The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby 

Hello, 

This blog is part of thinking activity task of novel The Great Gatsby. In this blog some of the questions discussed regarding the novel. 

Introduction : 

Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s 'The Great Gatsby' is recognized as a twentieth-century masterpiece. The work effectively depicted the tragic story of pursuing the American Dream. Gatsby, a young boy from the lower classes, tried to win back his lover’s heart but was killed in the process. The story depicted the hypocritical American lifestyle of the Jazz Age. After becoming a mysterious billionaire, Jay Gatsby was still profoundly in love with Daisy Buchanan. First-person narrator Nick Carraway watched all of the people, events, and actions.

#'Unreliable Narrator' or 'False Prophet of the American Dream' :

What is American Dream ?

American dream or myth as colonial writing, is belief that every man whatever their origins, may pursue and attain his choosen goals, be they political, monetary, or socical. Roger. L. Pearson in his article, " Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream" considered American dream as in particular Fitzgerald's   unique expression of the American dream  lacks the optimism, the sense of fulfillment. 

American Dream and Gatsby : 

Fitzgerald thought Gatsby was like the example of the American dream. He believed this dream reached its peak during a wild time after World War I called the "Roaring Twenties." He created the character Jay Gatsby to be like a leader and prophet of this special time. Gatsby represents the fun and lavish lifestyle of those years, showing what people thought the American dream looked like back then.

Nick Carraway, a narrator described Gatsby as, 

"He was a 'son of God'—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty." 

For instance, Roger argues that Gatsby is son of god but of physical world not of spiritual world. Gatsby describes his past gloriously to the Nick. He considered himself as Oxford man and belonging from that ancestory of scholar too. Morover, Gatsby exaggerated his war deeds, reveling materialistic side of the Jay. 

Additionally, Gatsby is self-deluded fraud living in a world of sham. Fitgerald with the help of Nick creats aura of myth aroung the character of Jay. 

In the party everone is assumptioning about Gatsby,lie spy, murderer, criminal lord of underworld, bootlegger etc. The first appearance of Gatsby took place while Nick looking at him strching arm to the green light at  the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock. 

As novel developes Fitzgerald used many characters to assest the character of Gatsby. The first one is Jorden Baker and another important persona is Mayer Wolfsheim who fixed the 1919 match. Gatsby with his dailouges and other characters tried to prove himself goodman which is not real. 

However, real worth of Gatsby is written in the last pages of the novel. He is the man of "Planning". Though his death was tragic. He was victim of his own absurd aspiration, idealism, and values. American dream is a nightmare for Gatsby. 

#Modern Reimagining: 

 Modern reimagining of The Great Gatsby is already trendy. After almost 100 years still there is charm in this story that attracts the readers or spectators to it. Fitzgetrald truley captured the roaring twenties's zest in the work and the love story altogether making this work classic. 

The Great Gatsby as Graphic Novel :  

The first possibility is of graphic novel. Nicki Greenberg's graphic adaptation of The Great Gatsby is one of recent comics that take the work of adaptation seriously. Historically, comics adaptations of classic literature, most famously in the long-running Classics illustrated series, were an attempt to redeem the comics medium, These adaptations of classic literature used images merely as a "fun"appendage to the "educational" text.  (WORDEN)

So there is trendy form in which plot, settings, and themes are changed for reimagining. There is one intresting preview of upcoming graphic novel by Ted Adams (Diablo House) and artist Jorge Coelho (Time Before Time) aims to give readers the ultimate rendition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel.

The Great Gatsby Gets a Lavish New Graphic Novel Adaptation

Refer this site for detailed discription

The Great Gatsby as Video Game :

CLASSIC ADVENTURES: THE GREAT GATSBY

(Join Nick Carraway as you explore the mansions and bungalows of Long Island, the parlors of New York City, and the heart and soul of the Roaring Twenties. Attend extravagant parties and lush gatherings as you dance the Charleston with a happy couple harboring scintillating secrets. Sip bootleg gin with a mysterious millionaire desperate to bring the passions of the past into the present in Great Gatsby, a fun Hidden Object game.)

This is the discription of the game.

CLASSIC ADVENTURES: THE GREAT GATSBY <<<< Visit this link for detailed information.

