8/6/2019 Passage Analyses

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Passage 1

This passage, from chapter one, gives us a sense of the cynicism and disillusionment that

characterized the Lost Generation culture of the 1920s. Daisys assertion that everything is

terrible reflects the feeling that the progression of society had come to a sort of dead end, and

that the most advanced people, the ones who should be an authority on where society is

headed, are echoing the same lost and pessimistic question: Where do we go from here? She

backs up her statement by asserting that she knowspersonallybecause of the fact that she has

seen everything and done everything. Daisy is implying that there is nothing more to see or

do because it has already been done, and that all the travels and adventures and pursuits of

which she has filled her life have ultimately left her feeling unfulfilled. I believe she speaks for

her entire generation when she captures this feeling. The Great Gatsby is about a generation

whose entire framework of the future its purpose towards some goal, its faith that there is

actuallya meaningful goal to achieve has unraveled. There doesnt seem to be anything left

to look forward to. There doesnt seem to be anything left to work towards. The flash in her

eyes of defiance and scorn is a painful reflection of her purposeless and empty existence.

Her statement: God Im sophisticated is spoken in angry disappointment, as if to say Well,

now Im gotten here Why is it nothing like what I thought it would be? I thought that after

everything that Ive seen and done that I would be happy and fulfilled. Then why do I feel so

sad? Why do I feel so angry? Like the generation that she represents, she no longer has any

idea where to look for fulfillment. As the old systems of value deteriorated, they were left in

the wasteland, wandering, with no one to follow and nowhere to go.

Passage 2

This passage, from chapter five, is significant in the question it asks about what is of any real

value. After years of accumulating wealth and material possessions in order to make

something of himself, Gatsby finally has an opportunity to test his worth in order to win over

the one prize of which he has always dreamed. Though Gatsby has spent his life pursuing

money and popularity, we get a sense that, in the end, he only did so as an attempt to achieve

some sort ofhigher dream or goal. Daisy is that dream; she is his green light that motivated his

life-long pursuit of money and material things. And now, as he gives her the tour through his

mansion that he has been waiting for most of his life, he finds himself disoriented by the way

that his material things no longer seem real. There is a major contrast here between her

actual and astounding presence and the artificial value of his possessions. Gatsby is said to

have revalued everything according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved

eyes. This means that, without a meaningful response from Daisy, all that Gatsby has made of

himself will be meaningless. It was all for her. None of it has any value unless it is valuable to

her, unless it wins her back to him. Gatsbys pursuit of his dream of Daisy is symbolic of

8/6/2019 Passage Analyses

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American society and our pursuit of The American Dream. In the way that all of his

possessions did not end up winning Daisy back to him, Fitzgerald is saying in this novel that the

pursuit of money and materialism will not fulfill us or achieve us the American dream. He is

not, however, saying that pursuing wealth is necessarily meaningless. Money and possessions

can have value, he seems to be saying, only insofar as they help us achieve our higherdreams.Fitzgerald seems to be saying to us: As each of you pursue your own Daisies, remember that

you are going to need more than just monetary value in order to fulfill yourselves, in order to

prove your own worth. So how, then, do we go about proving our worth?

Passage 3

This passage, from chapter eight, is an insightful glimpse into the life and mentality of a supposedly

modern woman from the 1920s Jazz Age. Daisys actions and feelings are meant to reflect the actions

and feelings of many women in her generation, and this passage captures the loosening of traditional

ideas about how women were expected to behave as well as the pressures that they ultimately had to

confront as they searched for a new set of values to replace the old ones that had been recently torn

down. The idea of moving with the season gives the impression that Daisy is not held back in the ways

that more traditional women were accustomed to; she keeps company with half a dozen men, and in

the same sentence she is described as drowsing asleep at dawn, which implies that shes been staying

up all night and has most likely been to some degree or other promiscuous with some or all of these

men she has been dating. On first glance, it seems that she has been liberated as a woman from

conventional ideas about sex, but the phrase dying orchids on the floor beside her bed signify a darker,

sadder conclusion that accompanies this freedom. Orchids are flowers of rare beauty, and, given Daisys

name and the idea of flowers as symbols of feminine appeal, the fact that they are dying on the floor

beside her bed imply that, despite the freedom that she now has in this modern age, she has lost

something significantly beautiful as well. The passage finds Daisy lying drunk in the morning on a

bedroom floor next to dying flowers. This image is sad and symbolic. She is described as crying for a

decision. Its obvious that she is not fulfilled, that she is still looking for something that she does not

have. I think that this could have something to do with the fact that, despite all the running around with

different men, she still wants to commit herself to one person and strive to achieve a more traditional

sense of love despite her sexual escapades. But can she find love? She wants her life shaped

immediately, yes, but by what? Apparently by some force of love, of money, of unquestionable

practicality that was close at hand. The next line tells us that this was the moment when she met and

married Tom. When we analyze their marriage, it seems clear that it is based more upon money and

practicality than upon love. If there is love, then its likely that her definition of love has been taintedby her newfound sophistication. More than anything, it seems that she marries Tom because of

practicality, or, in other words, out of desperation and convenience. It doesnt seem like love really

plays into it. It seems like shes slept around enough and now shes tired and wants to settle down. And

maybe its at this point that she gives up on the love and romance that she seems to have had with

Gatsby. Which is why, when Gatsby returns to her and tries to win her back, shes already too far gone.