The Great Gatsby - Overview
Genre
• Trustworthiness of narrator (Nick Carraway)
• Historical and background detail
• Sense of mystery
• Use of comedy
• Foreshadowing
• Tragedy
• Symbols / motifs:
• Windows / Doors / Gates / Mirrors
• Light and dark (dusk, twilight, etc.)
• Colours (grey, yellow, gold, silver, red, white)
• The green light
• West Egg and East Egg
• Weather (rain, heat, wind, breeze)
• Shadows (‘ghostly’, smoke, blur)
• Flowers (roses and orchids)
• Sun, moon and stars
• Gatsby’s house
• Jazz music
• The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
Vision & Viewpoint
• Sense of awe versus disgust (attachment versus repulsion)
• Snobbery and intolerance
• Superficiality - pretension
• Reality versus fantasy / illusions / romance
• Beauty versus ugliness / vulgarity
• Materialism
• Violence
Theme / Issue:
• Outsiders and their search for identity (→ Gatsby, Nick, Myrtle)
- Ambition
- Isolation and Alienation
- The American Dream
- How the past influences the present
- Secrets and lies
- Love relationships
- Self-delusion
• Trustworthiness of narrator (Nick Carraway)
• Historical and background detail
• Sense of mystery
• Use of comedy
• Foreshadowing
• Tragedy
• Symbols / motifs:
• Windows / Doors / Gates / Mirrors
• Light and dark (dusk, twilight, etc.)
• Colours (grey, yellow, gold, silver, red, white)
• The green light
• West Egg and East Egg
• Weather (rain, heat, wind, breeze)
• Shadows (‘ghostly’, smoke, blur)
• Flowers (roses and orchids)
• Sun, moon and stars
• Gatsby’s house
• Jazz music
• The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
Vision & Viewpoint
• Sense of awe versus disgust (attachment versus repulsion)
• Snobbery and intolerance
• Superficiality - pretension
• Reality versus fantasy / illusions / romance
• Beauty versus ugliness / vulgarity
• Materialism
• Violence
Theme / Issue:
• Outsiders and their search for identity (→ Gatsby, Nick, Myrtle)
- Ambition
- Isolation and Alienation
- The American Dream
- How the past influences the present
- Secrets and lies
- Love relationships
- Self-delusion