* prototype * the great gatsby notes for as level

Will Thong, Raph Torrance and Christopher Howarth Jay Gatsby 1

Character Profile: Jay Gatsby (James Gatz)

Chapter Page Quotation Analysis

1 8

“Gatsby ... represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”

“If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him”

Implies hollowness and falsity.

“an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely that I shall find again.”

Introduction of Gatsby's hope as a defining trait.

2 34“Well, they say he's a nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm's. That's where all his money comes from.”

Speculation, specifically linked to Gatsby's wealth; there seems to be suspicion of 'nouveau riche' here.

41

“I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound ... his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus … his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains”

Repetition of the possessive emphasises how the enjoyment which is had is all down to Gatsby. We don't who the neighbour is at first; the impersonality of the pronoun reflects how Gatsby's guests do not know even know who he is!

45

“'Somebody told me they thought he'd killed a man once.' …' … I'll bet he killed a man.'”

This speculation is more disturbing. There is a clear development from someone having heard speculation from somebody else to this clear expression of certainty.

“' … he was a German spy during the war' ...'I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in Germany'”

This speculation is bottomless, because Gatsby didn't grow up in Germany, but seems to be a development of the Kaiser myth, especially since it develops the suspicion of Gatsby stemming from his wealth. After all, what can be more suspicious than a spy?

46“It was testimony to the romantic speculation he inspired that there were whispers about him from those who had found little that it was necessary to whisper about in this

Such is his mystery that even those who fear little else fear Gatsby.


3

world.”

“a high Gothic library, panelled with carved English Oak, and probably transported complete from some ruin overseas.”

Gatsby trying to mimic the Old World aristocracy from which the society to which he aspires originates.

47“ … This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! ... '”

Belasco was a Broadway producer known for the realism of his sets; Gatsby's image is all an elaborate act that fools everybody apart from, ironically Owl-Eyes the Drunk.

48 “a man of about my age” Nick doesn't know it's Gatsby yet, but this is their first meeting.

49

“It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”

Epic, romantic, lyrical prose

“an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd”

A rough-neck is an unskilled or slightly-skilled worker.

“'Well, he told me once he was an Oxford man.'A dim background began to take shape behind him, but at her next remark it faded away.'However, I don't believe it.'”

Gatsby is intrinsically mysterious; even when you think you know something about him, it is probably wrong, and the digger you deep, the more blurs out of focus.

50

“But young men didn't … drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound.”

This is proleptic irony, since we find later that this is precisely what Gatsby did. More importantly, however, it implies that you cannot casually traverse such class distinctions without breaking the law, i.e. bootlegging, but, even if you do, you never truly fit in.


51

“His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed everyday. I could see nothing sinister about him. I wondered if the fact that he was not drinking helped to set him off from his guests, for it seemed to me that he grew more correct as the fraternal hilarity increased.”

His tanned skin is also mentioned later (Chapter 6 p.105), but as a sign of tiredness and annoyance at the failure of his efforts to obtain Daisy.Daisy is the other character who abstains from alcohol. Gatsby's abstention puts a barrier between him and his guests.

53“The familiar expression held no more familiarity than the hand which reassuringly brushed my shoulder.”

This refers to one of many 'old sport's; Gatsby behaves this way with everyone, so his personality becomes, ironically, impersonal.

60

“One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.”

The young ladies have found a way to make Gatsby is more suspicious than a spy: make him a distant relative of the pure personification of evil. This speculation does, in its farcity, seem like it might be ironic or satirical.

“the subtle tribute of knowing nothing whatever about him.”

Gatsby's guests know nothing about him, but it's a tribute because he prefers it that way.

63

“'I don't want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear.'”

He knows there are rumours being spread about him, and he wants to dispel these myths.

“He hurried the phrase 'educated at Oxford', or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all.”

Perpetuates our sense of uncertainty.

Like Jordan in the previous Chapter, Nick goes back on what he had previously thought about Gatsby.

64

“I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West – all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.”

Sounds like a biography he has written and memorised. Nick agrees; he finds that “The very phrases were worn so threadbare that they evoked no image” (Chapter 4 p. 63)

54 “' … trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago.'”

Really vague; Gatsby isn't giving us any reason to believe him.

62 “He was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with Gatsby represents the American Dream.


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that resourcefulness of movement which is so peculiarly American”

64

“With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter.”

Gatsby is so affected that it is very difficult to believe him.

“” … I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life … '”

Double meaning: not only does Gatsby believe himself to be incapable of suicide due to his fate, which is to regain Daisy, but it also refers to the sense of illusion and magic which surrounds his life.

65

“Here's another thing I always carry. A souvenir of Oxford days … ' It was a photograph.”

Gatsby needs photographic verification of his life on his person like normal people need ID.

“Then it was all true.” Nick is incredulous.

