Write a brief plot overview : At the beginning of the novel, it shows us a scene of a murder or accident investigation. after this is going back to a few days beforehand where it shows us the racist environment that all these characters lived in. A racist white cop pulls over a car in which belongs to two black people, a man and his wife, and then the cop takes advantage of the black woman right in front of her husband in which a director for a film. this woman then believes that her husband does not support their black background enough to defend her in which leads her to be angry. After this racist white cop harasses this woman, the cop’s partner disagrees with what the racist cop did and refuses to work with him. Racist views occur throughout the whole film as Farhad’s shop was robbed straight after a black man in which had a beautiful family to go home to fix his locks but lets him know that he needs a new door. this lead Farhad to think this man robbed his shop so goes to this black man, daniel, a house with his gun. Luckily dorri had bought blank bullets by mistake in which saved lara as she jumped onto daniel.
Discuss a character that was of interest to you and explain why: Daniel took my interest as he was a polite black man that just wanted to take care of his family at home but was interrupted by a white man accusing him of something he didn’t do. daniel fixes Farhard’s lock even though Farhad continues to make racist comments about him, but he continues to do his job so he can provide for his family at home. you can tell that Daniel wants to keep his kid safe as he gives his daughter, Lara, a magical cloak which is impenetrable. Lara takes this quite literally as when Farhad comes to shoot Daniel she jumps on her father to protect him. it is obvious that Daniel is one of the good characters in the novel as he continues to put up with racist comments just so he can provide and protect his family.
What do you believe the director’s intention was to explore this and the moments that allowed you to experience this. I believe that the director’s intention of this film was to show the audience the stereotypes that were obvious at the time but also that looks are deceiving as a lot of characters look bad but weren’t as they seemed. This was shown in many scenes one being Daniel fixing Farhads locks as Farhad made many racist comments and said that black men were not to be trusted but really Daniel just wanted to help all along and provide for his family at home. Another character that took a turn in the film was Officer John Ryan as at the start of the film he harassed a black woman, Christine, right in front of her husband in which made him look like a racist prick. As the film went on Christine got into a bad car crash in which the same officer helped save her and put his own life at danger.
How did haggis use stereotypes to manipulate viewers? Throughout the film, Haggis manipulates us with many stereotypes the main one being the colour of their skin. If they were black the white characters in the novel immediately thought that they couldn’t be trusted and were bad. This is shown at the very beginning of the film when Jean and her husband are walking back to their car and she sees two black men, which in the end carjacked them. Jean states ” I just had a gun pointed in my face! And it was my fault because I knew it was going to happen. But if a white person sees two black men walking g towards her and she turns and walks in the other direction, she is racist, right?”. As Jean expresses her frustration to her husband she explains that even if black men are criminals it’s racist to try to avoid them but she knew that they were bad news based on the way they looked. Shaved head, pants around his ass, and prison tattoos gave her the instinct that they were bad. Jean, a wealthy white woman expressed both racial and class stereotypes. This is because it’s hard to tell who is good and bad in black people, but isn’t it the same with white people? How do we know if they are going to be good or bad?
Research the setting of LA, why do you think it was set here? How did it influence plot/interactions? As paul haggis had his own experiences while he lived in LA for over 25 years when thinking about his film. He has carjacked himself as one night he was coming out of a video store in his own neighbourhood and was carjacked at gunpoint. that even, which he explained as a collision of two worlds that normally don’t intersect, forced him out of his complacency. Haggis started considering the lives of his attackers and became acutely aware of his own urban isolation. Pua Haggis mentioned, ” After 9/11, the subject seemed, to me, to become even more urgent, and I felt compelled to start writing what would eventually become Crash”. The carjacking in the film was an influence of his own experienced of being carjacked and was relevant to LA society and the intersection of the two races. LA facts: 3.99 million population
Cinematography techniques, how did it drive haggis intentions and viewers realisation In the important scene of Officer John Ryan saving Christine from the significant car crash, it shows a shot framed by the broken car window. The audience is drawn into the drama inside the car, cutting to close up shots of Officer John Ryan trying to help Christine who is stuck inside the car. It also shows shots of the action going on outside of the car through the broken glass of the rear window. These camera shots showed the audience the severity of the car crash and the struggle and danger that the officer put himself in to save the woman that he had recently molested the night before.
