I. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (Ware: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993), pp.1-16 A. Representative Passages
1. “Only Gatsby,the man who gives his name to this book,was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby,who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures,then there was something gorgeous about him,some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life,as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”(3)
2. “But I didn’t call to him,for he gave his arms towards the dark water in a curious way,and,far as I was from him,I couldn’t have sworn he was trembling.Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light,minute and far away,that might have been the end of a dock.”(16) B. Setting
1. Time: “in the spring of twenty-two” (4) 2. Location: East, West Egg, East Egg C. Main Characters
1. Mr. Gatsby:Nick’s neighbour;wealth;“creative temperament”(3) 2. Nick Carraway
a. Background:“My family have been prominent,well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generation.”(4)
b. Education degree: “graduated from New Haven in 1915”(4)
c. Characteristic:“restless” (4), “literary” (5)
3. Tom Buchanan
a. Status:“had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played at New Haven-a national figure in a way.”(6)
b. Relationship:a wife called Daisy Buchanan;a mistress in New York.Nick’s college friend
c. financial status: “enormous wealthy” (6)
d. characteristics: “sturdy straw-haired man of thirty” (6)
4. Daisy Buchanan
a. Identity:Nick’s cousin;had an unhappy marriage;a three-year old girl’s mother b. characteristic:“grey sun-strained eyes,”(9)
5. Jordan Baker:Daisy Buchanan’s friend;a slender girl;“play in the tournament” (14) D. Episodes
1. Nick graduated from Yale and decided to learn the bond business.
2. Nick drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans and I met Jordan Baker for the first time.
3. Nick found Tom Buchanan had an affair. E. Imagery
1. Gatsby’s mansion:“it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy,with a tower on one side”(5)
2. Nick’s house:a small eyesore
3. Daisy described Nick:“You remind me of a-of a rose,an absolute rose.
4. Tom and Daisy’s residence: “a cheerful red-and-white Georgian colonial mansion” (6)