Old Sport
This character claims that he is “inclined to reserve all judgements.”
Who is Nick Carraway?
This colour is associated with Gatsby’s distant dream of Daisy.
What is green?
The novel is set primarily during this decade.
What are the 1920s?
Nick tells the story using this narrative perspective.
What is first-person narration?
Finish this quote: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into…”
This mysterious millionaire lives in West Egg and throws lavish parties.
Who is Gatsby?
This desolate industrial wasteland lies between West Egg and New York City.
What is the Valley of Ashes?
This constitutional policy encouraged illegal drinking, bootlegging and organised crime.
What is prohibition?
Because Nick shapes the order, language and interpretation of events, readers must question whether he functions as this kind of narrator.
What is an unreliable narrator?
Finish this quote: "“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course…”
What is "you can"?
This character is Daisy’s wealthy, aggressive and unfaithful husband.
Who is Tom Buchanan?
These enormous spectacles overlook the valley of ashes from an abandoned billboard.
What are 'the eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg'?
Gatsby’s parties reflect this period’s growth in wealth, consumption and popular entertainment.
What is The Jazz Age?
Nick’s claim that he avoids judgement is complicated by his frequent use of this kind of language about other characters.
What is evaluative language?
Finish this quote: “Her voice is full of…”
What is "money"?
This professional golfer becomes romantically involved with Nick.
Who is Jordan Baker?
This recurring element surrounds Gatsby’s parties but also conceals loneliness, corruption and emotional emptiness.
What is spectacle, excess, or luxury?
Tom’s racist ideas reflect contemporary fears about the decline of this group’s social power.
What are the white protestant upper class?
Nick is not present for every event in the novel, meaning he sometimes relies on this kind of information.
What is reported or second-hand information?
Finish this quote: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast...”
What is "carelessness"?
This character fixed the World Series win.
Who is Wolfsheim?
The green light ultimately represents not only Daisy, but this larger human tendency to pursue an imagined future that continually recedes.
What is idealised desire, hope or the unreachable dream?
Through Gatsby’s rise and fall, Fitzgerald critiques this national ideal that promises success through ambition and hard work.
What is the American Dream?
Nick both admires Gatsby’s hope and condemns the corruption surrounding him, creating this quality in his narration.
What is ambivalence?
Finish this quote: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year…”
What is “recedes before us”?