Great Gatsby Chapter 3

Themes:
The party at Gatsby's house.
Characterisation- Nick meets Gatsby for the first time and re-meets Jordan.
Extravagance.

The image that stands out for me is the man 'owl eyes'  who is staying in the library during the party to stop him drinking.
Sound is constant chatter.
Colour is yellow, it is vibrant and because  F Scott Fitzgerald uses words like ' yellow bug', he talks about the lemons, 'yellow cocktail music' and 'bewitched to a dark gold' also shows wealth.

Gatsby is an observer like Nick.
Nick is still judgemental
He becomes closer to Jordan.

• Introduction to Gatsby- ' he smiled understandingly- much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life'. This description is very high quality and shows that Gatsby is important to Nick, he respects Gatsby. Contrasting totally to Tom.
• The opening paragraph- the extravagance of the party, the guests in the 'blue gardens' like royal blood is blue. They only come to the parties for the idea not because of Gatsby in any way, no-one actually knows who he is. The emphasis of little details such as the oranges and lemons.
• Nick the narrator could be creating an uneasiness with grey, contrasting to the bright. Dreamy 'floating'superficial, so perfect, what is under all this good? Lack of substance- all for show.
• How the characters do not know each other and most are not invited, how the crowd if formed easily. The distances between Nick and the other characters are easy to see.
• Time references- how he stays the whole night.
• The idea of loneliness and also the coming together of people. Jordan likes big parties as they are more intimate. Links to chapter 1 how Nick feels left out as he didn't fit into Daisy's house either.
• The car crash, how that brings everyone back to normality and reality- involving owl eyes.
• Gatsby has created this little community of fake, passive characters.
• How Nick describes his normal life and it has no relevance really, he picks out women and follows them home, he is lonely again, so he becomes fascinated by Jordan. How he casually talks about his affair he had with a woman and his work, it is not important to him, the parties are.
• Is he smug?? He feels alienated, should we trust his views? He finds it hard to trust others. Maybe he has made the wrong assumption of himself, he needs to learn about himself. Does whatever happens with Gatsby create anything different? He doesn't know what he wants.
• Jordan's character emerges, the golf player, she likes Nick and company. She is cautious she 'instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any.' She covers her emotions, Nick questions himself whether he loved her for a while but he has problems 'that tangle back home', his other girl, he doesn't let himself 'brakes on my desires' love.
• Gatsby is an anigma- there are rumours about him, he apparently killed someone, no-one knows who he is, so why do they come to his parties, are they curious or just materialistic based on status?
• New technology is key.

Story journals- The Great Gatsby 2

Chapter 2

Metaphors used such as the ‘valley of ashes’. Reference of time and date, its Sunday, he does not enjoy himself so time seems  to pass slower, Sunday is a slow moving day, it is the day that people usually go to church, it’s a restful day, but Tom is meeting his mistress and they are getting drunk at her house- ironic. We are introduced to his mistress- Mrs Wilson/Myrtle who Nick describes very harshly as ‘a thickish figure of a woman’ he is prejudging again. Tom is very rude; he mocks Mr Wilson/ George for his ignorance of his wife having an affair. He is described as ‘anaemic’ and ‘spiritless’ by Nick. They go back to Myrtles’ apartment and more characters are introduced: Catherine, Myrtles sister, Mr and Mrs Mckee, he is a photographer, not a very good one as Nick points out by the photo in Myrtles living room, that he could not place an image for. Every little thing that is mentioned about Gatsby attracts the reader’s attention, Catherine mentions that she went to a party of his, she tells Nick of the rumours that Gatsby became so rich because he is a relation of the ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’s’. Nick loses grasp of time, as he is drunk, and reality. He focusses on superficial things to describe. By being drunk is Nick a reliable source? We learn more about Daisy and Tom’s relationship through Catherine, as she talks about how Myrtle and Tom should get married and divorce their partners.  We rarely hear what they think of each other, as before Miss Baker tells Nick of Tom’s mistress in the first place- it interests me. The idea of hearing the truth from a different source. The most important parts are not described so detailed, this could be to give the shock factor- ‘Making a short deft hand movement, Tom Buchanan, broke her nose with his open hand’.  Tom clearly has a temper. At the end of the chapter Nick finds himself at the train station in the middle of nowhere and is confused about how he got there, again this is odd as he usually is so aware of his surroundings and the people as he is very observant, again we question the reliability, is this real side of Nick?

Story journals- The Great Gatsby 1

Overview of Chapter One:
We are introduced to the narrator, Nick. He talks about himself that he has been taught not to be judgemental; He is brought up in the proper way. He recently moved to the east of America. He is serious, an observer of people as he spends a lot of time doing this. He was called the politician- he is a good listener, he tries to get people to like. The first part of the chapter is very wordy. He is seen as an old man, he is wise. He was in the WW1  He tries not to be judging. He says that the east has gone against his morals. He is telling the story of the past autumn. This makes us think what happened? What was so significant that he writes it down for us to read, and why afterwards? His feelings for Gatsby are shown although he doesn't know him, but he knows that Gatsby stands for all that he doesn't agree with, what does that mean? Nick has come from a quite wealthy family, gone to a good university. He went to war and came back restless, so he moved to New York, the roaring twenties. He went into the bond business- shares. The story is foreshadowed about the unease that we feel made him move back home, why?? He has rented a house on the suburbs; he lives next door to Gatsby.

Part A: The narrative devise used is juxtaposition- the different eggs that represent social status and class. Foreshadowing that we will get to know Gatsby throughout the story. Imagery of wealth. Physical language to describe Tom, his cousin Daisy’s husband. Tom is stereotypical, looks physiognomy. A cruel character, arrogant. Themes of wealth.

 Part B: The party at Daisy’s. How he reads all the characters critically, the use of Tom’s second name, but just Daisy .Imagery ‘the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor’. Daisy is curious about how people see her. Tom shows off. The characters are created.

Part C: Speech directed. Tom and Daisy’s relationship. Very staged. Tom’s aggogance and racism, he is a brute. The atmosphere is bleak and boring.  Use of dashes -interruptions by Tom of everyone, power he has over Daisy, he shows off. He wants Nick to like him.

Part D: The light description, the changing of the mood linked in.  Tom belittles Daisy. Tom’s mistress is introduced. The use of ‘rose’ an empty emotion.

Part E:Light and colour described. Mid- summer ‘bright on his boots’ and ‘dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair’. It sets the scene of dullness. Jordan introduced. The description of the darkness and light. We are left with the idea of mystery.

 From the story so far as a group we came up with the following: the difference between the East and West, the relationship between present and the past, to emphasise the New York atmosphere and where Nick lives, the quiet mysterious. A theme of opposites and contrast, Nick and the other characters. At the end the readers is drawn to Gatsby, why is he the title of the book, what makes him so great? Why is Nick interested in him?