Kelso High School

English Department

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chapter Two

Characterisation Tom, Nick

Setting New York, America

Theme American Society

Structure

Symbolism The Valley of the

Ashes, The Eyes

of Dr TJ

Eckleburg, Myrtle

Characterisation - Nick

“I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair”

Characterisation - Nick

This quote clearly shows the indecisiveness of Nick’s character. He is morally repelled by the vulgarity and tastelessness, but he is too fascinated by it to leave

Characterisation - Tom

If you remember our first impression of Tom was not positive.

This is certainly continued in this chapter.

Task:- Read the quotes which follow. Analyse each quote to explain why it reveals a negative side of Tom.

Characterisation - Tom

“It’s a bitch”, said Tom decisively. “Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it.”

“His determination to have my company bordered on violence. The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do”

“I want to see you,’ said Tom intently. ‘Get on the next train.”

Characterisation - Tom

“Sitting on Tom’s lap Mrs Wilson called up several people on the telephone”

“Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand”

Setting - New York

Setting - New York

Within the novel New York is the fourth and final setting. It is the opposite of the Valley of the Ashes. It is loud, garish, abundant and glittering

Setting - America

America was placed under a period of prohibition from 1919 – 1933. This legislation placed severe limitations upon the production and consumption of alcoholic drinks

Prohibition was introduced to raise the nation’s standards, but it had the opposite effect

Setting - America

It was difficult to enforce and not difficult for drinkers to find alcohol

Theme - American Society

Theme - American Society

The Wilsons live at their place of work. They have a lower social standing than Nick who lives in the suburbs

In this novel the very rich appear not to work and can live where they choose

Theme – American Society

Fitzgerald is emphasising that America, despite its claims of being democratic and equal, is in actual fact a society divided into a number of social classes based on wealth and property

Structure

Structure

“Well, they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhem’s. That’s where all his money comes from”

A air of mystery continues to be built around the character of Gatsby. No-one has any real information about him”

Symbolism – Valley of the Ashes

A long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It has been created by industrial dumping and by products of capitalism

It represents the moral and social decay of American society that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure

Symbolism – Valley of the Ashes

There is a strong suggestion that beneath the ornamentation of West Egg and East Egg lies the same ugliness as in the Valley of the Ashes

Symbolism – Eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg

This is a realistic detail of consumer culture of the 1920s

It had the additional merit of being comprehensible to new immigrants with little English

Within the novel do the eyes represent the eyes of God staring down and judging American Society as a moral wasteland?

Symbolism – Eyes of Dr TJ Eck.

“His eyes dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground”

Does the faded paint of the eyes symbolise the extent to which humanity has lost its connection to God?

Theme

Symbolism - Wilson

“He was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome”

Throughout the text, Wilson stands as a stark contrast to Tom. He is a handsome, morally upright man who lacks money, privilege and vitality

Symbolism - Myrtle

“I’m going to make a list of all the things I’ve got to get”

Myrtle is being bought by Tom

He views his relationship with her in material terms and as a physical affair, rather than as a emotional commitment

Well-done!!!!