70

“'Miss Baker's a great sportswoman, you know, and she'd never do anything that wasn't all right.'”

Shows Gatsby's incurable optimism about people and life in general, despite his own less-than-savoury occupation.

“'Handsome to look at and a perfect gentleman' …'He's an Oggsford man'”

“' … a man of fine breeding … ' …' … He would never so much as look at a friend's wife.'

Wolfshiem's comments are both laced with proleptic irony, as we find out later that neither is true.

76

“He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendour.”

Nick learns that Gatsby bought the house only to be near Daisy. The romantic, lyrical language is typical of Nick's descriptions of Gatsby.

“He … bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths”

His guests are like moths attracted to a flame. Ironically, his house, a candle designed to attract Daisy, ends up destroying him rather than her.

81 He looked out the window at it, but, judging from his expression, I don't believe he saw a thing.

Daisy leads to Gatsby becoming nervous and losing his suavity.

83 “Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets”

Again, Daisy results in a far less confident Gatsby


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84

“reclining … in a strained counterfeit of perfect ease” Oxymoronic. Also, it shows that, even when at ease, Gatsby is doing it all for show.

“The automatic quality of Gatsby's answer” Gatsby is obsessive; he remembers, to the month, when he met Daisy.

86

“He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room.”

Daisy has a rejuvenating effect on him, even if only temporarily.

“'Oh hello, old sport,' he said, as if he hadn't seen me for years. I thought for a moment he was going to shake hands.”

Meeting Daisy makes him a new man.

“he smiled like a weather man … 'What do you think of that? It's stopped raining.'”

A weather man, just like Gatsby, is somebody whose ecstatic presentation of the weather seems a little crazy and even fake.

87

“'My house looks well, doesn't it?' he demanded. 'See how the whole front of it catches the light.'”

The house has been lit up purely for Daisy; indeed, it reflects her own light. Also, the way he demands appreciation of his possessions is similar to Tom's stating “'I've got a nice place here,'” (Chapter 1, p. 13). The difference is that Tom seems to be far more confident and assertive about it, whereas Gatsby is more like a needy child.

“when I asked him what business he was in he answered: 'That's my affair', before he realized that it wasn't an appropriate reply.”

Occasionally, his cover of a respectable gentleman with generations of money behind him slips; such a person would not need to hide their affairs.

“I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I’m not in either one now.”

This tells us nothing, and is typically elusive.

“'I keep it always full of interesting people, night and day.'” Gatsby refers to his house almost like a zoo.

88 “His bedroom was the simplest room of all – except where the dresser was garnished with a toilet set”

This word is used instead of 'embellished' or 'decorated', implying that, like food, his possessions are disposable.


89

“he was consumed with wonder at her presence.” Gatsby thinks he's in a dream.

“'I've got a man in England who buys me clothes. He sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and fall.'”

More hints of disposibility.

90 “His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” Implication: there will always be more enchanted objects to chase. Gatsby's chase never stops.

91

“'Yes … well, I can’t talk now … I can’t talk now, old sport … I said a small town … he must know what a small town is … well, he’s no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town … '”

Is Gatsby organising a bank heist?

92

“a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness … There must have been moments … when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams – not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.”

Daisy cannot live up to Gatsby's illusion, because Gatsby's illusion is so strong. In fact, nothing will ever live up to his dream, because, as mentioned before, every time he finds something, his “orgastic future … recedes before” (Chapter 9, p. 171) him.

92 “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart.”

The power of enduring hope.

94 “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen”

95 “Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God”

Conforms to his fantasy of the best possible version of himself. It fits with Nick's other epic descriptions of Gatsby that he invokes both Plato and God here.

“he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”

This fits with what we are told about Gatsby's globe-trotting; the invented Gatsby seems to be an amalgam of a penny dreadful or comic book character and an aristocrat. Gatsby never escapes his childhood.

“His brown, hardening body … He knew women early … young virgins … the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor.”

Sexual imagery, partly because he is only 17, but also because the new Gatsby was born of necessity and from lust.


6

“these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing.

Dreams allowed Gatsby access to the world of fantasy.Daisy’s maiden name, Fay, is an Old English word for 'fairy'. Fitzgerald could be playing a private joke: to Gatsby, even before he ever knew her, he world rested upon Daisy.

96

“And when the Tuolomee left for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast, Gatsby left too.”

A new start; the allegorical voyage is an essential part of any fantasy, and Gatsby's fantasy is no exception.

“He stayed there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself”

Gatsby sees something in himself that the world does not. Do not compare with Doctor Who's Master, who also hears 'drums of destiny' in his head.

97

“I had reached the point of believing everything and nothing about him.

Like Jordan in Chapter 3 and himself in Chapter 4, Nick is, once more, going back on his impressions of Gatsby.

“the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man.”

Gatsby has been born.

