ENGLISH NOTES COMMON TASK

“And in the end we are all just humans…drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our
brokenness” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Marking criteria
Outcomes:
› EN51A responds to and composes increasingly sophisticated and sustained texts for
understanding, interpretation, critical analysis, imaginative expression and pleasure
› EN54B effectively transfers knowledge, skills and understanding of language concepts into
new and different contexts
› EN56C investigates the relationships between and among texts
› EN512C responds to texts in ways that are imaginative and interpretive

A Grade
● Perceptively engages with the set question by identifying and analysing the key ideas
and distinctive features explored in the novel set for study

● Perceptively utilises key quotes and techniques to inform argument

● Perceptively follows the essay form using accurate spelling grammar and punctuation.

B Grade
● Effectively engages with the set question by identifying and analysing the key ideas and
distinctive features explored in the novel set for study

● Effectively utilises key quotes and techniques to inform argument

● Effectively follows the essay form with minimal errors in spelling grammar and
punctuation.

Essay Writing structure

Introduction

Sentence 1: Offer the marker an original perspective to the posed question by offering a
considered answer which you will unpack in detail in your body paragraphs. In other words,
strive not to re-write the posed question, instead expand on the presented ideas and
compose your own thesis statement.
Sentence 2: Introduce the text which you are going to be analysing in your essay, ensure that
you use the author’s full name, capitalise the title of the text and put it in single quotation marks
and include the year of publication in brackets. For example, Bryce Courtenay’s novel ‘The
Power of One’ (1989).

Sentence 3-4 : In the final sentences of your introduction you should outline how you intend on
forming your analytical arguments. In other words, briefly comment on which points of context,
characters, thematic concerns, setting or distinctive features of the text you are going to analyse
within your essay. Importantly, you should strive not to list multiple textual techniques as
it reduces the quality of your argument.

Thesis statement
A thesis statement is an overarching statement that you compose to convey your own unique
perspective or opinion about a topic, concept or posed question. When writing a thesis
statement it is important to write a sentence which can stand on its own and is not directly
related to a specific text or language techniques. In other words, your thesis statement provides
an answer to the posed question but be broad enough to be related to more an one text.

Reusing the question ❌ Rewriting Posed ❌ ✨

Forming an Original Thesis

Composers use a range of In the novel ‘The Power of Composers purposefully

language features to
represent the concept of
resilience in texts.
One’ the composer, Bryce
Courtenay, uses metaphors,
imagery, repetition, dialogue
and similes among other
techniques to represent the
concept of resilience.
represent the concept of
resilience in texts to teach
readers about the importance
of perseverance and the
value in learning from your
mistakes.

Body Paragraph

Body paragraphs from the middle of your essay and are where you construct your arguments in
support of the ideasyou discussed in your introduction. Furthermore, in your body paragraphs
you will use the PETAL formula to compose structured analytical arguments. The PETAL
formula is the best layout to use when writing analytical essays in English as it logically orders
the key elements you need to cover within your body paragraphs to ensure you are crafting
arguments that are supported by textual evidence and meaningful analysis.
 PETA*ETAL Essay Layout
Point: Opening Sentence
Example: Quote
Technique: Identify a technique(s)
Analysis: Explain how your quote and technique support your point.
Link: End Sentence
*Each analytical body paragraph must have 2-3 techniques in there.

CHECKLIST ✅
Opening sentence with the main key idea #1
Quotes embedded
Macro technique that powerfully enhances the evidence
What's the purpose of the technique
Author’s purpose
Readers emotions and understanding
Link

Conclusion

To compose an impactful conclusion:

➔ Make a direct reference to a key concern, word or phrase utilised in the question
➔ State how the composer and/or text have a meaningful or lasting effect on readers
➔ Offer a final perspective about the worth or role of the text in connection to the question
In your conclusion do not:
● Simply summarise your essay
● Use phrases like “in conclusion”, “to conclude”, “in summary”, and “to sum up”.
● Use first person language, keep using third person language
● Introduce new ideas which you have not covered within your essay

