The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
Kees IJzerman April 2013
Storyline
• Nick Carraway rents a small house in West Egg, Long Island
• Visits cousin Daisy and her husband Tom• Notices they are not happy.• Meets golf player Jordan Baker there.• She informs Nick Tom has a mistress, Myrtle.• Myrtle is married too: George Wilson, owner
of garage in the Valley of Ashes
Storyline
• Tom takes Nick to see Myrtle.• Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose.
• Partying next door to Nick: huge house.(Jay Gatsby)
• Nick gets invited to one of these parties.
Storyline
• Nick is introduced to Gatsby• Gatsby take Nick to see Meyer Wolfsheim
(shady character)• Jordan tells Nick part of Gatsby’s history:
- poor officer, in love w. Daisy, go to war- Daisy married Tom (=old money)
• Gatsby returned from war: new Gatsby(rich, opulent lifestyle)
Storyline
• Via Jordan, Gatsby asks Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy.
• They still love one another
Storyline
• Gatsby & Daisy have an affair• The five of them go into the city; at Wilson’s
garage Tom stops for petrol.• Wilson has found out his wife Myrtle has a
lover, but doesn’t know who.
You can’t repeat the past
• ……of course you can!
Gatsby’s great hope.
Storyline
• At N.Y. hotel Tom and Gatsby fight over Daisy• Tom accuses Gatsby of being a bootlegger• Daisy breaks down and tells her husband
openly that she loves Gatsby
You want too much
Storyline
• Daisy and Gatsby drive back in G’s yellow car.• The other three later• They see accident: Myrtle has been killed by a
yellow car.• Wilson finds out whose car killed his wife• Thinking Gatsby drove, he kills him and the n
commits suicide.• In fact, it was Daisy who drove the car.
Storyline
• Nick tries to get Gatsby’s friends to attend the funeral.
• Nick and Jordan break up.• Only Gatsby’s father turns up at the funeral
What does it mean?
• Fitzgerald’s take on the ‘roaring twenties”.• Easy money; shallow people.• East Egg vs. West Egg• Gatsby is killed because he loved and was
loyal.
What does it all mean?
• The Green Light at Daisy’s Dock: symbol of Gatsby’s dream and the American Dream
• The Valley of Ashes: the dirt and rubbish that is caused by trying to become rich.
• ‘Great’ Gatsby: bootlegger, in with criminals, but ‘good guy’
• He dies; with him his dream dies: the American Dream?
Top Related