The Great

Gatsby

CHAPTER THREE & FOUR

Learning Goals

 Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of the main

characters from chapters three and four
 Be able to identify quotations which give the reader a clear
insight into the characters
 Consider the importance of characterization as Gatsby’s
character is developed/introduced
 Understand how style is presented in the novelfa
 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 1922. “I wanted the
world to be in
uniform”

Contradicts
himself
“I am inclined to reserve all throughout. Is a
judgements” stockbroker yet
admires romantic
“Reserving judgement is a sensibilities.
matter of infinite hope”
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

Discuss the following as a class.

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.
Setting

 Understand the importance of setting

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

 Chapterone 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 Embodies old
American ideals. world ideals of
patronage, class
Embodies the
and heredity
notion of the
dream values.

New money lines They are the

in WE antithesis of ‘The
Dream’
Contains original
spirit of The Land Full of emotionally
of Opportunity 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