The Great Gatsby CHAPTER ONE & TWO

Learning Goals  Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of the main characters from chapters one and two  Be able to identify quotations which give the reader a clear insight into the characters  Consider the importance of setting in the novel and how this further establishes the characters  Understand the importance of the second major setting – The valley of the Ashes  Identify the further use of symbolism in Gatsby which increases your understanding of the major themes

Novel Review Write down three events/facts/observations from Chapters One and Two that you think are important and should be studied. Share with the class as a discussion. This should take no more than five minutes.

Chapter One - Summary  Nick establishes his reason for recording events.  He establishes setting – East Coast/Summer/1922.  He asserts the qualities he has for recording the story yet contradicts himself.  His style of prose is both lyrical, dense but also efficient.  Establishes his own family background.  We meet some of the main protagonists.  He alludes to Gatsby but we do not meet him directly, thereby maintaining a sense of an enigma.  Importantly, he reveals that he has returned to the West in order to process the events of this summer.

Chapter Two - Summary  Introduced to a third setting – The Valley of Ashes. This shows a darker side to the American Dream and demonstrates what happens if you work hard but don’t achieve what you want.  Meet George and Myrtle Wilson, the only impoverished characters in the novel and they live in the Valley of Ashes.  Find out that Tom and Myrtle are having an affair and Myrtle has aspirations to leave the ash pit. She sees Tom as her ticket out and does not accept that there is no chance of a permanent relationship between the two.  Shown the contrasts between Daisy and Myrtle.  Move to another setting – Manhattan, New York. Tom, Nick, Myrtle and other people through a small party and we see a darker side to Tom’s character as he punches Myrtle when she insults Daisy.  The theme of artifice and reality is explored in this chapter.

Fitzgerald invents this character to write the novel - written as an autobiographical account of events taking place over a 3 month period in the summer of “I am inclined to reserve all judgements” “Reserving judgement is a matter of infinite hope” “I wanted the world to be in uniform” Contradicts himself throughout. Is a stockbroker yet admires romantic sensibilities.

Nick’s Function  Both observed and participant. Be aware of not only what he discloses about others, but also about himself.  What are his values and ideals?  We must keep this in mind as he is not an impartial narrator!

Group Discussion Questions 1) Having read the first few paragraphs of the novel, what do you know about Nick’s personality? 2) According to Nick, what was a particularly unusual aspect of Gatsby’s character, given the pessimism of the time? Include the quotation. 3) At the start of the novel Nick’s father reminds him that not everyone has had his advantages. Describe Nick, list his advantages, and detail the facts you know about him. 4) Do you consider Nick to be a “good” narrator? Justify your response. Discuss the following as a class.

Setting  Understand the importance of setting in ‘The Great Gatsby’  Show how these settings relate to the theme of “The American Dream”  Identify other themes which arise from chapter one and the different settings

Setting  Chapter one introduces the reader to the two main settings: West Egg and East Egg.  These settings are very important as they help to establish the characters and also link in with the main themes of the novel.  They are also symbolic of different class systems in America (the supposedly classless society).

West Egg and East Egg  Chapter one introduces the reader to both West Egg and East Egg and establishes the symbolic significance of both.  West Egg represents ‘new money’, ostentatious and mock, whereas East Egg represents ‘old money’, established and genuine.  One represents the aspiring class, the other the established, upper middle-class.

The Eggs and the American Dream  The eggs are fundamentally different – Nick refers to the ‘sinister contrast’ between them.  East Egg (where Tom and Daisy live) is the fashionable suburb which houses families with long-established generations of wealth – the ‘royalty’ of New York.  West Egg, by comparison is no less splendid: white palatial mansions are dotted along tree-lined avenues and Wealth is everywhere.  The reason that West Egg is ‘less fashionable’ than its neighbour is because the inhabitants have not been born into well-established ‘money’ families.  Gatsby – among others on West Egg – is part of the ‘nouveau riche’ that is, he has made his fortune from scratch, emerging from a natural state of poverty to become a ‘self-made man’.

 Aligns itself with American ideals.  Embodies the notion of the dream  New money lines in WE  Contains original spirit of The Land of Opportunity  Embodies old world ideals of patronage, class and heredity values.  They are the antithesis of ‘The Dream’  Full of emotionally stunted, aimless, shallow ideals.

Setting and The American Dream  Snobbery exists because it is a class system within a class system – a reminder that, no matter how well you do in life, there will always be someone ‘above’ sneering at your efforts.  This type of class division is particularly interesting in light of The American Dream.  This dream relates to the idea of America as the Land of Opportunity, and states that any man (note man), if he is willing to work hard and improve himself, will find the means to do so there.  One of the founding principles of the country is a firm belief in reward for hard work, and the idea of the Self Made Man is one which American values is fundamentally based.  So the ideas that such ‘winners’ would be seen as second class citizens in East Egg is a reminder – if any were needed - that the American Dream is fundamentally flawed.

Gatsby and the Green Light  At the edge of his dock, Gatsby is seen to be holding out his arms and trembling. He is gesturing towards a: Single green light, minute and far away coming from the edge of Daisy’s dock on East Egg.  This light and Gatsby’s gesture has great symbolic resonance throughout the rest of the novel.

Symbolism Task What might the light symbolize? Think about:  The connotations of the colour green  The location of the light  What you now know about the Eggs  The enigma that is Gatsby

Symbolism  It could represent money – green is the colour of money in America and this could be a symbol of “the dream” and achieving wealth.  Alternatively, green can represent jealously and envy and this could indeed by applied to Gatsby’s desire to be part of East Egg society and to be just like them, while knowing that he will never be good enough.  The light could also represent Daisy, like a beacon calling him forward and putting him under her spell.  By placing this episode at the end of the chapter, Fitzgerald effectively foreshadows and delays Gatsby's introduction to the novel, and his obsession with Daisy Buchanan – indeed, by painting a comprehensively damning portrait of her character in this chapter, he questions the very wisdom of this love.

Valley of Ashes We are quickly introduced to a further setting in chapter two called the Valley of the Ashes. Lying halfway between the eggs and New York itself, the Valley of Ashes symbolises the ‘ edge ’ of society.

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg The sign on the hill is ambiguous – Fitzgerald gives no overt explanation of its relevance in the move – and yet it pervades the consciousness of the reader as we pass through the Valley of Ashes into the life of the Wilsons. …above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleberg…[his] eyes…are blue and gigantic – their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose…his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping group.

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg What might the giant eyes on the billboard symbolize? Consider:  Their setting overlooking the Valley of Ashes  The importance of advertising in society  Lack of vision  Symbol of God?

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg  Reminds us – by its sheer size and the incongruity of its surroundings – of the importance and influence of advertising in modern culture. These eyes have no natural place on the hillside, and yet they dominate the landscape, being its most prominent feature.  Fitzgerald has deliberately chosen an advert for optometry in order to point out the modern man’s inability to see the corruption of our society and environment. This lack of vision applies to all of the characters in the book, each of all fail to ‘see’ the basic futility of their hopes and dreams.  The billboard shows how consumerism and materialism has taken the place of traditional spiritual values.

Main Themes  East vs. West  Old world vs. New world ideals  The fallacy of the American Dream vs. the inherent hopefulness of it  Illusion vs. reality