Gatsby Notes

The Great Gatsby has been called the central fable of America—what could this mean?

“Almost any exhibition of complete self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me”(9)

            -Nick was surprised when any of these people could actually do anything for themselves.

“My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month” (5)

-This is America. We have the very rich living a certain life and the rest of us cannot take part in it but we can see it. This is kind of how the idea of the American Dream can be viewed=maybe it is there and attainable for some but not everyone will get to live it.

“I’m pretty cynical about everything” (17)-à What does this say about Daisy?

 

“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”

-She describes her own boredom with life and seems to imply that a girl can have more fun if she is beautiful and simplistic. Daisy herself often tries to act like this. She conforms to the social standard of American femininity in the 1920s in order to avoid such tension-filled issues as her undying love for Gatsby.

The blue eyes on the billboard are constantly watching over these people…possibly judging?

Myrtle buys “Town Tattle” (a gossip magazine), cold cream and perfume—what can we learn about her from these purchases? What is she concerned with?

Nick starts to hear more about Gatsby at the party. No one seems to know Gatsby. Whispers and rumors.

“You can’t live forever” (36).

“People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away” (37).

            -Do these people care about each other? “Lost”

The fruit machine and the Great Depression (39).

Description of the parties Gatsby throws (39-40)

Nick meets Gatsby (47).

Nick’s thoughts on Jordan and women:

“For a moment, I thought I loved her” (59”

“Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply"

“She was incurably dishonest” (58)

“I am one of the few honest people I know” (60) Nick says this about himself.