CHARACTER & MOTIVATION
This character pursues Daisy to prove his self-worth and to reclaim a perfected version of the past.
“Who is Jay Gatsby?”
This glowing object across the bay represents Gatsby’s unreachable dream and the illusion of hope.
What is the green light?
Fitzgerald uses this narrative structure to allow reflection and moral distance in storytelling.
“What is retrospective narration?”
This narrator’s tone shifts from cautious admiration to moral disillusionment by the end.
Who is Nick Carraway?
Fitzgerald suggests that this connection between wealth and ethics leads to moral emptiness.
“What is the corruption of morality by materialism?”
His arrogance and hypocrisy expose Fitzgerald’s critique of inherited privilege.
“Who is Tom Buchanan?”
This bleak industrial landscape symbolizes moral decay and the forgotten poor.
What is the Valley of Ashes?
Gatsby’s mysterious background is revealed slowly through these techniques, creating suspense and fascination.
What are flashbacks or gradual exposition?
His selective narration causes readers to both empathize with and critique Gatsby.
Who is Nick Carraway?
Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy mirrors this national ideal’s transformation into illusion.
What is the American Dream?
This narrator’s dual role as participant and observer allows readers to see both empathy and moral judgment.
“Who is Nick Carraway?”
These neighboring locations reveal class division between inherited wealth and self-made ambition.
What are East Egg and West Egg?
In this climactic chapter, Fitzgerald’s rapid pacing and overlapping dialogue build tension and chaos.
What is Chapter 7?
The tone of the party scenes contrasts with the somber tone following Gatsby’s death.
What is a shift from exuberance to emptiness?
The deaths of Gatsby and Myrtle symbolize the collision between illusion and this harsh truth.
What is reality?
These two women’s contrasting lives reveal the intersection of gender and class in the Jazz Age.
“Who are Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson?”
Fitzgerald uses the heat and weather in this chapter to mirror emotional tension and conflict.
“What is Chapter 7?” or “What is the confrontation scene?”
The lyrical rhythm of the novel’s closing lines emphasizes nostalgia and humanity’s persistence.
What is the final passage (‘boats against the current’)?
This literary device in Nick’s reflection on “the foul dust” contrasts beauty with corruption.
“What is irony?”
The final line of the novel captures humanity’s struggle to move forward despite this opposing force.
What is time or the past?
His transformation from James Gatz into a self-made man illustrates the illusion within the American Dream.
“Who is Jay Gatsby?”
These eyes symbolize a godlike presence watching over moral emptiness.
“What are the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg?”
The repetition of settings and reflective structure reinforce this theme of illusion versus reality.
What is cyclical or circular structure?
Nick’s moral bias makes this aspect of the story subjective and debatable for readers.
“What is narrative reliability?”
Fitzgerald implies that identity is shaped by this inescapable influence.
What is memory or history?