Character 1 AND 2 – They look as if they do some professional job in either business or law as they are both dressed up in professional outfits such as the suit for the man and business wear for the woman. They are also in the middle of the city surrounded by fancy buildings. – They look as if they are trustworthy but you can’t tell if anyone is trustworthy these days or not based on a photo. – Dressed up which gives me the impression they have to look put together for their jobs. – I believe that their personality traits would be that they are smart.
Character 3 and 4 – these to characters look as if they drug deal as they are out on the streets. – they don’t appear to be trustworthy to be as their body posture gives me weird vibes and also their facial expressions. – looks as if they are wearing thrift, swag kinda clothes and one of the dude’s hair is plated and are wearing big jackets which could mean they spend a lot of time outside. – they look like hard cases with a big personality and maybe not the best upbringing, they look as if they think they are cool.
Character 5 – she looks as if she is a mum that works from home as she is in a house with makeup and hair done. – she looks trustworthy –
Question: Analyse how setting used to reinforce an idea in the written texts.
Introduction: – introduction to how setting such as Atticus’s house, the courtroom, and the overall town of Maycomb reinforced the idea of prejudice such as racism, sexism, and class. – the novel was set In the 1930s in the same community called Maycomb county, located in the south. – Harper lee portrays these ideas through setting and by scouts growth in the novel.
Paragraph 1 – finches house reinforces the idea of sexism – aunt alexander moves in to teach scout “lady manners” – “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants.” – in the year of 1930’s it was said to be that girls should act like a lady, they should wear dresses and not take part in activities that you cant do in a dress. – despite aunt Alexander being critical about scouts ways, Atticus still encourages – finches house reinforces the idea of sexism as aunt alexander comes to stay at the finches house in chapter 13 to teach scout to be a lady and that scout needed “some feminine influence”. – aunt alexander has the intention to stay at the finches house until scout abandons her tomboyish ways in favour of more feminine behaviour. – the finches house reinforces the idea of sexism as aunt alexander was the only feminine influence in the finches household for the children – in 1930s woman were in low paid “women’s jobs” such as caring and cooking as when the great depression occured it reinforced that men should primarily have all the well-paid jobs and that the proper place for a woman was unpaid jobs at home. – in today’s day of age, sexism doesn’t come across as strong as a woman have equal right to how much they get paid and have a choice in which what job they want to have. however, I don’t think the world is cured of sexism as there are still stereotypes of what girls should and shouldn’t do and also the same for boys.
Paragraph 2 – Maycomb reinforces the idea of class- “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. The ordinary kind like us and the neighbours… the Cunninghams… the Ewells… and the negroes” in chapter 23 Jem finch assorts certain classes into 4 groups. – Social classes were obvious and shown through scouts views of Walter Cunningham. “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham” – At first scout, views were that if he is poor, or if anyone is poor they do not deserve anyone company but Calpurnia corrects her and says anyone is deserving of company, poor or rich – Writers intention: to show the division of the social classes and that the poor were the poor and the rich was the rich. Harper lee portrayed to us readers that the poor were treated badly and everyone was so quick to judge in the 1930s and proved that the world had a lot to work on in terms of accepting people. – Relating to real-world of great depression 1930s: “There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.” – when the novel took place it was during the great depression and didn’t have much money to spend on things and scout referred to it as being “tired”. in the time of the great depression in the 1930’s the black community were, of course, the first to lose their jobs and suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites. A lot of the high social class lost their fortune. -real-world today in terms of Wanaka, there is definitely a variety but is an expensive place to live. as there is a variation of wealth, we do not let that define who we are and we are not so quick to judge. – In today’s world I think we should continue to not be so quick to judge people by the wealth and judge them by who they are and their good of their heart.
