Chapter 1 Flashcards
Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had
-Here Nicks fathers is reminding him that he, as a moneyed, privileged, educated, white male, allows him to have a good position in the world.
-Despite this Nick frequently judges people.
-sets up the idea that the novel will be about the class divide
What foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams
-The line foreshadows the final line in the novel (boats beating against the current).
-As Gatsby forges forward he leaves a trail of muck that floats to the surface, like a boat.
-‘wake’ refers to the parties and his profligate use of money he leaves behind.
-‘foul’ is Nicks own opinion of the people who flock towards these thing.
It was a body capable of enormous leverage-a cruel body
-It’s a straightforward description of Tom, through his physical appearance.
-‘leverage’ refers to his physical strength as well as the enormous influence that he has over the world.
The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though on an anchored balloon
-This is reminiscent of a visual set piece, as if it were a painting by an old master, linking to the idea of Europe and old money.
-Daisy and Jordan not touching the floor presents them as angelic, too precious.
-Linking to this idea of the renaissance era, in which angels were painted on church ceilings, as their feet never touched the floor.
-Adding to this notion of art, they are sat ‘stationary’ like objects, a nod to their gender and their role; sit there and look pretty.
It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things
-A statement of white supremacy.
-It’s a blatant admission of racism and a statement of ideological purity.
-He knows his class position is the ruling class, and he wants to retain that control.
That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool
-Daisy knows she is merely an beautiful object for rich men to enjoy (art metaphor).
-Her position doesn’t require brains, but her beauty has bought her this lifestyle, so she wishes the same for her daughter as she can’t possibly amount to anything else due to her gender.
-‘Fool’ shows that it is preferable for an upper class wife to lack intellect, being oblivious means they won’t know that their spouses are unfaithful
He stretched out his arms to the dark water
-Gatsby is reaching for the green light, the symbol of the unattainable American dream.
-However instead the sentence states it’s the ‘dark water’.
- ‘Dark water’ foreshadows his death, though he believes he’s journeying towards the light.
-By taking this risk of reaching out to the American Dream, Gatsby in reality is reaching out for to his own destructions (Fitzgeralds wider message).
A single green light a minute and far away, that might have been at the end of the dock
-‘light’ represents this possibility that one can achieve rags to riches.
-The fact that’s it’s ‘green’ representing the action ‘go’ encourages those to pursue their ideal version of the American Dream.
-However this is all just a false facade, the light is only ‘a minute’, meaning the chances of actually achieving this is incredibly slim.
-The fact that’s it’s ‘far away’ shows the reality of becoming incredibly rich takes more than a lifetime (those that have old money, come form generations of wealth)
-It’s misleading, stating that it ‘might be at the end of the dock’ entices people to think this could happen to them, COULD!