99 “'I haven't got a horse … I'll have to follow you in my car …” Highlights the old-money/new-money contrast.

101“I remember being surprised by his graceful, conservative fox-trot”

Obviously it's important in its own right that Gatsby can dance, but it shows another thing he has done to be accepted in high society: learn to dance.

105 “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you.'”

His fantasy becomes his only desire at this stage. This ridiculous demand is where the dream has receded to.

106 “'And she doesn't understand … She used to be able to understand … ”

Irony: the way Gatsby has changed himself is what has distanced him from her.

106 “'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'

This ridiculous statement highlights how far down the rabbit hole Gatsby is with his “gift for hope” (Chapter 1, p.8). It also shows that, in many ways, he is not too different from Tom, who is “forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some “irrecoverable football game.” (Chapter 1, p. 11)


“the blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees … he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder … He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God … At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”

Like Jacob's Ladder?According to Henry Idema, there is a Freudian reading: this is breast imagery, linked to Daisy as a maternal figure.Even this early on, he sees that she is perishable, and so takes what he can “ravenously and unscrupulously” (Chapter 8, p.141).Daisy is also a religious figure, according to Idema. This imagery pervades this passage.

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108“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.”

He's cancelled the parties since their sole purpose, to attract, Daisy has been completed.Trimalchio was a Roman who threw lavish parties.

109 “the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes.”

This metaphor is particularly apt, as Gatsby's parties were also processions of exotic people.

112

“he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before.”

The child is an obstacle to Gatsby's romantic fantasies which his denial of reality had never allowed him to see.

“'Her voice is full of money' … that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it”

Gatsby links Daisy, his love, with money, just as money was the way he intended to attract his love. It shows how much he cares about money, since most people find Daisy's voice attractive for other reasons.

117 “'I've been here too long. I want to get away. My wife and I want to go West.'

Ironic that Wilson wants to find his new start in the West when Nick and Gatsby found theirs in the East.

123 “'I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife … '”

Tom's outburst shows his disdain for the new fashions of new money in two ways.

124

“'Your wife doesn’t love you,' said Gatsby. 'She’s never loved you. She loves me.' ... 'She never loved you, do you hear?' … 'She only married you because I was poor … '”

The American Dream is all about making your own successful way in life, regardless of birth. Gatsby's Dream, where he runs off with another man's wife by convincing her that she never loved him, is a hilariously twisted alternative.

126 “' … there's things between Daisy and me that you'll never Gatsby hates to be reminded that he cannot turn back the


know, things that neither of us can ever forget.'The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.”

clock or relive the past. While Fitzgerald was writing his wife was having an affair with a Frenchman; he was bitterly hurt and came close to divorce, which is no surprise, since it's humiliating to be beaten by a Frenchman. Perhaps the knowledge of intimacy between his wife and another man contribute to Gatsby's reaction.

128 “He looked – and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden – as if he had 'killed a man'.”

This is the point at which Gatsby's past finally catches up with him.

136“'Just standing here, old sport.'Somehow, that seemed a despicable occupation …I disliked him so much by this time”

Views of Gatsby change with the wind.

139 “watching over nothing.” There is nothing of his relationship left.

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141

“It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy – it increased her value in his eyes.”

Suggests monetary value and hints at Gatsby's obsession with money.

“he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders.”

In becoming Gatsby, he has destroyed his real past.The implication of this word is that he was obliged to wear the illusion all the time as people are obliged to wear uniforms all the time.

142 “he let her believe that he was a person from much the same strata as herself”

“he had committed himself to the following of a grail.” The American Dream, for Gatsby, is as important a quest as the Quest for the Holy Grail. Gatsby puts himself in the context of another fantasy: the Arthurian Romance, with Daisy as the grail.

“He felt married to her, that was all.” In the novel, marriage is a weak institution. To Gatsby, Tom is the adulterer.

“some complication or misunderstanding sent him to Oxford instead.”

Only went there by accident.


145

“He stayed there a week … revisiting the out-of-the-way places to which they had driven in her white car.”

“'Can't repeat the past? … Why of course you can!'” (Chapter 6 p.106)

“he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever.”

Gatsby's above comment is therefore either him living in denial, or Nick being unreliable as a narrator.

“'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.'”… It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.

Even though he disapproves, he's better than all the others. The reason: Gatsby is the only uncynical character.

Seems to go against his tenet of not judging people.

“radiant and understanding smile”

153

“he ... paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.”

Living on dreams destroys you.He now looks at the world through new eyes – these things are only beautiful according to society. Compare “It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.” (Chapter 6, p.100)

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159

“'– Mr Gatz. I thought you might want to take the body West.'He shook his head.'Jimmy always liked it better down East. He rose up to his position in the East … '”

Gatsby never managed to equal the old money, no matter how much he aspired and tried.