Paragraph 3 -The courtroom reinforces the idea of racism – Tom Robinson was accused in this courtroom of something he didn’t do due to the colour of his skin. – Despite the judge knowing his innocence, it caused him this negro man his life.
Conclusion -throughout the novel, harper lee continues to show how this setting reinforces the ideas of prejudice. – the way she portrays this is through Atticus or other adults teaching or correcting scout or jem what is right and wrong and this is so its easier for us readers to understand what harper lee is trying to get across to her readers, by using the young protagonist. – prejudice has not been cured, and there is still a lot of improvement needed until people can feel accepted for who they are whether they dress like a boy, haven’t got as much money as you, or for their colour of the skin. – we all need to be able to accept one another, understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance, there can be recovery.
The relationship at the very heart of the great gatsby is, of course, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s tragic love or obsession with daisy is what drives the novel’s plot of this ill-fated love story. As he made an appearance back in the west egg and reunited with daisy again he is more eager to get daisy back to complete his American dream. This started to make Daisy’s true colours shine and helped us as readers understand her as a person as when gatsby came back it’s almost like she completely forgot about her marriage with another man. throughout the whole story fitzgerald tries to make her character worthy of gatsby’s unlimited devotion. Daisy’s character with associations of light, purity, and innocence, when all is said and done, she is the opposite of what she presents herself to be. as the story goes on more of Daisy’s character is revealed and bit by bit she becomes less of an ideal and Gatsby and her relationship unfolds many unknown features of Daisy.
In the movie the curious case of Benjamin Button, there is a certain scene where the symbolism of the clock is finally shown. As Benjamin life has gone backwards from being born old to growing young it was said to be that he would have a short life. The symbol of time had been shown throughout the whole story but in this scene of Benjamin losing all he had learnt and becoming as young as a baby, time was symbolised through a certain object, the clock. The clock started to show up as Benjamin was getting younger to symbolise his time in this world is almost up. The symbol of the clock was shown in a scene where Daisy was busy moving in and Benjamin was playing with his clock and the alarm happens to go off, this is to alarm him that his time is running out. The idea of the clock was shown through a series of camera shots especially when they were putting up the new clock around the same time Benjamin lost his life. As the new clock was put up the director used a zoom shot. The director would have done this to force the audience to fixate on an important object, in this case, the clock. this made us as an audience to focus on the clock and the meaning behind it. One of the ideas the director was trying to portray by symbolising the clock was fates dominance over life. Time will continue to move forward even if it was from old to young or young to old, life will still go on and eventually end.
Initial thoughts at the end of the film: I found it weird how he lived life backwards (how does that even happen) but it was an interesting film and at no point was it unbearably boring which is good. It’s cool how it was based around one setting, that old person home, as it kept going back to that house.
Like and dislikes Don’t like how it ended on a sad note, people dying (kinda sad). but i liked the story line how they crossed over with their age and as he got younger, she got older and was able to look after him as he stopped walking and talking.
Similarities to the Great Gatsby: Inviability of time, it was based around one setting, the old peoples home so were the great Gatsby was based in a few settings. It had the name daisy in both films. Both films were based off a relationship and at the end, everyone had lost everything.
Roots scatter around the dewy ground covered by viridescent moss. Looking up all you can see are branches waving from side to side, with no sight of the sky. The distinctive walking trails swerve around the saturated rocks, respectfully minding nature. The wind swished lightly through the peaceful atmosphere, while the rain softly plunges from the sky. sounds of whistles and chirps echo through the
As you walk through my door into my bedroom, straight ahead is a massive sliding door which looks out onto the bright green lawn. The plain white walls with the odd framed picture and mirror that hangs between my drawers and the corner of my room surround the most comfortable queen size bed. My duvet is detailed with dark green leaves with a few shades of red in which gives my room more colours. My bed is accompanied by a wooden bedside table with a white draw, in which I keep all my unused and random junk. On top of this bedside table lies a little pot plant with all my perfumes that sit there waiting to be used in the morning. At the end of my bed to the right sits my white plain desk which is placed underneath my window so you can look out to the mountain ranges and to the dry grass on the property over to us. It’s a very spacious room since it has white walls, white wall lights and white curtains which make the room look bigger than it actually is.
