Literature Analysis #2: The Great Gatsby

1.       The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place in New York during the 1920’s. The narrator, Nick Carraway, tells about the events that happen during his time in New York. Soon after moving into West Egg, across from Jay Gatsby, he visits his cousin, Daisy and her husband Tom, in East Egg. While there, Jordan, a friend of Daisy, tells Nick that Tom is having an affair with Myrtle. A few chapters later in the novel, Nick attends one of Gatsby’s “famous” parties.  A little bit later in the novel, Gatsby comes over to Nick’s house and invites him to lunch. At lunch, Gatsby introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfshiem, a criminal. Nick notices that Gatsby avoids the Buchanan’s and Jordan later her tells him that Gatsby use to be in love with Daisy and she thinks he still is. Gatsby asks Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy and when they do meet they begin an affair. Tom quickly dislikes Gatsby, and Daisy invites him to lunch to make Tom jealous. Tom then forces the group to go to the Plaza hotel, and there he shares with Daisy that Gatsby’s fortune is all through illegal activities. On the drive home, Gatsby lets Daisy drive and she hits and kills Myrtle instantly. Wilson, Myrtle’s husband believes the driver must have been the man his wife was having an affair with so he goes to Gatsby’s house and shoots him before taking his own life. Nick is disgusted with everything that has happened in New York so he decides to move back to the Midwest.

2.       The theme of this novel is the shallowness of the higher society. All of the characters, excluding Nick, are very selfish and have ugly personalities. They do not respect their spouses and are having an affair with one of the main characters in the story.

3.       The author’s tone is ironic. All of the main characters spend the entire time working for something (their lovers) which was not worth it because they died in the end anyway. Also, having an affair was not common in the time era this novel was written.

4.       Foreshadowing: The author hints to the downfall of Gatsby. “He snatched the book from me and placed it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.” (ch3)

Irony: The author has Daisy stay with Tom at the end of the novel, when he led the reader to believe that she would leave him.

Aphorism: “Time is money” or “The early bird always get the worm.”

Flashback: Jordan begins her story by saying, “One October day in nineteen seventeen.” (pg79)

Similes:  “In his blue garden men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” (ch43)

Diction: “Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air." The word violently implies that she could hurt someone. (pg35)

Symbolism: The bad rainy weather shows that the story isn’t going to end well. (pg89)

Theme: "He must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream." This quote refers to the other noticeable theme in the novel, the American Dream. (pg158)

Personification: “The settee squeaked fashionably.” (pg157)

Hyperbole: “As it did that night when we hunted through the great rooms for cigarettes.” (pg147)

5.       Direct Characterization: 1. "His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed.  There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked - and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts." Nick describing Tom Buchanan. 2. "I married him because I thought he was a gentleman," she said finally. "I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe." Myrtle talking about her husband George.

Indirect Characterization: 1. “She got up slowly, raising her eyebrows at me in astonishment, and followed the butler toward the house. I noticed that she wore her evening dress, all her dresses, like sports clothes-there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upon golf courses on clean, crisp mornings. ” Nick describing Jordan Baker.

2. “She had a fight with a man who says he’s her husband.” A lady tells Nick the reason why she is crying.

6.       The author’s syntax and diction changes and becomes more descriptive when talking about a character. The novel is focused on the actions of the characters and how they don’t reflect what typically would happen in that time period so it is important for Fitzgerald to describe the characters.

7.       Jay Gatsby is a static character. He stays mysterious for the entire novel and therefore the reader can’t see changes if he does evolve or not. He is a round character. The reader is able to see many different sides of Gatsby and his many different traits. He is not defined by simple one trait.

8.       After I read this novel, I felt like I lived in West Egg and knew all of the character’s because the author had developed them so well. One example of this would be

“It was a strange coincidence,” I said.

“But it wasn’t a coincidence at.”

“Why not?”

“Gatsby bought the house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.”

With this conversation, I really felt like I was on the inside of all the drama that was unraveling.