A05

Question 1

Marius Bewley:

Answer 1

“Gatsby’s greatness lies in his capacity for hope.”
📝 Use this to present Gatsby as a tragic idealist rather than a mere criminal.

Question 2

Sarah Churchwell:

Answer 2

“The novel is a satire of a society that treats people as commodities.”
📝 Use this to argue Fitzgerald critiques materialism and dehumanisation in the 1920s.

Question 3

Tony Tanner:

Answer 3

“Gatsby lives in the world of the romantic energies and colors.”
📝 Apply to show Gatsby as symbolic of the American romantic tradition — full of promise, yet doomed.

Question 4

Lionel Trilling:

Answer 4

“Gatsby comes inevitably to stand for America itself.”
📝 Useful for interpreting Gatsby as a personification of the American Dream and its collapse.

Question 5

Leland S. Person:

Answer 5

“Nick is an unreliable narrator who disguises his own moral ambiguity.”
📝 Great for essays challenging Nick’s objectivity and trustworthiness.

Question 6

Kathleen Parkinson:

Answer 6

“Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocracy.”
📝 Use to present Daisy as symbolic of elite corruption and hollowness.

Question 7

Roger Lewis:

Answer 7

“The novel embodies the death of the American Dream.”
📝 Ideal for essays about the loss of values after WW1 and the emptiness of the American Dream.

Question 8

James E. Miller Jr. :

Answer 8

“Gatsby’s dream is not simply material… it is spiritual as well.”
📝 Supports readings of Gatsby as more than just a materialist.

Question 9

Feminist Reading:

Answer 9

Daisy is “a victim of patriarchal expectations and limited choices.”
📝 Use this to explore gender roles and the limits on female agency.

Question 10

Marxist Criticism

Answer 10

The novel exposes “the illusion of class mobility in capitalist America.”
📝 Great for critical essays on class, inequality, and systemic power.

Question 11

Psychoanalytic Reading:

Answer 11

Looks at Gatsby’s obsession as a manifestation of unconscious desire and denial of reality.

Question 12

New Historicist Reading:

Answer 12

Considers the novel within the social, economic, and political context of 1920s America — Prohibition, the Roaring Twenties, and the aftermath of WWI.

Question 13

Postmodern Reading:

Answer 13

Explores the fragmented identity and unreliable narration, questioning the nature of truth in the novel.