Play Game as Nick Carrway : 

Touch this texts and enjoy the party 

 In the Great Gatsby NES video game, players assume the role of Nick Carraway, the narrator of Fitzgerald's novel. Carraway jumps his way through Jay Gatsby's mansion, the sewers of New York City, the Long Island Railroad and the beaches of posh West Egg. He battles butlers, hobos, flappers, leaping alligators and the disembodied glasses of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg along the way, attacking with a boomerang hat.

 #Symbolism Analysis: 

1. Green Light : 

"[H]e stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could 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 at the end of a dock." 

Green light always shines on Daisy's dock. Gatsby's mansion is opposite, across the sea. Gatsby watches the light daily, dreaming of Daisy and the American dream. It symbolizes glamour and inherited wealth, showing intolerance toward the newly rich.

The always-on lamp at the end of Daisy and Tom's dock is the green light. It's a signal for boats during the night or bad weather, which is why it's always shining. Gatsby's mansion is right across from the Buchanans' place by the bay, so Gatsby can always see that green light. The green light creates mystery.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning----

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

 The term used in the novel is "orgastic future" In the context of The Great Gatsby, this phrase suggests a future filled with intense, orgasmic experiences or heightened pleasures. It reflects Gatsby's relentless pursuit of his dreams and desires, despite the challenges and setbacks he faced. (Chat GPT)  However, this optimistic hope turned into darkness when there is the end of the novel. Hope is illusoinary here. 

The Parties of Gatsby : 

Parties in "The Great Gatsby" are like colorful hubs where people gather to chat, dance, and have fun. These gatherings help us meet different characters and see how rich folks lived in the 1920s. Gatsby throws these big parties because he wants to meet Daisy. 

The parties also reveal the flashy and showy side of the American Dream. It is highlighting the contrast between the happy party scenes and the hidden struggles of the characters. So, these parties are not just about having a good time; they tell us a lot about the characters and their lonliness.

Party also symbolises the corrupt atmosphere of the roaring twenties. Known figures, including actors, officers, criminals altogether joined the party. It's ironic in the novel that the people of East Egg considered themselves superioir still attending parties which are gives by West Eggers. 

In a way this parties also allowed people to mingle without thinking of class, gender, profession, race, place etc. Nonthless, this extraveggent party is the way of showing materialist wealth and escspism from lonliness. 

The Eyes of T.J. Ekleberg : 

"But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg."

This eyes had multiple interpretations, including God's eye.  The eyes symbolize the growing commercialism of America. While George Wilson suspected Myrtle he with the reference of this eyes said that, "God's eye is watching everything". Furthermore, some critics also compared it with Owl eyes who appeared in the library of Gatsby. This eyes is bare witness of reality of accident, affair of Tom and Myrtle, hardships of workers and many more. 

However, questions can raised here that,

Is this the eye of Justice ?

 Why there is no mouth in the poster ? 

Does it mean that it is only able to see the mishappening but never speak in the favour ?

 Why it has galsses ? 

The Valley of Ashes :  Wasteland between West Egg and New York City

The Valley of ashes is alluding The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. Valley of ashes also shows the failure of the American Dream. The American dream of becoming economically strong is bringing a spiritual drought. It's a failure for America because America is growing but is failing to balance, the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poor.

When one place is getting clean that means at some another place there will be the mountain of waste. This valley symbolising darker side of consumerism. Gatsby and Wolfsheim like people are getting rich by the money of this people. Easy money and cpitalist ideas create more valley of ashes like this.

However, they exist in between city and residential area. This is showing that whether elits are being rich more they have to go through this valley. For them it is reminder that this is the consequenses of their consumerist ideas of being easily wealthy.

#Historical Context Exploration: 

1. Prohibition era : 

Prohibition, legal prevention of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933 under the terms of the Eighteenth Amendment. This prohibition leads to disastarious outcome such as establishment of bootlegging types of criminal activity. 

2. Flapper Culture : 

Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes in public, driving automobiles, treating sex in a casual manner, and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms. 

In the novel all the female characters are represtenting the flapper culture. Flapper era allows to excercise free will and giving liberty to the female characters, so that Daisy Buchnan, Myrtle, Jorden Baker in apperance as well as in behaviour embodies it. 

3. Rum-running and Bootlegging : Speakeasy

The earliest bootleggers began smuggling foreign-made commercial liquor into the United States from across the Canadian and Mexican borders and along the seacoasts from ships under foreign registry. Bootlegging helped lead to the establishment of American organized crime, which persisted long after the repeal of Prohibition. 

