The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Complete all work in your Gatsby Notebook.
Quickwrite When have you tried to impress someone by pretending to be someone or something you are not? When has someone else you have known done this? Describe what you (or someone else) did and why you (or someone else) did it. Was the deception discovered? What happened?
Overview - Notes Section One: Characters and Setting (Chapters I-III) These chapters introduce Nick Carraway, our narrator, and the rest of the main characters: Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, a professional golfer and friend of Daisy s, and Myrtle, Tom s mistress. The social and physical geography of the novel is established: East Egg for the rich, West Egg for the nouveau rich and not so rich, and the Valley of Ashes, in between West Egg and New York, for the lower classes. We attend one of Gatsby s parties, and meet Gatsby himself. Section Two: Gatsby s Identity (Chapters IV-VI) These chapters explore Gatsby s history and character from different perspectives. We get several different versions of Gatsby s background, from Gatsby, from Nick, and from other characters. The central question is Who is Gatsby, really? Section Three: Love and Money (Chapter VII) Gatsby stops giving parties because they do not impress Daisy and because they are attracting unwanted attention from the press. The focus narrows to the shifting relationships and tensions between the five main characters. Gatsby wants Daisy to say that she has never loved anyone but him, but Tom reveals that Gatsby s money is not honestly obtained, confusing Daisy. As the group returns from New York, there is a fatal accident. Section Four: The Death of Illusion (Chapters VIII and IX) As the action winds down, Nick discovers that although hundreds of people attended Gatsby s parties and he had a large network of business associates, Nick is Gatsby s only real friend. Nick finds himself in charge of Gatsby s affairs.
Characters, Motives, and Values The Great Gatsby has several main characters. Make a page for each character Nick, Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle, and Gatsby and, as you read, record evidence that is relevant to the following questions: What is this character trying to do? What motivates him or her to do it? Where does this character come from? Where does he or she live? Where does he or she want to go? Does this character have money? Where did the money come from? What words describe this character? How so? Also note how other characters feel about them. For example, at one point, Tom Buchanan calls Gatsby Mr. Nobody from Nowhere. For Tom, that is the ultimate insult. Also note what kinds of things characters do in different locations and circumstances. For example, people behave quite differently in Gatsby s party house than they do elsewhere. Some of the most interesting questions to ask are about the title character, Jay Gatsby. To the list above, add: Is Gatsby a hero? Why or why not?
Storytelling Narration A narrator can be an invisible, omniscient, god-like being who knows everything that happens anywhere in the universe of the novel past, present, and future and who can even read the minds of the characters. The narrator may not be a character in the story, but sees the world through the mind and senses of one viewpoint character. This narrator s perceptions are limited by what the viewpoint character sees, thinks, and feels, though the story is told in third person. A third type of narrator is when the story is told in first person using I by a character who is part of the story. That is what Fitzgerald has chosen to do in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald tells the story in first person from the viewpoint of Nick Carraway. Nick tells us, I am one of the few honest people I have ever known. As you read, find evidence about whether Nick is as honest as he says. Consider: Is Nick reliable in reporting facts and events?; Is Nick good at understanding the motives of the characters around him? Does Nick have good values?; Is Nick a good person?
Historical Approach The Great Gatsby is a product of its time; Fitzgerald represents the time and place in which the novel unfolds using his own world s details. The novel was published in 1925. Create pages in your notebook for these historical connections as they arise: World War I, known at the time as The Great War ; World War II had not happened yet. The Allies including Great Britain, France, and Russia fought the Central Powers, mainly Germany and Austria. The United States joined in April 1917, on the Allied side. The war lasted from 1914 to 1918. Several characters in the novel refer to it. The Jazz age, sometimes called The Roaring Twenties : a post-war economic boom that lasted until the stock market crash of 1929, which led to The Great Depression.
Historical Approach Continued Prohibition: The eighteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed on January 16, 1919, stated After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. The law prohibits making, selling, or transporting alcoholic beverages, but not consuming them. This law led to the rise of smugglers, called bootleggers, who illegally brought alcohol into the United States. The law was repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-first Amendment. Racism: Characters in the novel, especially Tom Buchanan, talk about theories of white superiority published in books at the time. Ironically, the Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of African-American literature and art, was happening in a nearby New York neighborhood.