Conclusion Scaffold:
Sentence 1-2: Write a sentence that specifies how your studied novel provokes empathy in
readers. Ensure that you use the author's full name and the complete title of the novel.
Additionally, integrate the key words of the question (being ‘ideas, language, provoke and
empathy’). In this sentence you could comment on specific characters, events or thematic
concerns from the text in which you have previously examined within your essay.
Sentence 3: Compose a statement that reminds the reader/marker about what empathy is and
why it is important to people to develop and demonstrate empathy.
Sentence 4: In your last sentence offer a final perspective about the worth or role of
literature/texts in connection to the question. For example, you could write about how literature
and texts are invaluable tools of education to teacher readers about empathy. In other words,
answer the question ‘how do forms of literature help to increase people’s empathy and
compassion towards others?’

Essay Checklist
Introduction/ Thesis
Is the main idea (i.e., the writer’s opinion of the story title) stated clearly?
Is the introductory paragraph interesting?
Does it make the reader want to keep on reading?
Does it explain about the general idea
Did you add the text title if you did take it out

Body Paragraphs:

Does each body paragraph have a clear topic sentence that is related to the main idea
of the essay?
Does the paragraph include a technique
Does the paragraph include a strong quote that links up to you main topic sentence idea
Does the paragraph include the effect of the technique
Does the paragraph include the author's effect
Does the paragraph include the effect on the audience in those times + the present
times

Conclusion:
Is the main idea of the essay restated in different words?
Are the supporting ideas summarised succinctly and clearly?
Is the concluding paragraph interesting?
Does it leave an impression on the reader?

Overall Essay: (I wouldn’t worry about this but..)

Is any important material left unsaid?

HIGH MODALITY WORDS
Is any material repetitious and unnecessary?
Has the writer tried to incorporate “voice” in the essay so that it has his/her distinctive
mark?
Are there changes needed in word choice, sentence length and structure, etc.?
Are the quotations (if required) properly cited?
 Has the essay been proofread for spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.?
DOES THE ESSAY HAVE AN INTERESTING AND APPROPRIATE TITLE?

The Great Gatsby

What each setting means
East Egg
East egg represents the people who were born rich and wealthy.That's why Daisy was placed in
East egg. It showed that she was the “Golden” girl who had it all.

West Egg
People that lived in west egg represented the wealth and the power the idea that nothing could
satisfy this is seen through Gatsby. Many that live in this area have not been born into the
wealth instead the work hard to achieve this an attempt of the American Dream

Valley of the Ashes

Fitzgerald displays the valley of ashes as this place of the decay of the american dream, the
poverty and death faced by the desire to accomplish this dream. It reveals a lot of the theme
such as the huge gap between the hollow rich and the hopeless poor. Characters such as
Myrtle and George Wilson’s display this decay.

Difference between East and West Egg

West Egg is the place where the newly rich lived. Many living in West Egg acquired money from
investments and worked hard. This is where Jay Gatsby and Nick Carroway lived. East Egg is
where those who inherited money or were born into wealth lived. Tom and Daisy Buchanan lived
in East Egg

Symbolism
The Green Light:
Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn,
the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with
Daisy, and in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his
goal. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the
green light also symbolises that more generalised ideal. In Chapter 9, Nick compares the green
light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new
nation.
The Valley of Ashes:
First introduced in Chapter 2, the valley of ashes between West Egg and New York City consists
of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the
moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge
themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolises
the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality
as a result.
The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg:
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old
advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and
judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point
explicitly. Instead, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning
because characters instil them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor T. J.
Eckleburg and God exist only in George Wilson’s grief-stricken mind. This lack of concrete
significance contributes to the unsettling nature of the image. Thus, the eyes also come to
represent the essential meaninglessness of the world and the arbitrariness of the mental
process by which people invest objects with meaning. Nick explores these ideas in Chapter 8,
when he imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts as a depressed consideration of the emptiness of
symbols and dreams.

