The Great Gatsby: A Level York Notes

Nick’s narrative introduces the place where George and Myrtle Wilson live. Read from ‘About half-way’ to ‘dumping ground’ (p. 26).
• WHY is it important? After introducing us to the wealthy residents of West and East Egg, Nick reveals the dismal waste land concealed by the glamour. Unpleasant truths may lie beneath a sophisticated surface. This applies to characters as well as locations.
• WHAT themes does it explore? Besides highlighting social inequality, this extract foregrounds the theme of vision, in a literal and figurative sense. These paragraphs encapsulate urban America’s betrayal of the promise of the fresh green New World.
• HOW does it work within the narrative? The valley of ashes is a ‘fantastic farm’ (p. 26), a metaphor that may recall Gatsby’s childhood. Eckleburg’s unseeing eyes may also bring to mind the way Gatsby stares across the bay. This passage prepares us for revelation of unpalatable truths beneath Gatsby’s apparent success, and alerts us to the critical blindness of his obsessive gaze.
• WHAT language techniques does it employ? The figurative language of farms and gardens connects with a thread of such references. The image of Eckleburg will recur later, a literal advertisement that develops and deepens the theme of vision.

An informal party takes place in an apartment Tom Buchanan keeps for his adulterous relationship with Myrtle Wilson. Read from ‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ to ‘I followed’ (p. 39).
• WHY is it important? This episode confirms Tom’s brutal, cynical and misogynistic nature, which exists in stark contrast to Gatsby’s romantically idealised vision of Daisy.
• WHAT themes does it explore? The extract develops the theme of disparity between surface sophistication and underlying corruption. References to a gossip magazine placed over a tapestry image of Versailles resonate with the theme of Old and New World relationships.
• HOW does it work within the narrative? Myrtle’s broken nose recalls Daisy’s knuckle, bruised by Tom, in the preceding chapter, and anticipates Myrtle’s violent death in Chapter VII.
• WHAT language techniques does it employ? The incident seems all the more shocking because Nick reports it in a flat, matter-of-fact, even understated way, avoiding melodramatic language. The names Daisy and Myrtle carry clearly contrasting associations of plant names, i.e. Daisy: pretty and ephemeral; Myrtle: drab and bitter.

In a New York restaurant Gatsby introduces his neighbour Nick Carraway to his friend Meyer Wolfshiem. Read from ‘Suddenly he looked at his watch’ to ‘your mother and sister’ (p. 70).
• WHY is it important? Gatsby often appears solitary but here Nick meets one of his friends. It is soon confirmed that Wolfshiem is a major criminal, but here we see his respect and admiration for Gatsby.
• WHAT themes does it explore? Wolfshiem is Jewish and that contributes to our understanding that New York is a racially and culturally mixed city. He is impressed by Gatsby’s Oxford education and that is one amongst many instances of deferential attachment in the New World to Old World institutions.
• HOW does it work within the narrative? Wolfshiem understands why Gatsby needs to attend to a phone call and we come to recognise via Nick that despite his handsome and clean-cut appearance Gatsby is, as has been widely rumoured earlier in the narrative, intimately associated with organised crime. It is a moment of truth breaking through the facade.
• WHAT language techniques does it employ? Wolfshiem’s sentimental dialogue seems at odds with what we suspect of his character. Direct speech is used with great subtlety in this novel. His pronunciation ‘Oggsford’ is a small linguistic marker of cultural difference.

Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick into his house, where he can show off his possessions. Read from ‘I’ve got a man in England’ to ‘such beautiful shirts before’ (p. 89)
• WHY is it important? The gap between Gatsby and Daisy, the reason for his desire to be wealthy and successful, has suddenly closed and he needs to seize the opportunity offered by this moment to persuade her of his love.
• WHAT themes does it explore? The reference to English tailoring shows reverence for Old World values persisting in the New World. Yet Gatsby’s ritual of display also fits into the modern practice of persuasive advertising.
• HOW does it work within the narrative? This is a good example of the scenic method which F. Scott Fitzgerald uses so effectively in this novel. It brings Gatsby and Daisy together in a self-contained set-piece, yet its meaning reverberates far beyond the action we witness.
• WHAT language techniques does it employ? The brightly coloured shirts fit into the novel’s careful patterning of images relating to clothing and colour. The dialogue says little, but hints such as ‘she sobbed’ reveal a level of emotional upheaval just beneath the surface of the words.

After Gatsby’s death and before returning to the Middle West, Nick draws out the profound implications of what has occurred. Read from ‘Most of the big shore places’ to ‘borne back ceaselessly into the past’ (pp. 171–2).
• WHY is it important? Nick finally identifies the fate of Gatsby with the fate of America itself. What might have appeared a tragic yet simple love story finally expands into a vision of our shared fate as human beings.
• WHAT themes does it explore? The extract not only captures a sense of the failure of the American Dream, it also engages openly with the broader theme of the inexorable passage of time.
• HOW does it work within the narrative? This passage fuses myth and history, and invites us as readers to recognise the weighty implications of the story we have read, to ponder the power of imagination and the failure of dreams.
• WHAT language techniques does it employ? It contains the resonant image of ‘a fresh, green breast of the new world’. Note the obscure word orgastic (more usually ‘orgasmic’), and the use of ‘borne’, possibly a sophisticated pun on ‘born’.