The Great Gatsby

 The title

The title is a metaphor of Gatsby himself

Everyone seems to know his name and is endlessly interested in his life. He is wealthy rich and
popular so in that way, he’s “great." He seems to live a dream-like existence.

The title is ironic

It is ironic because Gatsby is not great. The details of his lack of greatness are numerous. As we
find out that he made his wealth through dishonest ways.

 The Narrator: Nick Carraway

 The protagonist: Jay Gatsby, who is the mysterious and wealthy neighbor of the
narrator, Nick Carraway. Although we know little about Gatsby at first, we know from
Nick’s introduction and from the book’s title—that Gatsby’s story will be the focus of the
novel.
 The antagonist: Tom Buchanan is the most obvious antagonist. A variety of more
abstract concepts—such as class difference, societal expectations, and Gatsby’s past lies
—can also be considered antagonists.
 Genre

It is a Tragedy, Realism, Modernism, and Social Satire novel

Tragedy
The Great Gatsby can be considered a tragedy as it revolves around a hero who has a tragic flow
which leads to his downfall. Gatsby’s tragic flaw is his inability to wake up from his dream of
the past and accept reality. He has an obsession with recapturing the past.

Realism
The Great Gatsby is an example of literary realism because it depicts the world as it really is.
The novel has geographically precise settings and locations, factual historic events, and accurate
descriptions of social systems.

Modernism
The Great Gatsby is also an example of modernism, a literary and artistic movement that reacted
against the romantic, often sentimental novels and art of the Victorian period, and reached its
height during and after World War I. Modernist writers were concerned with the individual’s
experience in a rapidly industrializing society

Social Satire
It is obvious in Fitzgerald’s use of irony, exaggeration, and ridicule (mockery )to mock
hypocritical social types. Many of the minor characters serve as symbols of the mindless excess

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and superficiality of the Jazz Age. Foe example, the many guests at Gatsby’s parties with
humorous disdain: Owl eyes who was shocked to discover the books on the shelves are real

 Tone: The tone of The Great Gatsby varies between scornful, sympathetic, and
melancholic.

 Point of View
The Great Gatsby is written in first-person limited perspective from Nick’s point of view. This
means that Nick uses the word “I” and describes events as he experienced them. He does not
know what other characters are thinking unless they tell him.
Some of the passages are presented as recollections of what Gatsby or other characters has told
Nick, so they don’t violate the first-person narration.

 Foreshadowing

The green light as it is described to be far away and minute foreshadows that Gatsby’s quest is
towards something ephemeral (short-lived).

 Symbolism

The green light at the end of the dock where Gatsby stretches his arm is a symbol of hope and
dreams for Gatsby and in more deeper thinking it’s the dreams and of hope the early settlers in
the promise of the New World .It is the American dream .

The valley of ashes symbolizes poor people left behind in the roaring twenties and the rotting
American dream.

Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg: represents the eyes of good looking down on people and
witnessing many of the corrupt moments in the novel.

The fading color of the billboard: represents how distinct people became from god .

Geography: Throughout the novel, places and settings epitomize the various aspects of the
1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West
Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America

Full Book Analysis

The Great Gatsby is a story about the impossibility of recapturing the past and also the difficulty
of altering one’s future. The protagonist of the novel is Jay Gatsby, who is the mysterious and
wealthy neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Although we know little about Gatsby at first,
we know from Nick’s introduction—and from the book’s title—that Gatsby’s story will be the
focus of the novel. As the novel progresses and Nick becomes increasingly drawn into Gatsby’s
complicated world, we learn what Gatsby wants: Daisy, Nick’s cousin, the girl he once loved.

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Anything and anyone that stands between Gatsby and Daisy becomes an antagonist. Although
Daisy’s brutish husband Tom is the most obvious antagonist, a variety of more abstract concepts
—such as class difference, societal expectations, and Gatsby’s past lies—can also be considered
antagonists. The most powerful antagonist is time itself, which prevents Gatsby from recapturing
what he lost.

After a brief passage which frames the narrative as Nick’s recollections of a summer from his
past, the narrative is for the most part linear, beginning with Nick’s move to New York, which
makes him Gatsby’s neighbor. Gatsby is wealthy, with a mysterious past that is the subject of
much speculation. After meeting his neighbor at a party, Nick learns that despite Gatsby’s
success, he longs only for Daisy. Gatsby’s central aim through the novel is to see Daisy again
and recaptured their shared past. On a trip to the city with Tom, Nick meets Tom’s mistress,
Myrtle. In the rising action of the novel, Nick arranges a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy, and
Jordan tells Nick about Daisy and Gatsby’s history. Gatsby and Daisy fall back in love, and
Gatsby tells Nick one version of his life story. Many of the stories Gatsby tells about himself turn
out to be lies or half-truths. The fantastic nature of his stories gives Gatsby’s history a mythical
quality, which reinforces the sense of him as a tragic hero.