Cars:
After World War I, everyone seemed to revel in the easy pleasures of life. Gatsby’s car was a
Rolls Royce, with the latest gadgets, which Tom calls a ‘circus wagon’. Tom himself drives a
Coupe. Daisy herself is very materialistic, as evidenced by the fact when she settles for Tom,
when she learns about Gatsby’s ill-gotten wealth. When she ran over Myrtle Wilson by accident,
she had no remorse, even when Gatsby was ready to accept the blame on her behalf.

Weather:
As in much of Shakespeare’s work, the weather in The Great Gatsby unfailingly matches the
emotional and narrative tone of the story. Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion begins amid a pouring
rain, proving awkward and melancholy; their love reawakens just as the sun begins to come out.
Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs on the hottest day of the summer, under the
scorching sun (like the fatal encounter between Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet).
Wilson kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn, as Gatsby floats in his pool despite a palpable
chill in the air—a symbolic attempt to stop time and restore his relationship with Daisy to the way
it was five years before, in 1917.

Geography:
Throughout the novel, places and settings epitomise 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, and New York City the
uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the
moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West (including Midwestern and
northern areas such as Minnesota) is connected to more traditional social values and ideals.
Nick’s analysis in Chapter 9 of the story he has related reveals his sensitivity to this dichotomy:
though it is set in the East, the story is really one of the West, as it tells how people originally
from west of the Appalachians (as all of the main characters are) react to the pace and style of
life on the East Coast.
Colour symbolism

White: Daisy and Jordan are both dressed in white at the start of the novel, and the open
windows cause the white curtains to float in the air. Both the curtains and the women in white
represent both innocence and superficiality of these characters who float through life lacking
depth of personality. Nick Carraway describes Daisy as being “high in a white palace”, calling
her both “king’s daughter” and “the golden girl”.. In this instance, Nick characterises her as this
lofty, worshipped being, which mirrors Gatsby’s perspective and reinforces the fact that Gatsby
will never be good enough for her.

Gray: By name, The Valley of Ashes is represented by the colour grey, which symbolises the
harsh conditions of the working class and overall lack of joy or hope in this place. George
Wilson’s garage naturally resides in this desolate place, described as “unprosperous and bare”
(Fitzgerald 25). Words such as “foul”, “solemn”, and “wasteland” are used to describe the place
constantly under the watch of T.J. Eckleburg’s gold-rimmed eyes (Fitzgerald 24).

Green: Green symbolises two primary things: money and lust. The leather seats in Gatsby’s car
are a lush green color, implying that perhaps the bright yellow paint did not declare his wealth
loudly enough. Tom forces himself into the driver’s seat of Gatsby’s car, emphasising that he
believes Gatsby to be undeserving of such luxury. The most prominent green object (other than
money) is the green lantern at the end of the Buchanans’ dock. While this green light represents
Gatsby’s dream to be with Daisy, it also more characteristically represents envy as Gatsby
desires to have another man’s wife.

Gold: Gatsby’s Rolls Royce, later known as “The Death Car,” symbolises money and the
pompous lifestyle of the rich. Nick describes Daisy as a “golden girl”, Gatsby dons a gold tie for
one of his many parties, and even the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg are rimmed in gold frames. In
every instance, gold is both synonymous with wealth and “otherness”. Whether it is Daisy,
Gatsby’s car, or even Dr. T.J. Eckleberg, each golden person or object is completely detached
from the rest of society and feeling any sort of social responsibility. For example, Dr. T.J.
Eckelberg’s looming presence over the Valley of Ashes

Key Ideas
🔥→ Use these Key ideas
✨ → Do you know how to write about it?
The are 5 main key ideas Fitzgerald displays throughout the text this includes:

🔥
🔥
- Money and Materialism

✨
- Reality vs Appearance

🔥
- The destruction of a dysfunctional relationship

✨
- The American dream
- The ability of not moving on from the past.
Money and Materialism 🔥
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!"

Technique→ Repetition of gold

The listener is implored to "wear the gold hat" as a way to impress his lover. In other words,
wealth is presented as the key to love—such an important key that the word "gold" is
repeated twice. It's not enough to "bounce high" for someone, to win them over with your
charm. You need wealth, the more the better, to win over the object of your desire.

