- Should The Great Gatsby be classified as a tragedy? If so, what is the fatal flaw? If not, how should it be classified?
- How does Fitzgerald's selection of names enhance characterization? Select a character and explain.
- One of Fitzgerald's strengths is his imagistic style. Consider the moods created in his description of the Buchanan's mansion, Gatsby's mansion, etc. How do the moods contribute to the theme of new money vs. old money?
- Discuss the irony of the title for the book. Who actually names Gatsby? Suggest an alternate title.
- According to The Great Gatsby, what traits constitute the zeitgeist (spirit of the time) of the 1920's?
Monday, February 27, 2012
Gatsby Discussion Questions
As a closing activity to Gatsby, address one of the discussion topics, below. (You do not need to respond to classmates' blogs.) Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and should make frequent references to the text. No more than FIVE students should respond to any one prompt. Assignment must be posted by Thursday, 3.1.12 at 7:30am.
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In the Great Gatsby, the author Scott Fitzgerald chooses names to enhance characterization. For example Nick Carraway, Nick seems like a common name but his last name is what’s significant. His last name has "car" and "away" in it which could have suggested he might be running away from something or someone. Though that assumption isn’t right it’s a possibility. I also find it interesting that Nick doesn’t have a car of his own therefore, he’s always car pooling, and he isn’t able to escape when he wants or needs to. Nick seems like the type of person who enjoys drama but after a while gets lost in everyone else’s problems and then forgets to think about himself, and that is how he forgot his birthday. Not his life but the world around him is so chaotic that it is hard for him to function in that environment. And because New York seems to be like a popular place then too, there are a lot of people and Nick is trapped in it because he doesn’t have a “car” to get “away” when ever he feels like it. Fitzgerald probably came up with this last name to show that Nick is the one sucked up into everyone’s personal problems, which results in his personal needs and wants not being acknowledged. Maybe Fitzgerald portrayed Nick to want to be able to escape, but having to deal with Gatsby and the others he didn't have the opportunity to.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby should be classified as a tragedy because of the prominent tragic flaw in the main character, Gatsby. Through the novel, Gatsby’s tragic flaw becomes more prevalent as it leads to his ultimate demise. The first reference towards this tragic flaw came when Jordan and Nick were conversing about the potential plan for an accidental meeting between Daisy and Gatsby. Jordan tells Nick that “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 49). This fact allows the reader to then infer that there is a secret romance brewing between Gatsby and Daisy and that it happened much before this time. As the story unfolds, the rekindling love between Daisy and Gatsby becomes more obvious and it soon becomes heated. Everything hits an all time high when Gatsby, Tom, Jordan, Nick and Daisy go to New York because of the separation into the vehicles. Tom was a jealous man and wanted to always one-up Gatsby. Gatsby on the other hand is constantly pretending that he is living in the past when he and Daisy first met. He is stuck in a rut and is unable to escape. The ultimate ending to this flaw ends in his death. Nick notices the unfortunate details of this flaw because he believes that Gatsby “paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (99). Gatsby lived through this entire period believing that everything was the same as it used to be. He was completely blind to the inevitable. The fact that Daisy had moved on and was married meant nothing to him because all he saw was his potentially rekindled love with her. Gatsby had a very dominant tragic flaw leading to his death like most characters and all because he was blind to the reality of his situation.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1920-1929 prohibition was the period in the United States history in which manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors was outlawed. It was also the time period characterized by speakeasies (a place for the illegal sale and consumption of alcohol drinks), glamour, and violation of the law by the average citizen. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the main character Gatsby has lavish parties for the rich and glamorous people that for the most part he didn’t’ know and who in addition consumed a lot of alcohol illegally. Everyone went to Gatsby’s mansion but no one really knew who he was; while “moving somewhere between his cocktails and his flowers” a young lady said “he’s a bootlegger”. This quote comments on the fact that Gatsby was selling illegal liquor. This entire scene comments on the fact that people were still selling alcohol even though it was the time of the prohibition. In addition, the fact that people only went for the alcohol that Gatsby offered them showed how fake people were in reality.
ReplyDeleteFitzgerald also put different character in different parts for a reason. For example Gatsby lives in west egg and Tom and Daisy live in east egg. By separating the characters in different parts of Long Island Fitzgerald also comments on the fact that not everyone is the same and that everyone has their own means of living. Without question the author purposely has Gatsby living in west egg in a “colossal affair by any standard- a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” to show that even thought this mansion is beautiful there is dirty business going on inside.