162 “' … He was so hard up he had to keep on wearing his uniform because he couldn't buy some regular clothes … '”

171 “his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.”

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms out farther…And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back

Even when he had found Daisy, he always wanted more.Inevitability of chasing the Dream, further implied by the ellipsis. It's something that 'just happens'.The Dream is unattainable, and to attain it, Gatsby keeps


ceaselessly into the past. trying to relive things.

Will Thong, Raph Torrance and Christopher Howarth Nick Carraway 12

Character Profile: Nick Carraway


1

7

“I’m inclined to reserve all judgements” He makes plenty of judgements in the book.

“I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.” Foreshadows relationship with Gatsby.

“the intimate revelations of young men … are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions.”

Back at 'ya, Nick; so is your writing!

8 “My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations.”

Categorises himself as reasonably rich.

9

“I graduated from New Haven in 1915” Went to Yale.

“I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War. I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless.”

Nick is confident both with literary language and when assessing the socio-economic situation of German immigration, such that he can make light of it.

10

“'How do you get to West Egg village?' he asked helplessly.I told him. And as I walked on I was lonely no longer.”

This loss of loneliness is similar to the way Nick relieves himself of the burden of Gatsby's tale by writing it down.

“life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.”

He admits that he only has access to one, possibly unreliable, interpretation of Gatsby's story, but this is preferable to one of his “solemn and obvious editorials” (Chapter 1, p.10).

15

“'Do they miss me?' she cried ecstatically.'The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there's a persistent wail all night along the north shore.'”

This witty banter is a response to a shallow and false question by Daisy, and so it is in itself shallow and false.

19

“Miss Baker and I exchanged a short glance consciously devoid of meaning.”

This description is even stronger than just saying 'meaningless'. Moreover, this meaningless glance foreshadows the meaninglessness of the rest of their relationship.


2

30 “'Hold on,' I said, 'I have to leave you here.'” Nick does not have to be the centre of attention; he is content to be an observer.

31“I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon; so everything that happened has a dim, hazy cast over it”

Nick can be an unreliable narrator.

32 “the whisky distorted things, because it didn't make any sense to me.”

38 “It was nine o'clock – almost immediately afterward I looked at my watch and found it was ten.”

39“Mr McKee turned and continued on out the door. Taking my hat from the chandelier, I followed.”

Like Mr McKee, Nick is an ordinary person who has been transplanted into an insane, extraordinary situation who simply can't deal with it and so removes himself.

40

“I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets … Then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pensylvania Station, staring at the morning Tribune, and waiting for the four o'clock train.”


43

“they conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour associated with an amusement park.”

The irony is that there are no rules at an amusement park. Nick's snobbish, disapproving tone breaks his previous promise not to judge.

“I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table – the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone.”

Doesn't feel like he fits in.

57

“I even had a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, but her brother began throwing mean looks in my direction, so when she went on her vacation in July I let it blow quietly away.”

Unassuming, laid-back character.

“I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I

Is Nick having a sort of sexual fantasy?


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was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove.

58“Imagining that I, too, was hurrying towards gaiety and sharing their intimate excitement, I wished them well.”

Springboards off other characters.

“Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men” Does this make Nick really modest or simply unreliable?

59

“'I hate careless people. That's why I like you.'”

“for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires”

Logical and rational; not somebody who lives on emotion and dreams like Gatsby does.

“I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”

Evidence for this: he wants to break off his old relationship first, even though it is so far away from his current one.

“when that certain girl played tennis, a faint moustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip.

Unnamed to highlight anonymity and unimportance.Not usually a positive feature; is Nick bitching?

4

70 “' … You know Oggsford College?''I've heard of it.'”

Nick is a man of polite understatements.

78

“Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me”

Nick's own romance lacks the depth and history of the other characters'.Nick is a pragmatist; Jordan's not perfect for him or the love of his life, but she's available, so why not?

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81

“The evening had made me light-headed and happy; I think I walked into a deep sleep as I entered my front door. So I don't know whether or not Gatsby went to Coney Island”


85

“I stared at it, like Kant at his church steeple” Nick sees himself as the moral arbiter of the society he keeps. Like Kant, he seems himself as an analytical and objective moral force, and his philosophy bears similarities to the categorical imperative (cross-curricular yeah!).

87 “But what had amused me then turned septic on the air Nick has grown up and developed as a character.


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now.”

117 “'I've been here too long. I want to get away. My wife and I want to go West.'

Ironic that Wilson wants to find his new start in the West when Nick and Gatsby found theirs in the East.

129“Human sympathy has its limits” Nick is limited as a narrator.

“Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.”

Asyndeton and the repetition of 'thinning' all help make Nick's future seem even more dismal.

136

I'd be damned if I'd go in; I'd had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too.”

I must have felt pretty weird by that time, because I could think of nothing except the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon.


156“I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone.” Nick isn't scared to be the only one to hold an opinion. Or

is he? After all, the passive voice indicates a lack of active choice.