"She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. "It's full of——"

I hesitated.

"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible
charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white
palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.103-106)

Technique → Metaphor “her voice is full of money”

Daisy herself is explicitly connected with money here, which allows the reader to see Gatsby's
desire for her as desire for wealth, money, and status more generally. So while Daisy is
materialistic and is drawn to Gatsby again due to his newly-acquired wealth, we see Gatsby is
drawn to her as well due to the money and status she represents.

“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the
champagne and the stars."
Technique → Simile

The idea that materialistic living and money was a natural drive making them attracted to the
idea like moths, they’re always attracted to whatever the brightest light happens to be, flitting
away when something else grabs their attention. Stars, champagne, and whisperings are all
romantic but temporary and, ultimately, useless.

"Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my
reaction—Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." (1.4)

"My own house was an eye-sore, but it was a small eye-sore, and it had been overlooked, so
I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of
millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month. (1.14)

"They had spent a year in France, for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there
unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together." (1.17)

Technique → Sarcastic humour

Nick's comments about money, especially in the first chapter, are mostly critical and cynical.
First of all, he makes it clear that he has "an unaffected scorn" for the ultra-rich, and eyes both
new money and old money critically. He sarcastically describes the "consoling proximity of
millionaires" on West Egg and wryly observes Tom and Daisy's restless entitlement on East
Egg.

These comments might seem a bit odd, given that Nick admits to coming from money himself:
"My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this middle-western city for three
generations" (1.5). However, while Nick is wealthy, he is nowhere near as wealthy as the
Buchanans or Gatsby—he expresses surprise both that Tom is able to afford bringing ponies
from Lake Forest ("It was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough
to do that" (1.16), and that Gatsby was able to buy his own mansion ("But young men didn't—at
least in my provincial inexperience I believed they didn't—drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a
palace on Long Island Sound" (3.88)), despite the fact they are all about 30 years old.
 Reality vs Appearance 🔥
"shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is".

The symbolism of the flower clearly suggests that Gatsby feels disillusioned with Daisy.
Conflicting since readers' perception about Daisy is that she can not be idolised and is not a
good character but to Gatsby however she is.

“Golden Girl”

The description of Daisy as the “golden girl” is and appearance it states that she is beautiful and
healthy in a good way but throughout the text the clashing idea of golden girl ends up to be this
woman who only cares about materialistic things and loses her value as a wholesome female.
The death of Myrtle for instance.

The characterisation of gatsby; ‘Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.’
A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. Mumbles bent forward and listened eagerly.
‘I don’t think it’s so much THAT,’ argued Lucille sceptically; ‘it’s more that he was a German spy
during the war.’
One of the men nodded in confirmation.
‘I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in Germany,’ he assured us
positively.
‘Oh, no,’ said the first girl, ‘it couldn’t be that, because he was in the American army during the
war.’ As our credulity switched back to her she leaned forward with enthusiasm. ‘You look at him
sometimes when he thinks nobody’s looking at him. I’ll bet he killed a man.

Gatcby was never characterised properly he's perception of his personality was built up by other
people but later on do we realise the reality of Gatsby’s life we find out the Gatsby was never
any of the things people stated but instead a man who came from a poor family that illegally
produced money by bootlegging.

Nick’s Narrative Voice

 The American dream 🔥
Gatsby's desire for the American Dream is two-fold:

1. To obtain financial success

2. To win Daisy's attention and love

But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he
stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I
could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished
nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a
dock. (1.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in
sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is often understood as part
of The Great Gatsby's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always
reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach. You can read
more about this in our post all about the green light.

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end
and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were born with
money and don't need to strive for anything so far off.

Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon
the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all
built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is
always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the
beauty in the world.

A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with
drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the
tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of
Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island
a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two
bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty
rivalry.

"Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ."

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-8)

Early in the novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see
people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility.
This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economic possibility, racial
and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can
happen," even a happy ending.

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel. And
even at this point, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces
America's racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the American Dream. There is even a little
competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's car and the one bearing the
"modish Negroes."