Metaphor: a direct comparison between two things which allows the reader to gain insight into one via the shared characteristic(s).
All the world is a stage and all the men and women were merely players.
Extended metaphor: a comparison between two things which is consistently developed throughout a paragraph or piece of writing. The development comes from a theme of word choices, all centred around one thing/idea. It is used to specifically project an impression or idea upon the reader, which be understood by noticing the shared characteristic(s) of the two things being compared.
Romeo and Juliet’s ship and sea is an extended metaphor.
As the sunlight streams through the grimy glass that protects the delicate buds inside, the frost creeps closer to the door. The only indicator of life inside the greenhouse is the build-up of condensation on the windows. Sliding the entrance open, a draft of warm, humid air embraces me. As I step inside, I see a gardener who welcomes me with a big smile. I look around to see plants which you can see are thriving to grow and become a
As you walk through the door into my bedroom, my foot melts into the soft sand like carpet. The botanic plants surround my room still leaving a spacious, fresh vibe. The dark green, tropical palm leaves scatter around . My bed is accompanied by a wooden bedside table with a white draw, in which I keep all my unused and random junk. On top of this bedside table lies a little pot plant with all my perfumes that sit there waiting to be used in the morning. At the end of my bed to the right sits my white plain desk which is placed underneath my window so you can look out to the mountain ranges and to the dry grass on the property over to us. It’s a very spacious room since it has white walls, white wall lights and white curtains which make the room look bigger than it actually is.
The Great Gatsby is known to be a tragic love story at the surface but is also understood as a suspicious critic of the American dream. The American dream was what everyone worked towards but really from the reader’s point of view its just a myth, as everyone regardless of race, social status, gender etc can achieve success if they work hard enough. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald critiques the idea of The American Dream. This is because He critiques this idea of The American Dream by using literacy devices for example settings. There are four main settings of the novel West egg, East egg, The valley of ashes and New York. Despite the characters living in different places they are all chasing the same thing, The American Dream. Fitzgerald critiques the American dream by suggesting it is an unattainable lifestyle and even if these characters do go for the American dream they will never be fully satisfied as the dream entails always striving for something more than what we already have. West egg being a new wealth and east egg being the old money, their ways of achieving the American dream are drastically different. As for The valley of ashes, they are the plight of the poor and struggle the most. FitzGerald critiques this idea throughout the whole novel by giving the characters that live in different settings, different perspectives on the American dream.
Most West Eggers have their own illegal way to achieving this unattainable lifestyle also known as the American dream. they are the new wealth who cheated their way to the American dream and will never have the same status as the east Eggers. Nick states at the start of the novel “I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them”. Nick claims that west egg is the “least fashionable of the two” because everyone wants to a part of the elite ( east egg) because they have the American dream handed to them by there families, but the west eggers have to work for there money and fight for that American dream which was unfortunately done in an illegal way. Jay Gatsby happens to be the centre of it all in which he found his own way to become the rich, powerful man he is today. As Nick states “ Everyone in West egg is a bootlegger” The most prevalent rumour is that Gatsby got his money through bootlegging also known as an illegal sale of alcohol, which he did through his connections to the mob. Another rumour that circled was that Gatsby owned a chain of drug stores, and that is how he got rich. Unlike Nick, Gatsby is so engrossed with becoming a member of the elite group, but as he is part of the new money and wasn’t born into the social, elite group.
