15. Literature between wars, Fitzerald

Gatsby vs/and Wilson: share the fact that they both lose their love interest to Tom; they want their loved ones to be happy

Daisy vs/and Jordan: J: emancipated, careless, spotless, but she doesn’t hide it, she is straight and lives for the moment, bitchy x D: a good woman who is there for her husband, hypocrite, she sees women as something less and she is ok with it

Daisy vs Gatsby: D: loves G and sees T treats her badly – deep down she wants to be protected by the money x G: loves her deeply and love is more important for him than money

Nick – narrator, shy, wants to see Gatsby in other way, avoid conflicts, he follows Gatsby

Daisy – superficial, selfish, used to describe people of certain wealth, spoilt, silly, turning a blind eye to Toms infidelity

Themes:

• The Decline of the American Dream in 1920s:

  • On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love btw a man and a woman.

  • However - the main theme of the novel is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, mainly the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.

  • Fitzgerald portrait of the Roaring 20s: an era of decayed social and moral values, cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure

  • Unlimited desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals

  • The original idea of AD is about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness x corruption of this dream by easy money and the above mention

  • When Gatsby’s dream crumbles, all that is left for him to do is to die

  • All Nick can do is move back to hometown, where American values have not decayed

• The Emptiness of the Upper Class:

  • The sociology wealth – how the newly rich of the Jazz Age differ from the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families.

  • West Egg = newly rich x East Egg = old aristocracy (Tom and Daisy)

  • Newly rich: bit vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, lacking in social graces and taste – Gatsby wears provocative colours, Rolls-Royce, doesn’t pick up on subtle social signals x the old aristocracy: grace, taste, subtlety, elegance, white dress – lack in heart – careless

Motifs:

• Geography: East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West (including Minnesota) is connected to more traditional social values and ideals.

• Weather: matches the emotional and narrative tone of the story

  • Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion begins amid a pouring rain, proving awkward and melancholy; their love reawakens just as the sun begins to come out.

  • Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs on the hottest day of the summer

  • Wilson kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn, as Gatsby floats in his pool despite a palpable chill in the air

Symbols (Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because characters instil them with meaning):

• The Green Light: Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. He places his room in the direction of it