The Great Gatsby Flashcards
(50 cards)
Your wife doesn’t…. loves me.
“Your wife doesn’t love you,” said Gatsby. She’s never loved you. She loves me.”
> use of possessive “your wife” demonstrates how Gatsby cares little for the legal, societal bond between Tom and Daisy
> repetition of love exaggerates his certainty that love is some unstoppable force.
He found out… rose is
“He found out what a grotesque thing a rose is”
> dream disappears, revealing his objectification of Daisy as the romantic Holy Grail.
He had one of those… times in life.
“He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
> theatrical charm, reflects back a person’s most optimistic hope back to them
discovered that… smiled.
“discovered that people liked him when he smiled.”
> mechanical method of sustaining a natural persona, echoes his warped understanding of love.
> oddly awkward, stunted manner
“An extraordinary… any other person”
“An extraordinary gift for hope, such as I have never found in any other person.”
> unique, wholesome - “gift” suggests its inherently pure nature, as if some divine force had intended for him to use this
> Gatsby’s devotion is of unwavering, biblical proportions.
“I haven’t got… in my car.”
“I haven’t got a horse’, said Gatsby. ‘I used to ride in the army, but I’ve never bought a horse. I’ll have to follow you in my car.”
> pitiful inability to grasp the social norms as he believes old money can be acquired with new money.
“Can’t repeat… you can!”
“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”
> wholehearted belief that Daisy and he were destined to be together
“She only married… waiting for me.”
“She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.”
> unable to accept Daisy loved time, desperately justifies and explains to mould reality to his own.
“A man… age”
“No French bob… shoulder”
“I’ll bet… a man”
delayed intro until Chapter 3, described only as “a man about my age” “no French bob touched his shoulder” aloof. “I’ll bet he killed a man” - shrouded in mystique that contributes to his romance, and how easily Gatsby becomes a myth or legend, - “The Great Gatsby”.
“sprang from… of himself”
“sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” - Plato insisted that ideas and reality were separate, but James Gatz combines the two to form Jay Gatsby.
“broke up… malice”
“broke up like glass against Tom’s hard malice”. Everything about Gatsby is a considered, measured strategy designed to sustain an attractive illusion
“He and this Wolfsheim… over the counter.”
“He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.” - American dream of optimism, vitality and individualism become subordinated to the immoral pursuit of wealth – context of 1920 prohibition.
“took her…. her hand”
“took her because he had no real right to touch her hand” - took Daisy’s virginity not because of who she was, but what she had and what she represented.
“Mr…. Nowhere”
“Mr Nobody from Nowhere” - taunted by his unworthiness, Gatsby will never reach the promised land of the upper class.
“In his blue gardens… and the stars.”
“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars.” - short lived, magical, ethereal quality.
“There was a machine… butler’s thumb”
“There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb” - humorous description from Fitzgerald downplays the seemingly casual, off-hand nature of Gatsby’s ludicrous wealth, making it seem casual and effortless.
“little ripples… waves”
“Little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves” - emphasises Gatsby’s futility, that he cannot engineer his own future
“they used to… son-of-a-bitch”
parasitical klipspringer and his tennis shoes “they used to go there by the hundreds…poor son-of-a-bitch” - Owl-eyes impersonal, vague and crude compassion as Nick is the only one who seems to have really known Gatsby at all.
“…shirts”
“They’re such beautiful shirts” - shows more compassion for material wealth than she does for Myrtle’s death.
“What’ll we do.. next thirty years?”
“What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?” cried Daisy, “and the day after that, and the next thirty years?” - purposeless drifting, her choice of stability and security is unsurprisingly unexciting.
“fifth guest’s… urgency”
“fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency” - harsh abrasiveness contrasted with Daisy’s delicacy, ironic wry description of ‘fifth guest’
“I’m p-paralyzed…”
“I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.” affected, playful stutter is an indicator that Daisy is a constant performer in social situations
“Daisy and Tom were sitting… two bottles of ale”
“Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale.” - traditional American domestic scene amidst Myrtle’s death, sitting opposite each other denotes partnership, conspiration and almost celebration
“They were careless…. into their money”
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money”
Daisy is not the unique Holy Grail Gatsby believes she is, but a passive, empty reactionary – the colour white symbolises not purity or innocence, but an absence of character.