Gatsby and Daisy are briefly happy together, and Nick gets drawn into their romance, even
though the outlook for the couple’s future seems hopeless, largely because of Gatsby’s inability
to separate his dreams from reality. Both the reader and Nick can see the disparity between
Gatsby’s idealized image of the Daisy he knew five years earlier, and the actual character of
Daisy herself. Fitzgerald presents Daisy as a shallow, materialistic character, reinforcing the
sense that Gatsby is chasing a dream, rather than a real person: “There must have been moments
even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams… it had gone beyond her, beyond
everything.” On an outing into the city, Gatsby erupts and tells everyone in the room that he and
Daisy are in love and are going to run away together to marry. However, Tom says Daisy will
never leave him, and Daisy is unable to tell Tom she never loved him. Here, for the first time,
Gatsby must confront directly the possibility that his dream cannot be attained, and see Daisy as
she currently is, rather than his idealized remembrance of her. Even at this point, however, he
remains convinced she will ultimately choose him over Tom.

The climax of the novel comes when the group is driving back from New York in two cars, and
Myrtle, Tom’s lover, mistakes Gatsby’s car for Tom’s and runs out into the street and is hit and
killed. The car that kills Myrtle belongs to Gatsby, but Daisy is driving. After this, the action
resolves quickly. Gatsby takes the blame in order to protect Daisy, and Myrtle’s husband,
George, kills Gatsby (and then himself) as revenge. Gatsby has already died a symbolic death at
this point, when he realizes that Daisy will not call him and is not going to run away with him
after all. His dream is at last obliterated, and he heads into the morning of his death facing reality
for the first time. Nick describes the world as Gatsby now sees it as unbearably ugly: “he found
what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.”
In contrast to the previous obsession with the past, the final passages of Gatsby’s life are

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concerned with newness, creation, and the future – one which, lacking his dream of Daisy, he
finds hideous.

In the final falling action the book, Nick must also confront reality, as he realizes his glamorous,
enigmatic neighbor was the poor son of farmers who got mixed up in criminal activities and had
no true friends besides Nick. Nick tries to arrange a funeral for Gatsby, but none of the guests
from his lavish parties come. Daisy and Tom leave town, and Nick is left alone with Gatsby’s
father, who reveals the truth of his son’s humble beginnings as “James Gatz.” After the funeral
Nick decides to return to the Midwest, where he is from, feeling disgusted by the “distortions” of
the East. First, though, he visits Gatsby’s house one last time, boarded up and already defaced
with graffiti, and reflects on the power of the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that kindled
Gatsby hope of recapturing the past up until the moment of his death. “So we beat on, boats
against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” he says, including himself in the
tragedy of Gatsby’s fall.

Analysis Questions and Answers

What is the main message of The Great Gatsby?

The moral of The Great Gatsby is that the American Dream is ultimately unattainable. Jay
Gatsby had attained great wealth and status as a socialite; however, Gatsby's dream was to have a
future with his one true love, Daisy.

What does Gatsby symbolize?

Jay Gatsby represents the American dream life in the 1920's and the story tells us of how some
people will do anything to get what they want even if that means earning their riches through
criminal acts.

What is The Great Gatsby about analysis?

The Great Gatsby is a story about the impossibility of recapturing the past and also the difficulty
of altering one's future. The protagonist of the novel is Jay Gatsby, who is the mysterious and
wealthy neighbor of the narrator, Nick Carraway.

What does Nick symbolize?

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If Gatsby represents one part of Fitzgerald's personality, the flashy celebrity who pursued and
glorified wealth in order to impress the woman he loved, then Nick represents another part: the
quiet, reflective Midwesterner adrift in the lurid East.

What are 3 symbols in The Great Gatsby?

Scott's Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby. The novel makes a link between different symbols
employed in the novel, the Jazz Age and The American Dream. The major symbols that the
paper focuses on are: the green light, the eyes of Doctor. T.J. Eckleburg and The Valley of
Ashes.

What are the 5 major themes in The Great Gatsby?

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes -- justice, power,
greed, betrayal, the American dream, and so on. Of all the themes, perhaps none is more well
developed than that of social stratification.

What is irony in The Great Gatsby?

Dramatic Irony in The Great Gatsby. Tom learns Daisy is having an affair, and it is ironic
because he is having an affair, too. Husband and wife mirror each other in their infidelity. Daisy
drives the car that kills Myrtle Wilson, and it is ironic because Myrtle is Daisy's husband's
mistress.

Why is Daisy crying over shirts?

Daisy cries because she has never seen such beautiful shirts, and their appearance makes her
emotional. The scene solidifies her character and her treatment of Gatsby. She is vain and self-
serving, only concerned with material goods.

What is the main conflict of The Great Gatsby?

Major conflict Gatsby has amassed a vast fortune in order to win the affections of the upper-class
Daisy Buchanan, but his mysterious past stands in the way of his being accepted by her.

Is Gatsby good or evil?

Gatsby does bad things with good intentions, he is a criminal and a liar but all to achieve the
American dream and pursue Daisy, the love of his life. Gatsby is not so great because he is a liar.

Why was Nick so obsessed with Gatsby?

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Nick is particularly taken with Gatsby and considers him a great figure. He sees both the
extraordinary quality of hope that Gatsby possesses and his idealistic dream of loving Daisy in a
perfect world.

What does Daisy symbolize in The Great Gatsby?