167“That's my Middle West … the Carraway house in a city where dwellings are still called through decades by a family's name.”

Nick is very much old money.

168“ … 'I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.' …'I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.'”

Earlier in the novel, Nick was the only honest person he knew. His experience in the East has changed him.

Will Thong, Raph Torrance and Christopher Howarth Daisy Buchanan 16

Character Profile: Daisy Buchanan


11 “Daisy was my second cousin once removed”

14

“an absurd, charming little laugh” Other things described as absurd by Nick: the random dog-seller's “absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller” (Chapter 2, p.29) and, nearly, Gatsby's “elaborate formality of speech” (Chapter 3, p. 49)

“'I'm p-paralysed with happiness.' Hyperbole implies fakeness, as does the stutter.

“I've heard it said that Daisy's murmer was only to make people lean toward her”

Attention-seeking. Seehttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=743755074

“low, thrilling voice … the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.”

Like Gatsby and Daisy's relationship; “'Can't repeat the past? … Why of course you can!'” (Chapter 6 p.106).Both Gatsby and Nick see Daisy's voice as her most desirable characteristic, but whilst Nick sees it for the reasons provided here, Gatsby remarks that “'Her voice is full of money'” (Chapter 7, p.112).

“Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered 'Listen', a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.

Tricolon emphasises Daisy's brightness, as does her pallette, although this is discussed further in the section on colour symbolism.A sensous and sensual description; it utilises all the senses, but there is also sexual tension in this description.

15 “she added irrelevantly: 'You ought to see the baby.'” She treats the baby as an afterthought; she is irresponsible, like her husband.

17 “'Why candles?' objected Daisy, frowning. She snapped them out with her fingers.”

If candles are taken as a metaphor for light, this foreshadows Myrtle's death.


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18“'He reads deep books with long words in them … '” She's proud of Tom's reading like a parent might be. The

irony: it's a book of thuggish racism, and Daisy is too shallow to see this.

19

“her glowing face … the glow faded, each light deserting her”

Compare “He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room.” (Chapter 5, p.86) Here, Gatsby reflects Daisy's glow.

“' … You remind me of a – of a rose, an absolute rose … '” She's just made this up on the spot. It's a shallow and fake compliment, especially considering how Nick describes what Gatsby discovered: “he found what a grotesque thing a rose is” (Chapter 8, p.153); the rose is only a beautiful thing according to society.

“a stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words.”

20 “there was the flutter of a dress and the crunch of leather boots, and Tom and Daisy were back at the table.”

Daisy's light, insubstantial character is represented by her vestiments.

21

“' … I'm pretty cynical about everything.'” Tom's behaviour is the cause of this cynicism. According to Nick, Gatsby is the only non-cynical character.

“' … she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where … '”

We are invited to feel sympathy for Daisy.

22 “' … I hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'”

Sums up the role of the 1920s woman. Daisy seems to be commenting that she would be happy if she were oblivious about the world rather than cynical.

“I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said.” We lose sympathy for Daisy, and she becomes a shallow, insincere character for the rest of the novel.

“' … I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.'”

This rich experience of life would normally be a good thing, but Daisy seems to be tired of these experiences.


24

“' … Our white girlhood was passed together there. Our beautiful white –'”

This is intended only as a comment about the purity of their childhood, but develops sinister overtones so soon after Tom's racist outburst.

“Daisy peremptorily called: 'Wait!'” Commanding, assumes power; very much like Tom, who has a “peremptory heart” (Chapter 1, p.25).

“opening up again in a flower-like way.” As she once did (innuendo alert) for Gatsby and is later described as doing (Chapter 6, p.107). She lives up to her name.

“'We heard it from three people, so it must be true.'” Vacuuous bitch.

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72 “She was just eighteen, two years older than me, and by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville”

Jordan, on Daisy's past.

73 “By the next autumn she was gay again, gay as ever.” Lacks depth to hold long-term emotions.

74

“drunk as a monkey” Even though she had “'Never had a drink before … '” (Chapter 4, p. 74), she's drunk the day before her wedding.

“' … Tell 'em all Daisy's change' her mine … '” Irony: sees her doubts about Tom clearest when drunk.

“Next day at five o'clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months' trip to the South Seas.”

Gets over problems quickly and moves on; see “gay again, gay as ever” (Chapter 4, p.73); does this also imply she lacks the depth to have long-term emotions?

75 “she came out with an absolutely perfect reputation. Perhaps because she doesn't drink.”

81 “'Who is “Tom”?' she asked innocently.” Playful, open to possibilities. Incestuous possibilities?

'“Is this absolutely where you live, my dearest one?”The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain. I had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone, before any words came through. A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek, and her hand was wet with

Compare with Gatsby's own “elaborate formality of speech” (Chapter 3, p. 49).


