hope and dreams Flashcards
ch4 “he had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths”
- he is obsessed and devoted to daisy.
- the starlight is his parties and the casual moths are the wealthy guests who are attracted to the party, not gatsby.
ch5 “luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers, and set it back in place”
- time is a recurring motif, a method typical of prose.
- emphasises Gatsby’s inability to control time. trying to recapture the past. gatsby is going in a backward direction therefore never achieving hope.
- the clock is a symbol of barrier to love
- eden,daisy+america = past /hope = future
“He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air”
Relates to earlier when gatsby reached for the green light symbolising hope, but that hope is lost and a wisp of air is all he got out of the five years of devoting his life to daisy.
Ch1 – “a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of the dock”
- green symbolises money in the usa, first colour seen when discovering US land, the garden of eden which all have potential.
– when we learn this is Daisy we know he was reaching out for her, reaching for hope.
Ch7 emphasis on “mint julep” (daisy also uses the word)
Green is the colour of hope, hope of gatsby and daisies relationship?
ch5 “the exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain”
ch5 “i think that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, feverish warmth, because it couldn’t be over dreamed - that voice was a deathless song”
- her voice is mesmerising and connotes magical dreams and hope.
- echoes the depth and passion and emphasises gatsbys dream of being with her.
- symbolises eternal life and how daisys lifestyle is a weightless nature with no difficulties.
this is an allusion of her femme fatale (a woman causing disaster to a man) like a siren (greek myth.) a woman winged who’s singing lured sailors but could be dangerous
ch5 “daisy came out of the house and two rows of brass buttons on her dress gleamed in the sunlight”
- replacing wealth for love as brass is a cheap material. there is a hope that daisy will leave her old money life for a life with gatsby.
ch6 “daisy began to sing with the music in a husky, rhythmic whisper, bringing out a meaning in each word that it had never had before and would never have again”
- transient. Capturing the moment like gatsbys love.
- “husky” described tom earlier, Moving further away from gatsby
- Her voice makes her seem innocent
ch9 “he wouldn’t eat and the glass of milk spilled from his trembling hand”
ch9 “his grief began to be mixed with an awed pride.”
- like gatsby, excited by the creation like gatsby was reaching out to his creation, Daisy.
- a mix of shock and grief, so proud of his son’s achievements.
