The Great Gatsby: A Level York Notes

• Early settlers saw America in terms of a garden, or as Nick puts it, ‘a fresh, green breast of the new world’ (p. 171).
• In American mythology the New World garden often became associated with Eden, the lost paradise described in the Bible.
• Daisy and Myrtle both have names of plants but clearly neither lives in a fresh green world.
• Modern urban life creates an artificial rather than a natural environment, resulting in the palatial homes of West Egg, but also producing a ‘valley of ashes’ (p. 26).

• The final sentence of The Great Gatsby addresses the passage of time as a central theme of the novel.
• Time passing is represented in several ways in this novel, including references to history, personal recollection, physical aging and finding ways to pass the time.
• Jay Gatsby’s inability to accept the consequences of time passing is at the heart of his tragic story.
• Nick Carraway’s decision to write Gatsby’s story might be seen as an attempt to reverse the passage of time, but while Gatsby lives again only in words Nick is recreating himself as a writer.

• American society is built upon belief in self-reliance and the resourcefulness and initiative of the individual.
• America rejected the notion of fixed social classes, which were seen as barriers to individualism.
• Jay Gatsby has prospered through individualistic resourcefulness and initiative, although he seems to have had to behave illegally in the process.
• Wealthy Americans, as depicted in The Great Gatsby , cling to the class distinctions, exclusiveness and privilege of old European societies.

• The American advertising industry developed in the early twentieth century using new techniques of persuasion.
• The nature of advertising reflected the growth of both mass production and a mass market.
• Jay Gatsby advertises himself through his possessions and parties.
• George Wilson mistakes the eyes of Doctor Eckleburg for those of God, which ironically suggests the power and pervasiveness of advertising.

• Throughout its history America has taken pride in the opportunities it offers for social mobility and personal advancement.
• Freedom of physical movement has also been an important aspect of American culture.
• The Great Gatsby is a story involving movement of characters across the city, the country and the globe.
• Cars assist such mobility but in the novel they can also cause death.