The East egg is known for being the social and moral decay in society and seems like people from East Egg don’t have a care in the world for the lower classes. They act as if they are better than them, only because they are a part of the ” old money”. People from the east have had the American dream handed to them from past generations from there family, which give them an advantage in fully completing the American dream. “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans.”, Nick describes the east Eggers as the elites, they get everything handed to them from there families and don’t have to work to earn the lives they have. East egg is the place that everyone dreams to be as you don’t have to work and the American dream becomes easier to complete even though it’s almost impossible and would be an unattainable lifestyle.
Describe three key characters and how they changed through out the novel
I think that nick is the character that undergoes the most change throughout the novel of the Great Gatsby as at the start he seems all innocent and at the end, he is judgemental and follows the upper-class group. The more he learnt about the upper-class group such as Daisy, Tom, Gatsby the more opinions he gained and had more to judge. Nick the narrator of the story begins the novel by talking about how his father told him he should never judge other people because they haven’t had the advantages he’s had in life but as the novel goes on he sees peoples true colours and begins to judge people at the ends he states to Gatsby “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” meaning he doesn’t think much of the other elite group and thinks more of Gatsby rather the group of people he knew beforehand, its almost betrayal .
Gatsby’s character also changes a lot through out the novel as at the start no one knew much about him at all and are only thoughts of him were off rumours. He was a very mysterious man in which no one could figure him out he kept his stories to himself. Fitzgerald purposely brings Gatsby into the novel at chapter three so we could get all these first impressions and think he’s a wealthy powerful man when really its all a lie. As the story goes on and Gatsby becomes closer with nick he un ravels his story and says he’s a college drop out and got his money by bootlegging (illegal sale of alcohol), which he did through his ties to the mob. Gatsby starts of being a mysterious man and as the story goes on his story unravels, he was a man who was very focused on having that American dream life but he just cant get there.
At the start of the novel we look at daisy and think she’s very floaty, sophisticated, wealthy and graceful but as the novel goes on and we learn more about her character and her past, our opinions take a turn. Daisy always seems to get it her way and as soon as Gatsby came back for her she fell in love again leaving all her feelings for tom behind. as she chooses Gatsby because he is a more wealthy and powerful man, she just chose what was best for herself, not others around her. at the end of the book when daisy ran over Myrtle and didn’t stop and Gatsby took the blame, it all came back on Gatsby leaving him dead. Daisy did not check on Gatsby once or go back to him, she left the town with tom being her selfish self.
Settings
The four sets in the great Gatsby are west egg ( the new rich), east egg ( the old money/elites), valley if ashes which separates west egg from New York. The valley of ashes symbolises moral decay as the valley is full of ashes from the cities industry.
West egg: “I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.” -nick, Nick lives in west egg the people that actually work for there money in this quote nick states that its the least fashionable of the two because everyone wants to be in the elite ( east egg) because they have the American dream handed to them by there families but the west eggers have to work for there money and fight for that American dream. for instant Gatsby had to work for his money but he earned money in an illegal way as most of the west eggers did, he worked very hard to complete his American dream he had wealth, power and all he needed was daisy to top it off. “My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbour’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month.”- nick. In the quote, he explains that he lived in an ugly house and had a lovely view of the water for cheap. He lives a sustainable life and wasn’t worried about completing the American dream like the rest.
East egg: “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans. Daisy was my second cousin once removed, and I’d known Tom in college. And just after the war I spent two days with them in Chicago”- nick, Nick describes the east Eggers as the elites, they get everything handed to them from there families and don’t have to work to earn the lives they have. East egg is the place that everyone dreams to be as you don’t have to work and the American dream becomes easier to complete even though it’s almost impossible. as a daisy is separated from Gatsby it is not just by water but by class, daisy is part of the wealthier/elite group and Gatsby is part of the said to be “poorer” class and cheated his way to wealth, this separation causes a delay in gatsby pathway to the American dream. “They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”- Nick. These were the last words gatsby heard from Nick before he got shot, Gatsby was so caught up on joining in the old money and Nick tried to say that he’s so much better than that. Nick disapproves of the whole elite circle and upper-class and compliments gatsby by saying he’s worth the bunch put together but he’s still dissing Gatsby.