5

glistening drops”'

82 “'Come back in an hour, Ferdie.' Then in a grave murmur: 'His name is Ferdie.'”

Typical inane Daisyism.

86 'I'm glad, Jay.' Her throat, full of aching grieving beauty, told only of her unexpected joy.

Daisy is the only character to call Gatsby by his first name, even though it is a lie! Also, note her reaction.

“brass buttons on her dress gleamed in the sunlight.” Daisy reflects light.

89“'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. 'It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.'”

Materialistic; transfers emotions to objects. In some ways, Gatsby and Daisy are made for each other; “'Her voice is full of money'” (Chapter 1, p. 112).

93“that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, feverish warmth, because it couldn't be over-dreamed – that voice was a deathless song.”

Unlike everything else about Daisy, her voice does not fall short of his expectations.

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101

“'I liked that man – what was his name? … 'Gatsby identified him, adding that he was a small producer.'Well, I liked him anyhow.'

Daisy judges people by their fame.

“She … told me the girl was 'common but pretty'” Old money, Old World snob.

104“Daisy began to sing with the music … bringing out a meaning in each word that it had never had before and would never have again.”

Very much like “as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again” (Chapter 1, p.14), and, of course, Daisy and Gatsby's relationship.

107“At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower” Quite a chauvinistic wording. She also opened up “in a

flower-like way” (Chapter 1, p.24) for Nick. Again, it fits her name.

110 “sweet, exciting laugh”

112 “' … your mother wanted to show you off.'” Even she admits that she treats her child as a possession.

113 “'But it's so hot,' insisted Daisy, on the verge of tears, 'and everything's so confused. Let's all go to town!'”

Daisy feels the oppression in the atmosphere, symbolised by stifling, oppressive heat. There is also a recognition of


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the confused conditions which lead to the deaths in the novel: “There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind” (Chapter 7, p.119)

“'you look so cool … You resemble the advertisement of the man,' “

She loves his image, not him per se.

115

“High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl...”

Daisy is above “the hot struggles of the poor” (Chapter 8, p.142), and Nick seems to be above normal syntax when describing her. Fitzgerald may be referring to his first (and spurned) love, the daughter of a Mr King.

114

“'Her voice is full of money,'” It is Daisy's voice with which men fall in love. Is this because love was equated to money by all, not just Gatsby, or is it because Gatsby is the only one to recognise this gonnegtion between her voice and money?

123 “'Open the whisky, Tom,' she ordered …'Wait a minute,' snapped Tom”

Daisy tries to assert herself as a modern woman, but is slapped down again.

126 “' … I can't say I never loved Tom,'” She recognises that she cannot be exclusive.

128 “Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage she had had, were definitely gone.”

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142 “the wicker of the settee squeaked fashionably” Daisy makes even the most ordinary objects fashionable.

“Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.”

Wealth brings security, but also desensitises the rich to real passion and emotion.Daisy is like a prize, once more objectified. Like the butler who had to clean the silver, the wealth has damaged her.

143 “She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her...”

The class difference means that Gatsby knows about things which cannot be found in upper-class life.

“She didn't see why he couldn't come.” It's a war, stupid. Daisy is really, really unintelligent.

“For Daisy was young and her artificial world was Orchids are long-lasting, unlike other, more fleeting


redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery” flowers.

“She wanted her life shaped now, immediately – and the decision must be made by some force – of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality – that was close at hand.

Married Tom out of convenience, not love. Compare with Nick: “I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me” (Chapter 4, p.78).

145 “the pale magic of her face” Like an enchantress of Arthurian legend.

9 170

“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...”

In a sense, their carelessness sums up the 1920s.

Will Thong, Raph Torrance and Christopher Howarth Tom Buchanan 22

Character Profile: Tom Buchanan


11

“dinner with the Tom Buchanans.” Even before we meet him, Tom is dominant.

“I'd known Tom in college.”

“one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven”

Described more as an object or a tool than a person.

“one of those men who reach such an acute excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savours of anti-climax.”

“His family were enormously wealthy” It's more important that his family are wealthy; shows he is old money.

12

“I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.”

Not too different from Gatsby: “'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'” (Chapter 6 p.106)

“Tom … was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.”

Physically dominant.

“a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward…the enormous power of that body – he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body.”

Use of aggressive language matches Tom's aggressive character. Moreover, the language is explicitly negative; this prejudices us against him from the outset.

Depersonified, disconnected from humanity

“His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the It is fractious because a tenor is a high voice but gruffness


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impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked – and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts.”

and huskiness are associated with low voices.Further prejudices us against Tom.

13

“'I've got a nice place here,'” Makes a final judgement with which he expects others to agree. Compare with Gatsby's: “'My house looks well, doesn't it?' he demanded.” (Chapter 5, p.87); far less confident.

