The Great Gatsby NOTES

 THE JAZZ AGE:  THE ROARING TWENTIES

A brief backdrop to Fitzgerald’s the GREAT GATSBY

A time-line for discussion

Radio came into America in 1916 as independent stations in cities like Chicago and New York began broadcasting to small audiences.  During WWI the United States government took control of most radio stations for military use.

1917—The New Orleans Jazz Band recorded “Livery Stable Blues”.  It helped make jazz popular and introduced the record player to American society.  In a few years record players where like television sets—everyone had to have one.  The first records were under 3 minutes in time length.

1918 Nov. 11 1918 END OF WWI.  WWI brought disillusionment.  It seemed to most that technology had failed and brought massive graves.  People renew their vigor in leading alternative life styles—fast paced full of hedonism and living for the day instead of the future.

Jan 16 1920  the 18^th Amendment brought on the Prohibition.  The Prohibition lasted 13 years and introduced into America speakeasies, Organized Crime and bootlegging.  It was an era of fast money.

Thus began, as Fitzgerald said, “The most expensive orgy in history.”

1920 also introduced the 1^st commercial radio station.  By 1922 their were 670 commercial stations in the country.

Oct. 28 1929 The stock market crashed and the Jazz Age came to a close.

THE GREAT GATSBY was published in 1925 and the story takes place in the early 20s right after the close of WWI.

The novel is primarily about the failure of the American Dream.

'Resume'

Razors pain you; 
Rivers are damp; 
Acids stain you; 
And drugs cause cramp; 
Guns aren't lawful; 
Nooses give; 
Gas smells awful; 
You might as well live. 

Dorothy Parker

Observation

If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.

Dorothy Parker

 

SYMBOL: An image that represents a larger idea.  Usually a symbol is tied in with one of the themes of the noveL

 

Some symbols so far  

 

Valley of Ashes—represents spiritual death.  It is tied in with the Death of the American Game (or the death of Gatsby’s American Dream).  With the failure of the American Dream comes a spiritless wandering.  It also represents the spiritual wasteland that most people felt after WWI.  Technology, the great survivor of society, had failed and had become the great destroyer. 

 

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg—represents the lost of religion.  Ties in with the Valley of Ashes as it is a spiritless ghost that looks over the wasteland.  It also represents the failure of technology.  Because of WWI people feel the need to live for the moment. 

 

TIME—watch out for the mention of time.  Nick the narrator is very conscious of time and the passing of time.  Mark your book every time Nick mentions time, or time passing, or sees a watch, a clock, etc.  People are living for the moment, everyone except Gatsby. 

The Green Light at the end of the dock—this represents Gatsby dream: Daisy, and how close he has come to fulfilling it.

 Also - RUMORS.

 

PLOT: THE GREAT GATSBY

Exposition: Nick moves to West Egg and is reacquainted with Tom and Daisy and has dinner with them at East Egg.  He meets Jordan. Observes Gatsby as Gatsby reaches his hand out toward the green light of Daisy’s house. Goes with Tom to meet Myrtle Wilson.  In the process he also meets George Wilson at his garage in the Valley of the Ashes.

Inciting Event: Nick is invited to Gatsby’s party.  He attends.

Raising Action: A) At Gatsby’s party Nick meets Jordan and hangs out with her—this begins their brief romance.  Gatsby asks Jordan to come into his house so he can tell her a secret. There are many rumors of Gatsby: he’s related to the Kaiser; he killed a man; he was a spy for the Germans; he is a bootlegger. 

THE GREAT GATSBY

Subplot:  A subplot is a minor story within a larger story.  Usually it deals with relationships between characters and it follows the same outline of a plot—it has exposition, inciting event, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.  The better novels usually have the climax of the more important subplots coincide with the climax of the central plot in a novel.  Example in The Great Gatsby the climax in the subplots of Nick and Gatsby, Nick and Daisy will coincide with the climax of the main plot. 

Let’s look at three subplots that are building:

MAIN PLOT:  Chap 1 and Chap 2 are the exposition.

SUB-PLOT:  Nick and Tom

Type of Conflict: Person vs. Person

Exposition:  Chapter 1.  Nick gets reacquainted with Tom who he went to college with.  He says that despite Tom’s hulking figure he thinks Tom respects him and wants Nick’s approval.  Nick reserves judgment on Tom, though Tom is present as a racist, sexist, and an arrogant man who believes everyone is beneath him.  We also learn he is having an affair.  We can guess that these things about Tom will eventually have some toil on the friendship.  In chapter 1 Nick is allied with Tom through background.

Inciting Event:  Chapter 2.  Tom drags Nick to see “his girl.”  Nick is an unwilling witness.  Nick meets Myrtle. This event sets up the rest of the events between Tom and Nick.

Rising Action: Tom and Nick go to Myrtle’s (Tom’s) apartment.  Tom buys Myrtle a dog.  We meet Myrtle’s sister, Catherine.  A drunken party happens (it starts to become apparently that Tom drinks a bit).  Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose in an argument about Daisy.

SUBPLOT:  Nick and Jordan

Type of Conflict: Person vs. Person

Conflict: A brief love affair that goes sour

Protagonist: Nick

Antagonist: Jordan

Dynamic character: Nick

Static Character: Jordan?

Exposition: Chapter 1.  Nick meets Jordan at the Buccanhans’ home in East Egg.  He has a brief conversation with her about Gatsby and the relationship between Daisy and Tom.  He remembers he has heard something of her past.

Inciting Event: Chapter 3.  Meets Jordan at Gatsby’s party.  Jordan is with a date, but she easily forgets about him to hang out with Nick.  There is talk/rumors of Gatsby.  Nick meets Gatsby and Gatsby ask Jordan to hear his secret.

Raising Action: A) Nick asks Jordan out.

B) Nick remembers a rumor about Jordan cheating in a golf tournament, but doesn’t care though he claims that Jordan is incurably dishonest, and that dishonesty in a woman is something you never deeply blame

C) Jordan says “It takes two to make an accident” and that she likes Nick because he is careful, while she is not.

D) Nick realizes he needs to official break it off with some girl, a tennis player, back home.

E) Jordan tells Nick about the back-story about Gatsby and Daisy, and Nick and Daisy.

F) Nick kisses Jordan but says unlike Gatsby he doesn’t have a Daisy to live for.

SUBPLOT:  Nick and Gatsby

Type of Conflict: Person vs. Society, Person vs. Self

Exposition:  Chapter 1.  Nick sees Gatsby alone in his yard with his hand stretched out across the water at the green light at the end of the dock of East Egg (He is reaching for Daisy’s house).

Inciting Event: Chapter 3.  Nick accepts Gatsby’s invitation to come to Gatsby’s party.

Raising Action:  Nick meets Gatsby and begins to learn about Gatsby’s past.