The Great Gatsby Flashcards
(13 cards)
The Great Gatsby Themes
- The Roaring Twenties
- The American Dream
- Class (Old Money vs New Money
- The Past and Future
Roaring Twenties Quotes (3)
- “And I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
- “That huge place THERE?” she cried pointing out”
- “Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night—and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over.”
The American Dream Quotes (3)
- “Why didn’t he ask you to arrange a meeting?”
“He wants her to see his house,” she explained. “And your house is right next door.”
“Oh!” - “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”
- It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night—and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over.”
New Money vs. Old Money Quotes (3)
- “And I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
- “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”
- “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Past and Future Quotes (2)
- “Oh, you want too much!” she cried to Gatsby. “I love you now—isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” She began to sob helplessly. “I did love him once—but I loved you too.”
- “I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Then he went into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace—or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons—rid of my provincial squeamishness forever.”
Symbols and Motifs
- The Green Light and the colour Green
- Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
- Valley of Ashes
- East Egg vs. West Egg
- Houses (Gatsby’s Mansion, Daisy’s Mansion, Myrtle’s Apartment)
Quote - The Green Light/ Colour Green
He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.
(https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-great-gatsby/symbols/the-green-light-and-the-color-green)
Quote - Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg
- “Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s faded eyes came into sight”
- “Over the ash heaps the giant eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg kept their vigil.”
Quote - The Valley of Ashes
“This is a Valley of Ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. “
Quote - East Egg vs. West Egg
- “My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three generations.”
- “That’s my Middle West . . . the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark. . . . I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.”
What colours does Gatsby dress in at his first meeting with Daisy?
Gold and Silver
What does Gatsby almost break at Nick’s house during his first meeting with Daisy? And what does it symbolise?
A Clock - symbolises that Gatsby cant repeat/change the past.