His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that
when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his
mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment
longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips'
touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a better life—to his
American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up
under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan,
despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to
achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a
somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic one.

The setting of East Egg and Characterisation of Daisy

Daisy Buchanan epitomizes the American Dream by representing wealth, privilege, and a desire

for a luxurious lifestyle. She is an upper-class member and has faith in the ability of money toget

her what she wants, namely marriage to a well-off family.She decides to marry Tom Buchanan,

hailing from a wealthy, established family, and live an opulent lifestyle in East Egg. The financial

security she gains from the marriage does not satisfy her emotionally. She longs for autonomy

and freedom, yet she is restricted by the expectations of her social circle and the limitations of a

patriarchal system. She hopes to do what she desires without being concerned about

repercussions.
She has all the material things she could ever want but no one to share them with. She’s

surrounded by luxury and prestige, yet she still feels hollow and alone; her husband doesn’t

show her the affection she craves, and her daughter is facing a future of not being loved.Despite

her wealth and status, her life lacks the one thing money can’t buy – companionship.In the end,

Daisy’s aspiration does not fully come to pass, and she experiences the loss of someone dear to

her. Her trouble shows how hard it is to obtain the quintessential American Dream, even for

those with privilege

ESSAY EXAMPLE
Analyse how the form of your text contributes to the composer's ability to shape
meaning and convey idea.

Composer’s craft their texts with distinctive features to convey specific concepts and evoke a
heightened personal response in the readers. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby
(1925) effectively communicates the relevant issues in modern society with the intention to
represent the profound impact of wealth on an individual's life. Fitzgerald explores the American
dream as a corruptive accomplishment of materialistic living in which individuals find themselves
in a conflict between appearances and reality of being never truly satisfied.

Money and materialism in the Great Gatsby

Money and materialism are central themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, "The Great Gatsby."

They are portrayed through characters, symbols, and various literary techniques. Here are some

examples with quotes and techniques:

​ Characters Representing Materialism:

a. Jay Gatsby: Gatsby is the embodiment of the American Dream, relentlessly pursuing
wealth and material success to win back Daisy Buchanan. His extravagant parties,
mansion, and obsession with luxury cars like his yellow Rolls-Royce symbolize his
materialistic aspirations.
● Quote: "He bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay."
● Technique: Gatsby's relentless pursuit of wealth is evident in his purchase of a
mansion solely to be close to Daisy.
 ​ b. Tom Buchanan: Tom represents old money and is characterized by his lavish lifestyle,
including his mansion, polo ponies, and multiple affairs. He constantly flaunts his wealth
to assert his dominance.
● Quote: "And I hope she'll be a fool — that's the best thing a girl can be in this
world, a beautiful little fool."
● Technique: Tom's objectification of women and desire for Daisy to remain a
"beautiful little fool" reflects his materialistic and sexist attitude.
​ The Green Light: The green light at the end of Daisy's dock is a recurring symbol of
Gatsby's unattainable dreams. It represents not only his desire for Daisy but also the
unreachable wealth and status associated with her.
● Quote: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year
recedes before us."
● Technique: The green light's constant presence and its elusive nature symbolize
the materialistic pursuit that remains just out of reach.
​ The Valley of Ashes: The valley of ashes, a desolate industrial wasteland between West
Egg and New York City, symbolizes the moral and social decay brought about by
materialism and the pursuit of the American Dream.
● Quote: "This is a valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat
into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens."
● Technique: The contrast between the opulence of East and West Egg and the
desolation of the valley of ashes highlights the negative consequences of
unchecked materialism.
​ Extravagant Parties: Gatsby's extravagant parties, filled with excess and luxury, are a
reflection of his materialistic lifestyle. These parties are both a means to attract Daisy
and a symbol of his desire for social acceptance.
● Quote: "In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the
whisperings and the champagne and the stars."
● Technique: Fitzgerald uses vivid imagery to depict the excessive and opulent
nature of Gatsby's parties.
​ Obsession with Possessions: Many characters in the novel place a significant emphasis
on material possessions, such as cars, clothes, and jewelry, as a way to define
themselves and their social status.
● Quote: "Her voice is full of money."
● Technique: Daisy's voice being described as "full of money" symbolizes how
materialism has infiltrated her identity.