One other thing that Fitzgerald comments on is the Great Depression. Around 1929 there was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world. In the novel Nick, who can be seen as one of the protagonists, says “I just remembered today’s my birthday- I was 30”. In other words, at the end of Nick’s 29th birthday which could also be seen as the start of the great depression Nick and many other characters were either dead or having a chaotic life. For instance, Myrtle was dead, Mr. Wilson was going crazy, Gatsby got shit by Mr. Wilson, Nick was alone, and Tom and Daisy left with no address as to where they were going. The author comments on the fact that after Nick’s 29th birthday (or 1929 the start of the great depression) everything went into a depression and no one was left happy but yet alone like Gatsby at his funeral.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby is a novel that takes place during the 1920’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald describes some of the traits that constitute the zeitgeist of this time period through the description of the lifestyle of the characters in the novel. For instance, Fitzgerald demonstrates through Gatsby and Myrtle how frequent and casual it was to have get-togethers/parties. The amount of people that would attend Gatsby’s parties, even if they did not know him, shows the reader that this was almost like a hobby for people. In addition, the reader is able to see that not only the wealthy (Gatsby) have these celebrations, but the middle does as well. Even though Myrtle’s get-together was not as extravagant as Gatsby’s parties, one can still see similarities in the people who attend the parties. Another attribute of the 1990’s that Fitzgerald portrays in the novel is the prohibition of alcohol. There is enough evidence to assume that Gatsby is involved in businesses with dirty money; there is also enough evidence to conclude that it involves alcoholic substances. In chapter 7 Tom remarks sarcastically, “And if it runs out I can stop at a drug-store. You can buy anything at a drug-store.” Tom knows that Gatsby is involved in “shady” businesses and he wants Daisy to know as well. During this time period, alcohol was consumed by many because of its prohibition. Wealthy people like Gatsby would take an advantage of this since they knew it was something people would buy. The reader is also able to see how this time period drastically takes a turn in 1929. Fitzgerald has a unique way of doing this, he does it through Gatsby. What the reader sees as Gatsby’s downfall, when his dream of having Daisy is finally completed, is also the end of this extravagant period.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the novel The Great Gatsby should be classified as a tragedy, with the character Gatsby having a tragic flaw. His flaw is his naïveté and affinity for flashy things. We are first made aware of his love for the gaudy when the narrator describes the parties he hosts. They are massive affairs, requiring at least “… a corps of caterers..” (Fitzgerald 47) with few of the guests having actually been invited. Even his car, a bright yellow Rolls-Royce is attention grabbing. In the end it’s his flashiness that kills him, along with being in many ways just a boy. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is tortured by his love affair with Daisy, which began before the story began, but he still clings to. In many ways the affair defines him, and we can see that he does not so much love Daisy as worship her. For him Daisy is not a person to be with but something to have, and he made himself (illicitly) wealthy, in an attempt to get her back. Now while his obsession did win him some success, it also made him very prominent, so prominent that when his car struck and killed Myrtle, it was easy to track down for her death to be avenged. In addition to this, it’s likely that had he let Daisy go, Myrtle would not have to have died. His return into Daisy’s life cause immense stress, possibly distracting her while driving, leading to Myrtle being fatally struck. From this it’s clear that Gatsby’s childish obsession led to the death of him, Myrtle and Wilson.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the title of this book, The Great Gatsby, is ironic because first of all Gatsby is not great. He is all a scam. Everyone believes he is great since he is one of the wealthiest in West Egg, He owns a huge mansion loaded with the nicest, most expensive stuff and also, his yellow Roll Royce. He host extreme lavish parties and invites people he does not personally know. In a way, you can say Gatsby is like a celebrity and everyone has a theory of how and where he earns his money. But then, his life is more like a scam/ fraud, I say this because he rises to the top of the society in a dishonest way, he earns his fortune through “shady business” / illegal activities. But then during his funeral, “About five o’clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate.” As the book progresses, some of the characters begin to catch on to his “act” behind his rise to “great”ness they grow apart from him, to the point where no one attends his funeral. It is interesting that the owl-eyed man is the one other character that attends Gatsby’s funeral. It seems that the man from the library is not only perceptive, but also just. He recognizes the moral killing of the event, as does Nick. An Alternative name for this book could be, The Secret, or The Dream. Throughout this book, there has been some sort of secret or something that was hidden. Like tom’s secret relationship with Myrtle, and also Gatsby’s “dirty money.”
