Ao1 Flashcards
(24 cards)
Nick’s opinon of the East by the end of the novel
‘East was haunted’, ‘distorted’, ‘brooding’, ‘old’ and ‘unknown’.
-Because of the ill treatment of Gatsby despite his genuine pursuit, reflecting moral decay of the East Egg society
-Intensity of Nick’s attachment to G allows him to offer a poignant commentary on the damaging nature of the American Dream.
Reflection of Nick on Tom and Daisy and their actions
‘They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money’
-‘smashed’, brings us back to Myrtle’s broken body
‘body capable of enormous leverage, a cruel body’
-Nick can offer reflective view
-Biological aspect of man, destined to exercise male dominance physically?
How did Tom move people
Chapter 1
‘compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square’
At Dinner Chapter 1, Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan
‘last sunshine fell with romantic affection on her glowing face… glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret’
-Shows compelling power of Daisy’s innate femininity, not something she purposefully uses against people?Contrasts Tom’s ‘cruel body’
Chapter 2 at Tom’s NY Apartment
‘I wanted to get out… toward the park… but each time I tried I became entangled… pulled me back’
-Wanted to escape to the East, but pulled back to Midwest?
-Wanted to escape back to Midwest but pulled back to East? Link back to Baz Luhrman 2013 version- Nick drawn back to stories of the past.
Owl Eyes talking about the Library.
‘if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse’
-Shaky foundations of G’s wealth
-Fragility, foreshadowing Great Depression of 30s, how easily wealth and prosperity stripped from many.
Chapter 3, G’s party
‘great number of single girls’
-Flapper
-New woman, not tied to a relationship
Harmartia of Gastby
-Believing economic divide was the only thing taht had a barrier between them
Chapter 3, depection of war
‘wet, grey little villages’
Chapter 3, Gatsby’s smile
‘quality of eternal reassurance’
‘believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself’, link to American Dream.
First impressions of Gatsby
‘picking his words with care’
‘expected… a florid and corpulent person in his middle years’
‘young men didnt drift coolly out of nowhere’
~Jordan on parties
large parties ‘intamite’, small ‘isn’t any privacy’
Mr Tostoff inital impressions
‘I could see nothing sinister about him’
-ironic
What made Daisy retreat from Gastby?
-Tom finding out Gatsby is involved in financial trickery
-Thus doubting stability he can provide
Gatsby’s mask
Chapter 3, going from talking to Daisy to saying goodbye to guests ‘‘eagerness in his manner tightened abruptly into formality’
‘what’s your opinion of me, anyhow?’ Chapter 4. talking to those of a similar class to Daisy
‘hurried the phrase… swallowed… or choked on it’ (going to Oxford)
backstory of G ‘worn so threadbare’
Sheep in wolf’s clothing
‘sudden emptiness’ when people have left G’s party
‘I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and I felt it in others’ (Nick about workspace, ‘metropolitan’)
Jordan was incurably dishonest’… issues with her ‘died away’
‘never quite still’
-Constantly having to maintain class- ‘Philadelphia’s on the line’- unlike leisure class who ‘drift here and there’ unpurposefully.
‘I knew I could climb, but I had to climb alone’
‘Gatsby believed in the Green :Light’
Nick’s description of Daisy
bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth
Compare to
‘string of pearls’
-Analgous to a dog leash
-Symbolises Daisy’s search for security
