Chapter One
- Context for Nick where rest of novel has none
- West/East “Egg” – imagery, springing new and exciting life?
- Glittering houses, reflections but also aura/ambiance/atmosphere.
- Time: Goes back within Nick’s life so that we are not just joining a random character on his journey moving.
- Gatsby- fleeting mention, continues with mystery.
- Paints picture of Tom as a proper man’s man, with power and intimidation. Bit like horse, shining eyes. Daisy as weak butterfly who doesn’t know what she’s doing from the start.
- Imagery of women flying: birds, butterflies, angels? Different interpretations, some very strong, some very weak.
- White dresses, female innocence?
- Daisy portrayed as more innocent that Jordan, as Jordan keeps quiet and doesn’t show naivety where as Daisy tries to join in.
Chapter Two
- DR ECKLEBERG. You get him by now. Eyes of God. Omnipresent. So on, so forth.
- Valley of ashes. Ashes of dreams? Ashes of hopes? Ashes of forgotten… stuff.
- Myrtle changing clothes, attempting to fit in with richer company who may change clothes for every meal, event, pastime etc.
- Myrtle flower, Daisy flower. Daisy prettier, yet considered weed?
- Tom punches Myrtle. Breakdown of common morals, i.e. do not hit women, do not cheat on wife, do not disobey law by drinking so much alcohol you lost track of yourself and hit your mistress.
- Dog- hardy coat. Myrtle hardy having lived in a garage all her married life? Comparison to be made?
- Lots more people, little detail. Air of unimportance to general context of novel, as with guests at parties.
- Daisy’s Catholic??!!?? Yet more dishonesty.
Chapter Three
- Gatsby’s party
- WAAAAAAY up there with imagery, Synesthesia. "Yellow" music has connotations of joy
- “Corps of caterers” – military image, gives parties a regimented, every week feel.
- Dancing, general aura of joy.
- Alcohol even in prohibition.
- Shows massive amount of money available before Wall Street Crash.
- Gatsby – because of such glittering reputation, actual introduction makes him seem small and somehow less significant.
- Nick interrupts with a moment of self-absorption, speaks about what he has written so far. Makes it seem much more like a diary than a novel, enhancing common opinion that Nick is an 'unreliable narrator'. Speaks of what HE was doing at the time. Hmm. Boring! Speaks of himself entirely until the end of the novel. Egotistical, annoying, disrupts from the flow of the novel. Could discuss different forms of novel from dreamy section during party to back to the "hard graft", with general working and boredom of real life.
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