Gatsby is indulged in this activity and earned Easy money. Morover, Wolfsheim also helped him in rising in this activity. Tom is always suspected about the business of him, and this leads to wild fight between Tom and Gatsby. In the novel it reaches at its pick when there is rumours about Gatsby's murder. 

The distribution of liquor was necessarily more complex than other types of criminal activity, and organized gangs eventually arose that could control an entire local chain of bootlegging operations, from concealed distilleries and breweries through storage and transport channels to speakeasies, restaurants, nightclubs, and other retail outlets. In the novel there is the meeting with Wolfsheim in one such kind of Speakeasy, where Gatsby tries to prove himself honest and good man. 

4. Rise of Auto-mobile : 

Cars were first made in Germany and France in the late 1800s, but soon, Americans became really good at making cars. Henry Ford figured out a smart way to make lots of cars quickly, and three big companies, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, became super famous in the 1920s. During World War II, car companies helped make things for the military. After the war, more places like Europe and Japan started making a ton of cars because people wanted them. Cars used to be super important for making cities grow in America. (BY: HISTORY.COM EDITORS)

Car is significant because it is the car which is the reason of the death of the Gatsby and Martyle. From the beginning it is connected with elite class people, however the colour of the car very among newly rich and inheritently rich people. Even the accident of Martyle and ultimate murder of the Gatsby due to car showing only disaster can be happened with low class people. 

Nonthless, Gatsby is elite in present, low-bithed or poor-dust from the childhood. Similarly Myrtle leaved in the Valley of ashes belonging from lower class. The only bad happens if you did wrong applicable for lower class people, Tom and Daisy were very indifferent to all the happenings, though they are equally wrong doers.

5. Telephonic Conversation : 

In the beginning of "The Great Gatsby," when Nick goes to have dinner with Tom, Daisy, and Jordan, things get all mixed up because of an unexpected guest - the telephone. It rings and causes a lot of emotions. Even though Tom's girlfriend, Myrtle, isn't physically there, she kind of crashes the dinner by calling on the telephone. This makes Daisy and Jordan upset and sets the stage for more problems later on.

Nobody-not the narrator, not the author, not the reader-finds this virtual intrusion of an unwanted guest odd, so commonplace had the telephone become by 1922. (RAWSON, ERIC)

Similarly with the Gatsby, his hidden business and personality reveled through it. While talking with Daisy and Nick, he got the call that suddenly chanes his emotions. This telephonic call was used to reveled hidden part or private life rather nagetive one to the readers. 

6. Jazz Age : 

The Great Gatsby shows the Jazz Age by depicting Gatsby’s luxurious parties. Accompanied by live jazz orchestras, they were typical for that period. Fitzgerald reflects on the material values and the struggle to get a higher social class. 

Thank You.

Words : 2572

Pictures : 11

GiF: 10

References :

BY: HISTORY.COM EDITORS. “Automobile History.” 26 April 2010,

https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/automobiles. Accessed 23 February 2024.

“Classic Adventures: The Great Gatsby > iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac & PC Game | Big Fish.” Big Fish Games, https://www.bigfishgames.com/us/en/games/5857/classic-adventures-great-gatsby/?pc&lang=en.

Accessed 23 February 2024.

Pearson, Roger L. “Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream.” The English Journal, vol. 59, no. 5, 1970, pp. 638–45. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/813939. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

RAWSON, ERIC. “The Telephonic Logic of ‘The Great Gatsby.’” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 8, 2010, pp. 92–103. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41583157. Accessed 23 Feb. 2024.

Schedeen, Jesse. “The Great Gatsby Gets a Lavish New Graphic Novel Adaptation.” IGN, 21 March 2023, https://www.ign.com/articles/the-great-gatsby-essential-graphic-novel-adaptation-preview. Accessed 23 February 2024.

Wheeler, Wayne. “Prohibition | Definition, History, Eighteenth Amendment, & Repeal.” Britannica, 5 February 2024.https://www.britannica.com/event/Prohibition-United-States-history-1920-1933. Accessed 23 February 2024.

WORDEN, DANIEL. “A Salamander and Seahorse in Sepia Tone:The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Adaptation by

F. Scott Fitzgerald. Adapted by Nicki Greenberg.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1755-6333.2010.01050.x. Accessed 23 February 2024.

Wulick, Anna. “Best Analysis: Green Light in The Great Gatsby.” PrepScholar Blog, https://blog.prepscholar.com/the-great-gatsby-green-light-symbol. Accessed 23 February 2024.