TGG Themes

Question 1

the american dream

Answer 1

• the belief that america is a meritocracy whereby anyone can achieve or obtain anything if they work hard enough
• an ideology that gained momentum following the end of WWI
• treats the nation as equal individuals whose only limit is their ambition
• fitzgerald’s expression of the american dream lacks optimism
• Wilson vs Gatsby - both worked hard but wealth was only acquired through crime

Question 2

the american dream - key quotes

Answer 2

‘they moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild’ - consumerism, temporary happiness

‘I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it’ - energetic, contrasts with the dull, slow lives in the valley of ashes

‘Gatsby believed in the green light’

‘He stretched out his arms towards the dark water’

Question 3

the american dream - gatsby

Answer 3

• gatsby and the american dream are intertwined
• myrtle also appears to be in active pursuit of the american dream
• gatsby embodies corruption, wealth for status, not virtue
• gatsby reinvents himself to fit in with the elite
• gatsby lives a life of pretence
• wilson’s pursuit of blue-collar work and his inability to chase the american dream contrasts with the ambition of his foil character, gatsby

Question 4

the death of the american dream

Answer 4

• gatsby personifies the american dream, and his death presents the death of it

Question 5

the death of the american dream quotes

Answer 5

‘Jay Gatsby had broken up like glass against Tom’s hard malice’ - image of glass implies fragility, gatsby wears a facade

‘So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes’ - symbolises the hollowness of gatsby’s dream, daisy’s disapproval

‘Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water’ - foreshadowing gatsby’s tragic death, represents failure of the american dream

Question 6

religion

Question 7

isolation