ReplyDeleteScott Fitzgerald selection of names enhances characterization in plenty ways. First of all, I believe that the selection of names in any novel helps us understand the characters better. For example, just by looking at the character’s names what they are like. Seeing Tom Buchanan’s name, I think of plain or dull because it is a very common name and he was very dull throughout the whole book. Also, Fitzgerald’s selection of Daisy makes me think of flowers, which are beautiful. The reader finds out that Daisy is beautiful when the narrator says “Daisy took her face in her hands as if feeling its lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk.” Furthermore, most people enjoy flowers, so I would think that Daisy would be a character that the reader would enjoy. Now, the enhanced characterization comes in to play because Fitzgerald named the narrator Nick. Nick isn’t a big deal, but the last name “Carraway” is a different story. Like Kayahra said, “Carraway” has the word “car” in it, and throughout the novel I felt that the car symbolized not only wealth, but also power. Since the car symbolizes power and Nick has “car” in his last name, that means that Nick has the power. Nick has the power to tell the readers what goes on with Gatsby and all of the other characters. It is the reader’s choice whether we want to believe Nick or not, but he is the narrator and Fitzgerald gives him the power to tell us how everything went down in the novel. Also, since Gatsby is the most important character, Nick is very powerful because Gatsby tells him a lot of things that he doesn’t tell to others.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby should be classified as a tragedy. In a tragedy, there is the character that is usually the main character that is the tragic hero (Gatsby). Gatsby’s tragic flaw was his inability to participate in a corrupted behavior with his own actions and of his friends. Later on in the novel, we learn that his elaborate and festive parties were only used as bait to pull in the love of his life, Daisy. He deliberately decides to live as close as possible to Daisy right across the bay, hoping she would somehow come into contact with him: “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay,” said Jordan. He doesn’t think about how his desires could affect Daisy’s life. He ultimately did become conflicted with Daisy’s life and her husband, Tom. Gatsby convinces Nick to allow Daisy to come over for tea so he could see her. They first meet in chapter 5, after intentional planning of bringing Gatsby and Daisy together without Tom knowing. This later led to jealousy between Tom and Gatsby for the possession of Daisy. We first encounter this jealousy when Nick, Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and Gatsby decide to go to New York. Tom, Jordan, and Nick drive in Gatsby’s yellow Rolls- Royce and Gatsby and Daisy drive in Tom’s car. In the end, this corrupted behavior led to the downfall of Gatsby. His actions led to a chain reaction of bad occurrences like the death of Myrtle and her husband. Their trip to New York killed Myrtle and led to the death of Gatsby. Mr. Wilson died in the end also, whether it was suicide or murder, because of the actions of Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby should be classified as a tragedy because of Gatsby's most prevalent and fatal flaw of being under the illusion that he could rewind time and win Daisy's heart. Despite living long past the time which he was a young military officer, and knowing the fact that Daisy is already married and seemingly attracted to another successful man, Gatsby's judgment is skewed by his infatuation with Daisy and he attempts to woe her with extravagant parties. Many negative rumors about Gatsby were spread, but with the exception of Nick, nobody knew Gatsby's only purpose of living lavishly was for love. After wasting his life trying to be something more and getting the girl he loved back, he meets his demise is ultimately shot by Wilson. Nick was the only person who knew of Gatsby's true intentions; so many people were under the assumption that he was a con-man.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Gatsby's attempts to impress a selfish and apathetic girl are worthless makes the story more of a tragedy. Tom's jealously ultimately brings Gatsby’s end and he doesn’t feel any remorse about causing his death. What makes Gatsby’s story even more tragic is how people with selfish intentions can easily slip out of the situation if they have money. It demonstrates how people in the 20’s could get away from dangerous situations as long as they had money. Gatsby was the only wealthy person in the story, who was not completely motivated by materialism yet his fate is still tragic. Nick is the only person who views Gatsby as a decent man, and states how Gatsby found “what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.” (page 99) If the selfish and rich can get away with deeds like this, then the Great Gatsby should be considered a tragic story.
4. I find the title, The Great Gatsby, to be an ironic title, especially because the title is given to him by Nick, who seems to not even like the man at all. Nick appears conflicted over his feelings of Gatsby by saying that he is Gatsby is the man “who represented everything for which [he has] an unaffected scorn” but in the same paragraph saying that “there was something gorgeous about him.” These opposing views confuse the reader and beg the question, what does Nick really think of Gatsby?
ReplyDeleteIt is also an ironic title in that Gatsby was involved in some slightly illegal things, yet he is still referred to as a great man. Even after his death, it is thrown in Nick’s face that Gatsby was doing something shady when he would get phone calls from people with a cryptic message. Also, no one wanted to go to Gatsby’s funeral, not even his friend Wolfsheim, which goes to show how little people actually knew him. Perhaps it is for this reason Nick grants the novel this name. If I were to name this novel, however, I would call it A Torn Daisy, because this is really a novel about where her love truly lies. I also think it would be interesting to see the novel from her perspective because she was so confusing in her actions.
Like we have discussed in class, excess, materialism, and a corruption of moral values constitute the 1920's. One of the more prominent examples is the dust field between Long Island and New York, "where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke." This dump is filled with the wastes of the rich upper class, of people like the Buchanons, and symbolizes the indifference and separation of the middle and upper classes, the middle class working diligently for the comfort of the upper class. Even Gatsby himself is guilty of engaging in excess: he throws elaborate parties for no other purpose than to bring them to the attention of Daisy, and the only reason that he is able to throw these parties is his immense amount of wealth, which he has amassed with the false, though widespread, belief that it is money and things that will turn back the clock on his and Daisy's relationship, even going so far as to be “some big bootlegger...” This corruption is also present in the middle class, in people like Wilson. After the slaughter of his wife, he mentions that “she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God,” while staring at the advertisement of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg. Obviously, this is not God, and displays the degradation of morality while the quest for wealth and fame supersedes the desire to be a good and moral person. This also shows the manipulation of objects without meaning into objects that have a specific purpose. Wilson uses this false idol to justify revenge for his wife, just as Gatsby and Wolfsheim justify shady business deals for money.
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