Overall, "The Great Gatsby" portrays money and materialism as destructive forces that corrupt

individuals and erode the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses various literary techniques, including

symbolism, characterization, and vivid descriptions, to convey these themes throughout the

novel.
Extract 1 | The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

In this excerpt from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," the narrator describes the

opulent parties held by the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby during the summer nights. Set in

the 1920s, Gatsby's extravagant gatherings are characterized by lavish decorations, live music,

dancing, and abundant food and drinks. The narrative provides a vivid portrayal of the festivities,

with guests mingling amid the lush gardens and luxurious surroundings of Gatsby's mansion.

The parties are attended by various individuals, both familiar faces and strangers, who arrive

without formal invitations. Gatsby's parties attract a diverse crowd, including young Englishmen

seeking opportunities, mingling with wealthy Americans. The protagonist, Nick Carraway,

recounts his experience of being one of the few who received a formal invitation to Gatsby's

event and provides insights into the atmosphere, guests' interactions, and the sense of

extravagance and decadence that defined the era.

There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens

men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the

stars (DOUBLE ENTENDRE). At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the

tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit

the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. (Accumulation of visual

imagery --> Helps in establishing a vivid setting of opulence --> It hyperbolises the extent of the

class divide. The audience is confronted regarding Gatsby's wealth and the juxtaposition with

the 'Valley of Ashes' becomes increasingly powerful.

On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city

between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a

brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener,
toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the

ravages of the night before.

(Dichotomy (relationship or connection between two things)

In this case, the relationship between the servants and the "ravages of the night before"

highlights the irony in the fact that the luxury and enjoyment was felt by the upper-class but the

working-class had to deal with its consequences.)

Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York — every

Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves.

There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half

an hour if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb.

At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and

enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. On buffet tables,

garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of

harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall a bar

with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long

forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another. (A scathing

critique is offered towards the attitudes within the 'Jazz Age' - the fact that Gatsby's

attractiveness and popularity stems from his wealth and upper-class status is indicative of the

superficiality that was plaguing modernity.)

By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes

and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums.

(Grandiose setting)The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing

up-stairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and

salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colours, and hair shorn in strange new ways, and

shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails

permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo

and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never

knew each other’s names.

The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is

playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier

minute by minute, (EUPHEMISM, expressing something harsh in a lighter way) spilled with

prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new

arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who

weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment

the centre of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces

and voices and color under the constantly changing light.

Suddenly one of the gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for

courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas platform. A

momentary hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and there is a burst of

chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray’s understudy from the Follies.

The party has begun.

I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had

actually been invited. People were not invited — they went there. They got into automobiles

which bore them out to Long Island, and somehow, they ended up at Gatsby’s door. Once there

they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and after that they conducted themselves

according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks. (The atmosphere here can

be analysed as cultish. It is indicative of the inherent elitism and seclusion present within the

upper-class, they all take pride in each other's company and lifestyles while alienating the rest of

society). Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party

with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.

I had been actually invited. A chauffeur in a uniform of robin’s-egg blue crossed my lawn early

that Saturday morning with a surprisingly formal note from his employer: the honor would be

entirely Gatsby’s, it said, if I would attend his “little party” that night. He had seen me several

times, and had intended to call on me long before, but a peculiar combination of circumstances

had prevented it — signed Jay Gatsby, in a majestic hand.

Dressed up in white flannels I went over to his lawn a little after seven, and wandered around

rather ill at ease among swirls and eddies of people I didn’t know — though here and there was a

face I had noticed on the commuting train. I was immediately struck by the number of young

Englishmen dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry, and all talking in low,

earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans. I was sure that they were selling something:

bonds or insurance or automobiles. (This is representative of the booming, global economy.

America was an attractive place to live and work in due to the opportunities for upper-class

people) They were at least agonisingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced

that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.