Valley of Ashes: The valley of ashes is what separates west egg to new york it is where the poor life but they work insanely hard to try to achieve the American dream but they just continue to fail over and over again. “This is a valley of ashes–a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track…the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud…”. The Valley of Ashes is an important aspect of the novel, The Great Gatsby because it emphasizes the lifestyle differences between the grey-stricken working class and the golden wealthy. The ashes and everything that is covered in it like the houses and cars shows us that the working class has learned to accept the gloomy way in which they live in. “The ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades” because they have less hope of migrating to the golden world of the wealthy and that is why their world is so grey and “dimly lit.”
New York: New York was said to be the place to go to pursue the American dream, to find a well-paid job and live the life everyone wanted. New York City provides Fitzgerald with the perfect symbol for the wealth and status that Gatsby envies. For, New York was considered the home of the socially elite and the centre of culture,” and a global city as the centre of international trade. this is where Nick said he was going to move to get a job and become wealthier as he mentions near the start of the novel
Symbols
Identify how each of the characters you have explored above presented the idea of illusion in the text, describe how they concealed their true self from other characters in the novel. explain what helped you uncover there illusion in the text.
Jay Gatsby is the true illusionist in this novel, his entire life is an illusion. he was born as James Gatz a poor boy born in north Dakota and all he wanted was to pursue the American dream. 17 year old James Gatz invented Jay Gatsby a man who got involved with people who made him wealthy, bought a big fancy house across the water from daisy, drove a nice car and wore designer suits so daisy would notice him and fall in love with him. As Gatsby got more known rumours spread that ” he killed a man” or that he was a german spy during war which was not at all true and he didn’t tell them otherwise because he didn’t want to ruin the illusion with the truth so he let them beleive these false accusations. another part of Gatsby illusion is the way he speaks and says how he has to pick his words with care. at the start of the novel there is an illusion that gatsby is perfect but he’s really not. Gatsby created this illusion to make daisy fall in love with him.
Daisy also creates an illusion of her own as she leads Gatsby to think she’s in love with him and they will be together forever whether, as in 1917 Gatsby left for war and Gatsby was under the impression that daisy would be waiting for him when he gets home but instead falls in love with another man. in 1922 she also becomes an illusionist when she has an affair with Gatsby and leads Gatsby to believe that she will leave tom for him but can’t tell tom she was ” never in love with him”, this shows that Daisy didn’t know what she wanted and was doing what was best for her, she revealed her true self in the end leaving with tom while Gatsby was lying dead in the pool. This illusion is the basis of the novel and is the reason that the theme illusion dominates the novel.
Nicks illusion throughout the novel of The Great Gatsby is that he is an open-minded, non-judgemental person, he says this in the first chapter of the novel before he meets Gatsby that his dad told him ” whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”, his father tries to get across to him, to try be a reserved, non-judgmental person but as time goes on throughout the novel nick changes. when Nick gets invited to Gatsby party he hears rumours before he has even met him. rumours such as he killed a man, he’s a student of Oxford, that he was a German spy and that people would hate to be on the wrong side of him because Gatsby is such a wealthy and powerful man. these rumours create an illusion in nicks head before he meets him. when nick does get to finally meet this well-known man he automatically is drawn to his smile, Nick states “He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”. This illusion that Nick creates shows that he thinks Gatsby is great and is a man that can attain his dreams and Nick doesn’t see the bad side in Gatsby.
Three important relationships and how there relationships are “false”.
Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship in the novel of The Great Gatsby is very important as his love for daisy eventually gets him killed. Their relationship started way back before Gatsby was a wealthy man and Gatsby fell in love with her but, as he left for war Daisy got impatient and got herself married to a handsome, wealthy man who would love her. As Gatsby left he was determined to come back a wealthy man and pursue his American dream all he needed was Daisy. When he came back daisy still married daisy figured out that Gatsby is now a rich man who is very powerful so daisy starts to fall in love with him again. As daisy can never say she was never in love with tom and when Gatsby takes the blame for daisy which eventually gets him killed daisy simply didn’t care because she was selfish. There relationship was false as Gatsby was obsessed with Daisy but Daisy didn’t feel the same way even though she let of she did, near the end we find out the darker side of daisy as she runs of with Tom leaving Gatsby dead.
Tom and Daisy got married in 1919 as Daisy was sick of waiting for Gatsby to return so she decided to marry a wealthy, handsome man that would fulfil her love. Daisy always had doubts about marrying Tom as before the wedding she had doubts but she couldn’t wait any longer for Gatsby. “he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her.” this quote explains to us that the marriage wasn’t just purely out of love and that just because tom had the same kind of upbringing as it states “from much the same stratum as herself”. As Daisy and Tom continued there relationship married, tom cheated many times which tells us that he wasn’t in love with her just attracted to her. The relationship becomes false when they continue to both cheat, daisy leaves tom for Gatsby but in the end, they come back together and runoff.
Throughout the great Gatsby, Nick wasn’t connected to love like the others were, but he did have a summer fling with Jordan Baker. there was not any love between the two, Nick was just attracted to Jordan ” extended full length” body, her looks and charm. There was no chance of nick being in a relationship with her as she was a rich woman and he was poor. As much as Nick is attracted to Jordan it was clear that it was only a short term relationship and not long.
Language features
“His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”
In this passage nick states ” At his lips’ touch she blossomed like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”, at this time he is trying to get across how this kiss has been a long-awaited dream for Gatsby. Gatsby and Daisy kiss for the first time in many years and Gatsby’s dreams all of a sudden becomes reality. Fitzgerald describes daisy as a flower as it says “ she blossomed like a flower” this gives us the impression the kiss somehow made there connection stronger again was potentially the perfect kiss. He used this simile to increase the readers understanding to comparing daisy to a flower it shows he wants to get across to the readers that it wasn’t a dull moment it was pure, perfect and passionate. Nick uses the word “blossomed” to describe how daisy reacted to the kiss, this made us readers think that the one kiss Daisy and Gatsby shared, made daisy fall in love with him again instantly.
“The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”
In this passage, Nick uses a comparison between Gatsby and Jesus Christ to illuminate gatsby creation of his own identity, ” He was a son of God”, as Gatsby turns himself into the ideal man that he envisioned for himself as a youngster and remains committed to that ideal, despite the obstacles that society presents to the fulfilment of his dream.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”
Nick states this when he is concluding the novel. At this time he is reflecting on Gatsbys life and his obsession with the past. This is a metaphor. It compares humans relationship with time to boats moving against the current. it suggests that as oats resists the current to move in the direction of there choice, humans often resist the passage of time. They hold onto the past even when time moves them further away. Gatsby holds onto his relationship with daisy from 5 years earlier, building his entire life around it. The expectation that this is unrealistic is communicated via this metaphor because, like the current, time moves forward, preventing Gatsby (and anyone) from truely recreating the past, therefore making his effort ” ceasless” .
Allusions
In chapter one of the Great Gatsby, when Nick comes to meet Tom Buchanan. Tom comes across to us as supercilious and arrogant. As Nick says “You make me feel uncivilised, daisy” his words are taken up in an unexpected way by tom who breaks out violently. “Civilization’s going to pieces,…I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read The Rise Of The Coloured Empire by this man Goddard?”. The rise of the coloured empire was written by Lothrop Goddard, it’s assumed that the collapse of the white empire and colonialism, because of the increase in population in black people. Tom happens to misinterpret Goddard’s book because Goddard did not advocate a white race bid for world domination that Tom believes in. Instead Goddard’s questions the white men’s rights to invade other countries and impose its will upon other people.