“Turning me around by one arm” Dominant, violent, considers words unnecessary.

“'We'll go inside.'” Almost an imperative. He sayd that they'll go inside, so they do go inside.

“Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.”

A powerful onomatopoeic interruption.Representative of how Tom has killed Daisy's dreams.

15“'Never heard of them,' he remarked decisively.” Arrogant: he's decided that if he has never heard of them,

they are unimportant.

“'Oh, I'll stay in the East … '” Daisy has no say, for Tom is running this show.

16 “Tom Buchanan compelled me froms the room as though he were moving a checker to another square.

Dominant.Everything is a confrontation, a contest.

17 “' … a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a -'”

His wife, somebody who loves him, is saying this about him. What do the people who hate him think?

18

“'Civilization's going to pieces,' broke out Tom violently. This has little relevance to the rest of the conversation. It seems that Tom has been waiting to shoehorn this racist topic into the conversation all evening.

“'Well, these books are all scientific,' insisted Tom” Defensive.

20 “'… I want to take you down to the stables.'” Likes to show off possessions.


23“'They oughtn't to let her run around the country this way.'”

Tom's views on the freedoms of women are quite old-fashioned, especially in contrast to how modern Jordan herself is.

25“his peremptory heart.” Dominant, assumes power; this trait has rubbed off on

Daisy: “Daisy peremptorily called: 'Wait!'” (Chapter 1, p.24)

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27

“I had no desire to meet her … he jumped to his feet and, taking hold of my elbow, literally forced me from the car … his determination to have my company bordered on violence”

Tom compels Nick to do as he wants; in this case, to meet Myrtle.Very child-like, much like Daisy's pride over his reading ability earlier on implies.

39

“Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”

Sharp and brutal isolated statement for a sharp and brutal act. That he can break her nose with a slap despite her substantial build implies Tom's strength and how much of a bully he is. We are not told about the action so much as its consequence: the breaking of the nose; this makes the act seem even more reprehensible.

4 75 “The girl who was with him … was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel.”

He even cheats on his honeymoon!

6

100

“' … By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish.'”

Tom's desire to restrict Daisy is ironic considering his own adultery. She is just another possession and she needs controlling in the way that suits him.

“his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness … I felt … an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before.”

Negatively affects ambiance.

101

“'Mrs Buchanan … and Mr Buchanan -' After an instant's hesitation he added: 'the polo player.''Oh no,' objected Tom quickly, 'not me.'But evidently the sound of it pleased Gatsby for Tom remained 'the polo player' for the rest of the evening.

Daisy is prioritised, as opposed to “dinner with the Tom Buchanans.” (Chapter 1, p.11).

Tom is dehumanised; this is what really pleases Gatsby.


111

“Tom flung open the door, blocked out its space for a moment with his thick body, and hurried into the room.”

Domination, power.

“He put out his broad, flat hand with well-concealed dislike.”

Cannot bear to treat somebody from the lower orders as an equal, even though he's never met him before.

112 “'I read somewhere that the sun's getting hotter … '” Trying to seem intelligent again.

114“'Have it your own way,' she said.” Tom is in control of Daisy.

“'I don't see the idea of going to town,' broke out Tom savagely. 'Women get these notions in their heads -'”

Condescending about women; also refers to her affair.Double meaning: primitive AND violent.

115 “'Plenty of gas,' said Tom boisterously. Sums up Tom's character.

116 “'You think I'm pretty dumb, don't you?' he suggested. 'Perhaps I am, but I have a – almost a second sight … '”

He himself derides Wilson for being “' … so dumb he doesn't know he's alive.'” (Chapter 2, p.29)

117 “'How do you like this one?' inquired Tom. 'I bought it last week.'”

Tom teases Wilson cruelly with the offer of Gatsby's car; his unhappiness is taken out on others.

119

“There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress … were slipping precipitately from his control”

Tom cannot bear to be out of control, and acts even more violently to reassert his himself.

120 “he was afraid they would dart down a side street and out of his life forever.”

Jealous of Daisy and Gatsby as well as fearful more generally of the rising new money.

123

“'Open the whisky, Tom,' she ordered …'Wait a minute,' snapped Tom”

Tom is reduced to a position of servitude as Daisy tries to assert herself, but is slapped down again.

“'I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out … Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.'”

Draws distinction between old institutional money and new fashionable money.Hilarious hypocrisy. He justifies his own adultery because he sees himself as better than Wilson.

Racism, as seen before.


7

“he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization.”

Inflates his own importance.

“' … I suppose you've got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends – in the modern world.'”

A reactionary commenting on the nouveau riche.

124 “The transition from libertine to prig was so complete.” Changes views of society to suit his situation.

125 “Tom's voice groped unsuccessfully for the paternal note. He's lost control of Daisy.

125

“' … I'll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door … '”

More snobbery.

“Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.”