As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host, but the two or three people of whom I

asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way, and denied so vehemently any

knowledge of his movements, that I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table — the only

place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone.

Quote Themes

“And I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best The Roaring

thing a girl can be in this world, a Twenties
beautiful little fool.” Social
Stratification

“That’s my Middle West…the street lamps and The Roaring

sleigh bells in the frosty dark... I Twenties
see now that this has been a story of the The American
West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy Dream
“and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and
perhaps we possessed some
deficiency in common which made us subtly
unadaptable to Eastern life.”

“He stretched out his arms toward the dark The American
water in a curious way, and, far as I Dream
was from him, I could have sworn he was Memory & the
trembling. Involuntarily I glanced Future
seaward – and distinguished nothing except
a single green light, minute and far
away, that might have been the end of a
dock.”

“He smiled understandingly—much more than The American Dream

understandingly. It was one of
those rare smiles with a quality of eternal
reassurance in it, that you may come
across four or five times in life. It faced—or
seemed to face—the whole external
world for an instant, and then concentrated
on you with an irresistible prejudice in your
favour. It understood you just as far as you
wanted to be understood,
believed in you as you would like to believe in
yourself, and assured you that it
had precisely the impression of you that, at
your best, you hoped to convey.”

“It makes me sad because I’ve never seen The American

such — such beautiful shirts before.” Dream
Social Stratification
Memory & the
Future

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my Social

father gave me some advice that Stratification; Old
I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. Money, New
"Whenever you feel like criticising any Money, No Money
one," he told me, "just remember
that all
the people in this world haven’t had the
advantages that you’ve had.”

“This is a Valley of Ashes—a fantastic farm Social

where ashes grow like wheat into Stratification; Old
ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where Money, New
ashes take the forms of houses and Money, No Money
chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a
transcendent effort, of men who
move dimly and already crumbling through
the powdery air. Occasionally a line
of gray cars crawls along an invisible track,
gives out a ghastly creak, and comes
to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men
swarm up with leaden spades and stir
up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their
obscure operations from your
sight.”

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the The American Dream

orgastic future that year by year recedes Emory and the furture
before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no
matter—tomorrow we will run faster,
stretch out our arms farther.... And then one
fine morning—So we beat on, boats against
the current, borne back ceaselessly into the
past.”

“They were careless people, Tom and Social Stratification

Daisy—they smashed up things and
creatures and then retreated back into their
money or their vast carelessness, or
whatever it was that kept them together, and
let other people clean up the mess
they had made.”

The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, The Roaring
Long Island, sprang from his Twenties
Platonic conception of himself. He was a son The American
of God—a phrase which, if it Dream
means anything, means just that—and he Social Stratification
must be about His Father’s business, Memory and the
the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious Future
beauty. So he invented just the sort
of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy
would be likely to invent, and to this
conception he was faithful to the end.”

“And as the moon rose higher the inessential The American

houses began to melt away until Dream
gradually I became aware of the old island Memory & the
here that flowered once for Dutch Future
sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new
world.... And as I sat there,
brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought
of Gatsby’s wonder when he first
picked out Daisy’s light at the end of his dock.
He had come such a long way to
this blue lawn, and his dream must have
seemed so close he could hardly fail to
grasp it. But what he did not know was that it
was already behind him,
somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the
city, where the dark fields of the republic
rolled on under the night.”

“I wouldn’t ask too much of her," I The American

ventured. "You can’t repeat the past.” Dream
“Can’t repeat the past?” he cried Memory & the
incredulously.”Why of course you can!” Future
He looked around him wildly, as if the past
were lurking here in the shadow of
his house, just out of reach of his hand.

“Her voice is full of money,” he said suddenly. The American

That was it. I’d never understood before. It Dream
was full of money—that was the Class
inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it,
the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of
It.”

“They’re a rotten crowd” I shouted across the The Roaring

lawn. “You’re worth the whole Twenties
damn bunch put together.” I’ve always been Class
glad I said that. It was the only compliment I
ever gave him, because I disapproved of him
from beginning to end. First he nodded
politely, and then his face broke into that
radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d
been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the
time.