2. David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, director and playwright. He was well known in the 1920s for creating very realistic sets In chapter three of the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald includes the reference of Gatsby, as Belasco to suggest that Gatsby life is like a theatrical production and is an especially well-crafted illusion or show, Owl eyes in suggesting that Gatsby at any moment could put on quite a show. However owl eyes were saying this while drunk, he may be telling a truthful tale after all of the potential lies readers have read throughout the beginning of the chapter. His allusion is also used when owl eyes state that Gatsby’s library is just like one of Belasco’s sets as it was full of what looked like real, valuable books. It is really ironic that owl eyes bring up the fact that Gatsby life is a show and identifies the theatricality and artificiality of Gatsby’s life without realizing it. The gatsby that is presents himself to the audience is not the real gatsby, he has adopted a new identity and affectations such as “old sport” to convey a image of wealth and academic sucesess.
3. Fitzgerald uses the platonic conception as a allusion in the great Gatsby as he uses this concept in a way of characterising the very embodiment of jay Gatsby and his present self. Nick explains this allusion and shows the idea that nick thinks Gatsby invented himself, which in a way is true. Nick states ” Jay gatsby sprang from his platonic conception of himself”. Plato was a Greek philosopher who, among many other things, was concerned with the real world versus the ideal world. So when Nick says this, he means that in a sense, Jay Gatsby invented himself.Jay Gatsby was not happy with being a poor man who came from an uneducated family so he decided to reinvent himself to an ideal lifestyle which suited himself. Nick suggests that Gatsby has modelled the ideal version of himself and is striving to live up to the fantasy that he has created in his mind since he was a young boy. Gatsby really wanted to live up to that American dream so changed himself in a wealthy man by making connections with powerful people who could get him there. Despite him cheating his way to wealth he was so close to completing that American dream but need daisy to put the cherry on top.
Ideas
How Does Fitzgerald present the idea of the American dream to us:
Fitzgerald uses a lot of literary devices to present the American dream such as motif, one motif is geography as represented by East and West Egg. East egg being the old money which has been given or passed down from there family, and west egg is the new rich which are those you have made their own money in ways that are illegal. Fitzgerald also uses a lot of symbols to represent various aspects of the American Dream. An important symbol that Fitzgerald uses in The Great Gatsby to present the American dream is the colour green, Nick states “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.”. the green light relates to the American dream as the colour green symbolises hope and dreams, more specifically the American dream. The American dream was what everyone worked towards but really from the reader’s point of view its just a myth, as everyone regardless of race, social status, gender etc can achieve success if they work hard enough. east Eggers ( the elite group) were given the dream as they didn’t have to work for there power and wealth it was passed down from there families. As for west eggers, they are the “new rich” Fitzgerald describes them to be “just a bunch of bootleggers”, they represent the corruption of the American dream, it drives them to cheat. the new yorkers believe that anything is possible and people go there to attempt to achieve this American dream, it allows people to experience the illusion of the American dream. The valley of ashes is the false nature of the dream, the characters in this setting constantly work hard but don’t achieve success, the American dream always fails for these characters over and over again.
How does fitzgerald present the idea of inevitability of time
Fitzgerald presents the idea of the inevitability of time through symbols such as water. he uses this to show the distance between Gatsby and Daisy. Also, the rain is pouring when Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time in 5 years. A lot has happened in this time. The rain stops and fades to dew as they become comfortable with each other again. It begins again after Gatsby has shown his house. ” If it wasn’t for the mist, we could see your home across the bay,” said Gatsby, “ you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock”… possibly it occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her … as close as a star to the moon. What water symbolises is time. Time will always move forward. Life will move with it, regardless of how much we want to go back or stand still. water is also involved with Gatsby death, as Gatsby is swimming in his pool for the first time this summer, George Wilson that is thirsty to get revenge walks up to the pool and shoots Gatsby dead. ” the touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water” because Gatsby dies in the water, his death is a sort of baptism. in a way he is cleansed of all his wrongdoings throughout his life and is relieved of all his stress. As Gatsby’s time in the world ends it happens to be in the water.
