The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Chapter Three: Finally meeting Gatsby

2. Gatsby’s Parties • Nick observes the parties from afar • But manages to take in a huge amount of detail: “Every Friday…Monday” • NB the amount of imagery in the opening couple of paragraphs • From afar he seems to judge the parties with an aloof attitude mixed with fascination • Analyse the language in the following quotes

3. “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” • “Eight servants…repairing the ravages” • “Scampered like a brisk yellow bug” • “On buffet tables…bewitched to a dark gold” • Also page 49

4. …the orchestra has arrived… • The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing upstairs… • Shawls beyond the dreams of Castile • The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds…and casual innuendo…and enthusiastic meetings • …they conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour associated with an amusement park • A simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission

5. Nick’s first party • Snobbish: “I had been actually invited” • But he is “ill at ease among the swirls and eddies” • “The only place where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone”

6. The absent Gatsby • Nobody even knows where he is • “the two or three people I asked about looked at me in such an amazed way” • But he is the subject of rumour and gossip • “Somebody told me they thought he killed a man” • “he was a German spy during the war” • “I heard that from a man…”

7. Jordan Baker • She is aloof and confident • “looking with contemptuous interest” • “She held my hand impersonally” • Nick and her seem closer • “With Jordan’s slender golden arm resting in mine” • And Nick seems more relaxed • “descended and sauntered”

8. The owl-eyed man • Page 51 • In many ways a comical character “I’ve been drunk for about a week now” • He is amazed that Gatsby’s books are real: “pages and everything” • And he is impressed by the authenticity of Gatsby's library: “What thoroughness! What realism!” • But knows that it is fragile: “If one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse”

9. Meeting Gatsby • Makes a connection by talking about the war • Old sport • A quality of eternal reassurance • It vanished- and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck…whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd

10. Gatsby • Page 56 “standing alone” • Pp56-7 “no one swooned backward on Gatsby, and no French bob…and no singing quartets” • He mysteriously asks to speak to Jordan alone- about Daisy

11. False emotions • The famous singer “decided, ineptly, that everything was very, very sad” “The tears coursed down her cheeks – not freely, however”

12. The end of the party • The guests are all drunk and the party ends with fighting. • Nick watches and comments comically. • Nick is pleased to have met Gatsby: “there seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been among the last to go”

13. A bizarre and tumultuous scene • Fitzgerald describes the scene in a comical way. • Look at the tone of (p62): “explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond” “No harm in trying” • The car crash contrasts with this quiet scene. • Cars are important to plot and are a recurring motif.

14. Nick’s Narration • Pages 62-64 • Nick reminds us that he is looking back and constructing an account • He admits to being misleading I have given the impression..On the contrary • He attempts to portray his everyday life • However, he also reveals the inner desires which he has • And makes the reader mistrust him more

15. Most of the time I worked • Pick out word choice which describes Nick’s everyday life • Say what this word choice suggests • E.g. white chasms This metaphor shows the streets of New York seem huge and intimidating, dwarfing Nick and making him small and insignificant in comparison

16. I began to like New York • Pick out word choice which suggests that New York provokes other desires in Nick

17. Nick as outsider • Pick out word choice showing Nick portraying himself as a neutral observer • E.g. “Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes made unintelligible circles inside.” • Series of simple statements • Linked by ‘and’ • Blank list of impressions without comment

18. Nick as ‘honest’? • Why do you think Nick starts getting ‘mean looks’? • He says of Jordan ‘I thought I loved her’ • “But I am slow thinking”