The Great Gatsby: chapter 1

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Characters

Tom Buchanan - Daisy Buchanan - Jay Gatsby - Jordan Baker - Nick Carraway

How are the characters related to each other? (question to check whether studentss have read chapter 1 and 2)

Other characters mentioned (C 2): 

George and Myrtle Wilson

Mr and Mrs McKee

Doctor T.J. Eckleburg (trick question)

While you listen:

• Make a mindmap about the narrator: Nick Carraway

Nick Characterisation 

Consider these quotes: 

"I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men" " frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity". pg 7 

"Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." pg 8 

"then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life," pg 8 

" after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit." pg 7 

Nick our narrator 

There are clear hints that he can be intolerant and judgemental – he admits that he “feigned sleep” when people confided in him, he views Gatsby’s life with “unaffected scorn” and he’s “disgusted” by Tom and Daisy’s marriage. ​

These comments make the reader less trusting of his narration because they suggest he is dishonest.

Nick sometimes misreads situations which also makes his narration untrustworthy. He thinks Daisy has ‘everything’ she wants so he sees in her eyes the “absence of all desire” pg 17 – but we later find out that she has had “a very bad time”. ​pg 21

I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard--it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby's mansion. Or rather, as I didn't know Mr. Gatsby it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name. 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. 

	Explanation of the word in the given context	Effect that it creates in the given context
Superficial
Sinister
Colossal
eye-sore
Lawn
consoling
proximity

And so it happened that on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all. Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens--finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold, and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch. pg 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Explanation of the word in the given context	Effect that it creates in the given context
Scarcely
elaborate
Sun-dials
vines
momentum
French windows

	Explanation of the word in the given context	Effect that it creates in the given context
Scarcely	almost not at all	Emphasises Nick's position as an outsider to the the Buchanan. However, is not entirely correct as he knew Tom at Yale and Daisy is his cousin.
elaborate	containing a lot of careful detail or many detailed parts:	The detail and excessive decoration in Tom's mansion reflect his status and display of wealth.
Sun-dials	a device used outside, especially in the past, that consists of a thin piece of metal attached to a flat surface printed with numbers. It shows the time by the metal making a shadow on the surface as the sun moves across the sky.	The sun is captured to tell the time in Tom's garden. This shows that he is an important person to which attention is paid. Additionally the link to established wealth is shown through the link to the past and antiques.
vines	any type of plant that climbs or grows along the ground and has twisting stems	The vines reflect the establishment of the mansion, hereby linking Tom's mansion to established wealth.
momentum	the quality that keeps an event developing or making progress after it has started	Connotes the idea that this event will be the force that starts the plot. Inciting incident. Adds to the personification.
French windows	a pair of glass doors, usually opening from the back of a house into its garden	The french windows reflect the "gold" and connote with the wealth and importance of the Buchanans (Apollo)

I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard--it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby's mansion. Or rather, as I didn't know Mr. Gatsby it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name. 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. 

Draw Gatsby's mansion

Upload your drawing

Connotations
to the word daisy

Daisy characterisation 

Look at the  description of Jordan and Daisy when they are first introduced,  “ they were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house." pg 13 

"as cool as their white dresses" pg 17 

What are the
connotations of "white"

Daisy characterisation 

It is ironic, given her name, that Daisy’s life is conducted in an entirely manufactured environment remote from the natural world​

Daisy: look at these quotes 

"Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically" pg 15 ​

“Then she added irrelevantly: ‘You ought to see the baby.'" Pg 15 ​"All right,’ said Daisy. ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly: ‘What do people plan?’" pg 17 ​

"impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire." pg 17 

Is Daisy a pleasant person? Why or why not? Write your ideas. 

A bad marriage or her own doing? 

 “I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it”​ pg 17

“That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a -’​ pg 17 

 “Tom’s got some woman in New York….She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinnertime. Don’t you think?" pg 20 

“Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything”​ pg 21 

Is Daisy in a bad marriage or did she contribute to her situation? Write your answer. 

Defeatism 

 "'All right,' I said, 'I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'”​ pg 22 

Daisy therefore clearly believes that society doesn’t value intelligence in women.​

This comment hints that although she ignores Tom’s affair,  and she is upset by it, she believes she would be happier if she were a fool and didn’t realise he was cheating.​

Daisy's problems 

Write a list of the problems that Daisy faces. 

Weather and seasons 

Pathetic fallacy 

Seasons and dates

Time of day 

"'In two weeks it'll be the longest day in the year'" pg 17 

"a few days before the Fourth of July" pg 29 

Tom characterisation 

​

 “Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty, with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward…..It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body”​

“….added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even towards people he liked – and there were men at New Haven who hated his guts” pg 12​

Our initial impression of Tom is not positive.​

Read the following extract and make two columns of negative and positive adjectives and adverbs used to describe Tom. Look up words that you do not know. 

1. The Roaring Twenties 

2. The American Dream 

3. Class (old money, new money, no money, established wealth, nouveau riche, poor, upper class, middle class & working (lower)  class

4. Past and future

5. Appearance versus reality