He expects sympathy for a behaviour he implies he cannot control; he doesn't seem to realise that others are affected by his actions.

126 “There was a husky tenderness in his tone”

127

“' … I can't say I never loved Tom,' she admitted …'Of course it wouldn't,' agreed Tom.She turned to her husband.'As if it mattered to you,' she said.”

Tom tries to win Daisy back as he might a trophy, but is pushed back by Daisy who, despite trying to assert herself as a modern woman, cannot bear to live life as a mistress.

128“'You two start on home, Daisy,' said Tom. 'In Mr Gatsby's car.' …he insisted with magnanimous scorn.”

Tom does not know generosity, using it only as a weapon. He sees Gatsby as below him and as no threat.

131

“'Wreck!' said Tom. 'That's good. Wilson'll have a little business at last.'”

Irresponsible, with no sympathy for human suffering.

“'There's some bad trouble here,' said Tom excitedly.He reached up on tiptoes and peered”

His excitedness and the behaviour he exhibits in order to see further emphasise his childish nature.

“with a violent thrusting movement of his powerful arms pushed his way through”

134 “' … That yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn't mine – do you hear? I haven't seen it all afternoon.'”

He doesn't try and console Wilson, but instead looks after himself. Self-serving arse.


135

“I heard a low husky sob, and saw that the tears were overflowing down his face.'The God damned coward' he whimpered. 'He didn't even stop his car.'

Very un-Buchanan-like (-esque? -ish?) behaviour. Indicates that he actually cares about her. On the other hand, all he is seeking to do now is blame others for his loss.

“A change had come over him, and he spoke … with decision … he disposed of the situation in a few brisk phrases.'I'll telephone for a taxi to take you home, and while you're waiting you and Jordan better go in the kitchen and have them get you some supper – if you want any.' He opened the door. 'Come in.'”

His business-like moving-on seems to come very soon after his distressed outburst; does this indicate that he didn't actually care about Myrtle, or is this a coping mechanism?

8 144 “There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person”

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169

“He was walking … in his alert, aggressive way, his hands out a little from his body as if to fight off interference, his head moving sharply here and there, adapting itself to his restless eyes.”

Constantly confrontational.

Same dehumanised description as “it was ... a cruel body” (Chapter 1, p.12)

170

“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...”

In a sense, their carelessness sums up the 1920s.

Will Thong, Raph Torrance and Christopher Howarth Jordan Baker 28

Character Profile: Jordan Baker


1

14“with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall.”

Is this representative of her social standing? Or is she just somebody who tends to have her 'chin up', denoting optimism (unlikely) or haughtiness (more likely)?

16

“She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backwards at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, discontented face.”

Epitome of 1920s flapper fashion.

Conforms to Nick's own desires. He “wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever” (Chapter 1, p.7)

19

“Miss Baker and I exchanged a short glance consciously devoid of meaning.”

This description is even stronger than just saying 'meaningless'. Moreover, this meaningless glance foreshadows the meaninglessness of the rest of their relationship.

21 “Miss Baker … seemed to have mastered a certain hardy scepticism”

22“The lamp-light … dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair, glinted along the paper as she turned a page with a flutter of slender muscles in her arms.”

Blonde hair is usually considered attractive, but is here described as something dead and unattractive.An almost masculine physique.

46“'Let's get out,'” Quite domineering for a woman in this era. She is a

modern woman, reflected by her cynicism, masculine physique her names, both of which are makes of car.

51 “there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upn golf courses on clean, crisp mornings.”

“The bored haughty face that she turned to the world

Will Thong, Raph Torrance and Christopher Howarth Jordan Baker 29

3

58

concealed something”

“Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men” Does this make Nick really modest or simply unreliable?

“She was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage”

She is modern, independent and, possibly even as a result of this, immoral. What is Fitzgerald saying here?

59

“'You're a rotten driver,' I protested.” Double meaning: not only is she terrible at the wheel, but she is also corrupt as a golfer. Her carelessness can be compared to Tom and Daisy's similar carelessness.

“'They'll keep out of my way,' she insisted. 'It takes two to make an accident.'

Shows her irresponsibility but, more importantly, is foreshadowing.

“'I hate careless people. That's why I like you.'”

4

70 “'Miss Baker's a great sportswoman, you know, and she'd never do anything that wasn't all right.'”

Ironic.

72 “sitting up very straight on a straight chair” Ironic, not because she's a lesbian, but because she's dishonest.

77 “this clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism”

Is Fitzgerald being critical of the modern woman? She is the exact opposite of Gatsby and his r/Romanticism.

78 “wan, scornful mouth”

7 129 “Jordan … unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age.”

She, unlike Daisy and Gatsby, knows that you cannot repeat the past. Is this due to her cynicism?

8 147 “her voice came over the wire as something fresh and cool”

This contrasts with Daisy's low, husky contralto.

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