Daisy Buchannan is made to represent the lack of virtue and morality that was present during the
1920s. She is the absolute center of Gatsby's world right up to his death, but she is shown to be
uncaring and fickle throughout the novel.

What does Gatsby's yellow car symbolize?

Gatsby's yellow Rolls Royce represents corruption and deceit. Gatsby buys this car to promote
his wealthy facade to others, while this very car is also used by Daisy to run over and kill Myrtle.

What do the eggs symbolize in Great Gatsby?

East Egg became symbolic of separating Gatsby from Daisy, the love of his life. Gatsby is
determined to get Daisy back regardless of her being married and his division from her in West
Egg.

What does West Egg symbolize?

West Egg itself represents new money, and what it means to go from extreme poverty to endless
money in only a matter of years. Gatsby is a great symbol of this because he grew up poor and
did not have a family who could give him money.

Does Daisy love Gatsby?

Although Daisy may have loved Gatsby once, she does not love him more than the wealth,
status, and freedom that she has with Tom.

Why is The Great Gatsby so important?

Despite being a commentary on a different age and people, Gatsby's story is as relevant today as
it was when it was written. Because it explores universal themes — human follies, the
hopelessness of societal constructs and man's struggle with time and fate.

What is the climax of The Great Gatsby?

The climax of the novel comes when the group is driving back from New York in two cars, and
Myrtle, Tom’s lover, mistakes Gatsby’s car for Tom’s and runs out into the street and is hit and
killed. The car that kills Myrtle belongs to Gatsby, but Daisy is driving.

What is the Marxist theory in The Great Gatsby?

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The characters of Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson reflect Karl Marx's theory of class
consciousness, in which we perceive ourselves and others based on class. No matter how far they
rise or fall in class status, Gatsby and Myrtle cannot escape their impoverished origins.

What is ironic about Gatsby's death?

What is ironic about Gatsby's death? Gatsby's death is a moment of irony because he is still
waiting for Daisy to call him so they can be together, but he does not realize that Daisy and her
husband have already reconciled with one another.

Why is Myrtle's death ironic?

First, Daisy Buchanan is the driver of the mysterious “death car”—she's the one who
accidentally runs over and kills Myrtle. This is ironic because while the reader knows that Tom
Buchanan had been having an affair with Myrtle, Daisy has no idea that the woman she killed
was her husband's mistress.

How is Gatsby's death foreshadowed?

From the book's opening pages, Fitzgerald hints at the book's tragic end, with the mysterious
reference to the “foul dust that floated in the wake of (Gatsby's) dreams.” Fitzgerald also
employs false foreshadowing, setting up expectations for one thing to happen, such as saying
“Gatsby turned out all right at the end,”

Was Daisy a gold digger?

Yet Daisy isn't just a shallow gold digger. She's more tragic: a loving woman who has been
corrupted by greed. She chooses the comfort and security of money over real love, but she does
so knowingly.

Why is Gatsby obsessed with Daisy?

To Gatsby, the innocent and naive Daisy comes to embody the American dream, in other words
wealth and social status, a goal he will have reached by winning her hand.

Why does Daisy kiss Gatsby?

While all five are at the Buchanans' house, Tom leaves the room to speak with his mistress on
the phone and Daisy boldly kisses Gatsby, declaring her love for him.

Why is Daisy disliked?

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She is often considered callous, spoilt and heartless for her pursuit of wealth and her
abandonment of Jay Gatsby. However, perhaps this is an unfair judgement, and she is simply a
victim of her situation and the materialistic world she lives in.

How did Nick feel about Gatsby's death?

Nick is struck by the bitter injustice of Gatsby's solitary death. Despite all the people who found
their way to Gatsby's parties, not one, with the exception of a man known only as "Owl Eyes,"
bothered to make an appearance at his funeral (and he only made it to the gate after the services
ended).

Why did Daisy leave Gatsby in the end?

And perhaps Daisy realizes that Gatsby's love is as fake as his name. At the end, she's left with a
man who thinks too much of her and a man who thinks too little of her. She chooses the latter,
since she can't measure up to the former. Once again, we see her make the weaker choice—a
choice many people would've made.

What does blue symbolize in The Great Gatsby?

Blue symbolizes melancholy, loneliness, tranquility and fantasy, such as Doctor T. J. Eckleburg's
blue eyes, Gatsby's blue gardens, blue leaves, blue lawn and blue livery. Grey symbolizes
decadence, bleakness, corruption, disillusionment and spiritual emptiness. The Valley of Ashes
explains this color best.

What does Gatsby's mansion symbolize?

Gatsby's mansion symbolizes two broader themes of the novel. First, it represents the grandness
and emptiness of the 1920s boom: Gatsby justifies living in it all alone by filling the house
weekly with "celebrated people." Second, the house is the physical symbol of Gatsby's love for
Daisy.

What is the moral lesson of The Great Gatsby?

The moral of The Great Gatsby is that the American Dream is illusory. Gatsby's dream was to be
with Daisy, but even after he attained her lifestyle, he was unable to be with her. Meanwhile, the
people that had money, like Daisy and Tom, could not achieve happiness either.