The Great Gatsby - Chapter One Analysis
This is only a summary!
- Created by: Taz_28
- Created on: 02-05-18 17:32
View mindmap
- Chapter One
- Gatsby
- "Gastby?... What Gatsby?"
- Creates intrigue as we don't know who Gatsby is - causes us to want to know Daisy knows him
- Suggests she no longer cares about him, especially as she doesn't refer to him again.
- "Fifty feet way, a FIGURE had emerged from the SHADOW of my neighbour's mansion and was STANDING with his hands in his pocket regarding the silver PEPPER OF THE STARS"
- 'Figure' - unknown' 'Shadow' - of former self/hidden away/facade; 'Standing' - alone/thinking; 'Pepper of the stars' - romantic/ contrasts with bright lights later on
- "It is what preyed on Gatsby, what FOUL DUST floated in the wake of his DREAMS"
- Contrast of Gatsby's hope and actual reality; Gatsby is portrayed as a victim of the American Dream. Fitzgerald mirrors Gatsby's (and Myrtle's) death
- "turned out alright, in the end"
- Intrigue suggests he experienced conflict/ misfortune in his life
- "Scorn" vs "Gorgeous"
- "trembling" - a deep longing
- Mansion: Hotel de Ville in Normandy; Mansle Swimming Pool
- Nick is impressed with its grandeur
- "Content to be alone"
- "turned out alright, in the end"
- Intrigue suggests he experienced conflict/ misfortune in his life
- "turned out alright, in the end"
- "Gastby?... What Gatsby?"
- The Buchanans
- DAISY
- Charming; winds up TOm "hulking"; unfulffilled life ("what we'll plan"); cynical("that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool"
- Wealthy: brought down a string of polo ponies
- Drifters: spent a year in France for no particular reason
- Home: Georgian colonial mansion colours - red and white, burning, glistening, shining, gleaming
- DAISY
- Nick
- 1st person retrospect
- possible bias, detailed insight, relationship with narrator
- "This annoyed me"
- Obvious dislike of Tom - contradicts his reservation of judgements statement made in the opening of the book
- "You make me feel uncivilised Daisy"
- Feels inadequate - perhaps due to his lack of connectivity with people. Possibly insecure?
- Very quiet, shy, very much an introvert who observes a lot
- "I'm inclined to observe all judgements"
- 1st person retrospect
- USA
- Prohibition
- Created a lot of bootleggers and people who began rich as a result of 'new money' - disliked by traditionally wealthy elite class
- EAST EGG
- Wealthy, sophisticated, popular, "fashinable" - Buchannas
- WEST EGG
- Less wealthy, tacky(?), unrefined, poor manners/ fashion - Gastby & Nick
- VALLEY OF THE ASHES
- Poverty, death and decay (economically, socially - i.e. American Dream) - Myrtle/George Wilson
- Prohibition
- Women
- Ladies of Leisure
- "two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon" - full of hot air
- "her chin raised a little"; "made an attempt to rise"; "I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember"
- Male dominance
- "the knuckle was black and blue" - indication of domestic violence
- "Tom's got some woman in New York" - public knowledge/acceptance of mistresses for the elite was typical
- Jordan
- Referred to as Miss Baker - Nick narrates as he meets/gets to know them.
- Atypical female as she is rude - "If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it"; "You live i West Egg" she remarked impetuously"
- Indulged/ Bored
- "I've been everywhere, seen everything and done everything"
- BUT this 'everything' is confined into what they have been allowed to see/ experience i.e. no real social freedom
- This was typical of the feminist wave of the 1920s whereby women thought they could be more free but in de facto this was almost impossible
- BUT this 'everything' is confined into what they have been allowed to see/ experience i.e. no real social freedom
- "I've been everywhere, seen everything and done everything"
- Ladies of Leisure
- Gatsby
- TOM
- Arrogant eyes; fractiousness (short-tempered); rude (interrupts Daisy); racist? (Nordics'
- The Buchanans
- DAISY
- Charming; winds up TOm "hulking"; unfulffilled life ("what we'll plan"); cynical("that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool"
- Wealthy: brought down a string of polo ponies
- Drifters: spent a year in France for no particular reason
- Home: Georgian colonial mansion colours - red and white, burning, glistening, shining, gleaming
- DAISY
- Green Light
- Symbolises: Hope, Unobtainable/Unfulfilled dreams
- Chapter One
- Gatsby
- "Gastby?... What Gatsby?"
- Creates intrigue as we don't know who Gatsby is - causes us to want to know Daisy knows him
- Suggests she no longer cares about him, especially as she doesn't refer to him again.
- "Fifty feet way, a FIGURE had emerged from the SHADOW of my neighbour's mansion and was STANDING with his hands in his pocket regarding the silver PEPPER OF THE STARS"
- 'Figure' - unknown' 'Shadow' - of former self/hidden away/facade; 'Standing' - alone/thinking; 'Pepper of the stars' - romantic/ contrasts with bright lights later on
- "It is what preyed on Gatsby, what FOUL DUST floated in the wake of his DREAMS"
- Contrast of Gatsby's hope and actual reality; Gatsby is portrayed as a victim of the American Dream. Fitzgerald mirrors Gatsby's (and Myrtle's) death
- "Scorn" vs "Gorgeous"
- "trembling" - a deep longing
- Mansion: Hotel de Ville in Normandy; Mansle Swimming Pool
- Nick is impressed with its grandeur
- "Content to be alone"
- "Gastby?... What Gatsby?"
- Nick
- 1st person retrospect
- possible bias, detailed insight, relationship with narrator
- "This annoyed me"
- Obvious dislike of Tom - contradicts his reservation of judgements statement made in the opening of the book
- "You make me feel uncivilised Daisy"
- Feels inadequate - perhaps due to his lack of connectivity with people. Possibly insecure?
- Very quiet, shy, very much an introvert who observes a lot
- "I'm inclined to observe all judgements"
- 1st person retrospect
- USA
- Prohibition
- Created a lot of bootleggers and people who began rich as a result of 'new money' - disliked by traditionally wealthy elite class
- EAST EGG
- Wealthy, sophisticated, popular, "fashinable" - Buchannas
- WEST EGG
- Less wealthy, tacky(?), unrefined, poor manners/ fashion - Gastby & Nick
- VALLEY OF THE ASHES
- Poverty, death and decay (economically, socially - i.e. American Dream) - Myrtle/George Wilson
- Prohibition
- Women
- Ladies of Leisure
- "two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon" - full of hot air
- "her chin raised a little"; "made an attempt to rise"; "I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember"
- Male dominance
- "the knuckle was black and blue" - indication of domestic violence
- "Tom's got some woman in New York" - public knowledge/acceptance of mistresses for the elite was typical
- Jordan
- Referred to as Miss Baker - Nick narrates as he meets/gets to know them.
- Atypical female as she is rude - "If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it"; "You live i West Egg" she remarked impetuously"
- Indulged/ Bored
- "I've been everywhere, seen everything and done everything"
- BUT this 'everything' is confined into what they have been allowed to see/ experience i.e. no real social freedom
- This was typical of the feminist wave of the 1920s whereby women thought they could be more free but in de facto this was almost impossible
- BUT this 'everything' is confined into what they have been allowed to see/ experience i.e. no real social freedom
- "I've been everywhere, seen everything and done everything"
- Ladies of Leisure
- Gatsby
Comments
No comments have yet been made