'specimen' conveys his lack of humanity and his brute, savage nature
• I suppose the latest thing is to sit back

  and let Mr Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife.' p123

  
  

  Gatsby's relationship with Daisy offends his pride; Gatsby is his social inferior and therefore should not be able to access his wife. Links to fear over losing wealth and privilege. Tom's resistance to the idea that "Mr Nobody from Nowhere" could be a potential rival reveals the clear schism between Old and New Money
• ...as we drove away Tom was feeling the

  hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control.' p119 (Chapter 7)

  
  

  Reveals Tom's fears and conservatism as well as his recklessness. He is happy to keep a mistress, provided she is from a lower class so he can exploit her. Neglects Daisy consistently yet is surprised she nearly slips out of his control by engaging in an affair with Gatsby. His relationship with Myrtle allows him to fasten his grip on society and maintain the status quo by emasculating George Wilson.
• Critical quotes on Tom (masculinity):

  "it came to be more in opposition to femininity", thereby "divorc[ing] itself from the softer virtues of compassion and emotional sensitivity that were previously a component of the male identity"
• Myrtle

  'left breast swing[s] loose.'

  
  

  'Beat me!...Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!' (Chapter 7)

  
  

  'carried her surplus flesh sensuously.'

  
  

  'I want to get one of those dogs.
• carried her

  surplus flesh sensuously.' p28 (C2)

  
  

  Myrtle may be said to exhibit many traits of the 'New Woman' of the Jazz Age, as she uses her sexuality to transcend social barriers by forming a relationship with Tom, who belongs to 'Old Money.'

  
  

  The adverb 'sensuously' may demonstrate Myrtle's ability to target the desires of men and to manipulate them into fulfilling her own materialistic ones.

  
  

  Proves that sexuality is connected to autonomy
• I want to get

  one of those dogs.' p29 (C2)

  
  

  Associated with the Valley of Ashes, a symbol of the poverty prevalent in America at the time, Myrtle is afforded the ability within her affair to escape the confines of her class

  
  

  Conspicuous consumption of the upper class that Myrtle is afforded a taste of within her relationship
• Beat me!...Throw

  me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!' p130 (Chapter 7)

  
  

  Interesting parallel to early in the novel where Tom breaks Myrtle's nose. It appears that Myrtle equates violence with masculinity and bravery, and therefore finds Tom to be more masculine, and a fitter companion than George. Theme of power and dominance