Literature Analysis #3

The Great Gatsby

Summary:

• To summarize the plot, the book is focused on a man named Nick Carraway. Nick moved to West Egg from the Midwest and found himself living in a wealthy neighborhood. His neighbor is a man by the name of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is a mysterious man who throughs lavish parties every weekend. One night Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby’s parties and he runs into Jordan. Nick had previously met Jordan at his cousin Daisy’s house. Jordan tells Nick everything she knows about Gatsby. Nick soon realizes that Gatsby is extremely in love with his cousin Daisy. However, Daisy is married to Tom. Nick agrees to help his new friend Gatsby and sets up a meeting with Daisy. After meeting at Nick’s house Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair. At the same time Tom is having an affair with a mechanics wife, Myrtle. It is revealed that Gatsby and Daisy were in love earlier in life and Daisy was going to no marry Tom but she did because Gatsby wasn’t rich enough. So Gatsby made a lot of money and through lavish parties so that Daisy would eventually stumble into one of his parties. Tom becomes suspicious when Daisy spends a lot of time at Gatsby’s house and invites Gatsby and everyone to a hotel where all is revealed about Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship. Gatsby urges Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him but she panics and leaves. She takes Gatsby’s car and accidentally runs over Myrtle, killing her. Gatsby doesn’t tell anyone that Daisy was the one who ran her over and because of that Myrtle’s husband believes that Gatsby killed her when he was done having an affair with her (he new she was having an affair but didn’t know it was Tom). Angered by Myrtle’s death, he kills Gatsby and then kills himself. Daisy moves on and stays with Tom and Nick moves back to the Midwest.

Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. 

• I think that there are more that just one theme. I think one theme is love. Gatsby does everything because he loves Daisy and just wants to be with her. Also, both Daisy and Tom cheat on each other because they don’t really love each other. Another theme is the deterioration of the American Dream. Money and social status became the most important thing and cheating was okay.

Tone:

• The authors tone is calm and almost a little judgemental. The author demonstrates this when Myrtle is run over by Daisy, when Gatsby is killed(shot), and when Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose for disrespecting him.

Literary Techniques: 

• Symbolism-
• "A single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock."
• Foreshadowing-
• "He snatched the book from me and placed it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.”
• Imagery-
• "All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there's a persistant wail all night along the North Shore.  
• Irony-
• "I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy." 
• Metaphor-
• “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
• Hyperbole-
• “I'm stiff. I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember."
• Personification-
• Myrtle pulled her chair closer to mine and suddenly her warm breath poured over me the story of her first meeting with Tom. 

CHARACTERIZATION:

Direct Characterization:

• “ Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth-but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget.”

Indirect Characterization:

• “I noticed that she wore her evening dress, all her dresses, like sports clothes-there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upon golf courses on clean, crisp mornings. ”

Diction:

• The diction changes throughout the story. When characters change so does the diction. For example, when Gatsby talks his words are not as intense as the other characters. He is very playful and only thinks about good things because he’s in love.

Protagonist:

• Jay Gatsby is a dynamic protagonist because the more we know about Gatsby the more he changes in our minds and how we feel about him. He is also a round character because we know a lot about him. We know his characteristics, his personality, and how he feels.

Feeling:

• After reading this book, I came away feeling as though I had met many characters. Fitzgerald went into such detail so when you read this book you feel like you were actually there. For example, when Nick goes to Gatsby’s party. You feel like your actually at the party.