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.
Has gatsby created this fake community or did they just turn up? How is new technology the key? I agree that Nick is learning more about himself. Good, detailed comments.
ReplyDeleteGatsby has created this fake community, of people who just turn up, they all seem to form a group easily, for the idea of having a good time, in a materialistic age- they come to experience the wealth of Gatsby and it all seems too good to be true, He creates this place and community for himself to forget his loneliness and to make others happy. He does not take part though as he is an observer,like Nick. From further reading maybe he has created these parties for Daisy to come to, i think he hoped she would do one day, as it seems there is an open invite mainly.
ReplyDeleteNew technology is key because it is so frequently mentioned throughout the book, the cars and machinery to pulp and liquidise the lemons and oranges. New York, being the place for the young people to go, it is a bright vibrant place, that brings in new technology and work. This would be a place where all new things are. Technology being fairly new relates to the story because of new beginnings for Nick and that the world they live in is changing in many other ways, whatever happens to Nick in the play is key for his development as a person possibly and changes his life.
Your response is very good. I like the idea that new technology equals new beginnings and change.
ReplyDelete