Transcript Gatsby Ch1 Overview

The
Great
Gatsby
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT
FROM THE OPENING
CHAPTER OF A NOVEL?
TIP:
THOSE ASPECTS WILL BE THE
MAIN ONES FOR DISCUSSION IN
THIS CHAPTER.
QUESTION
INTRA-FICTIONAL NARRATOR
Who is the narrator?
What is he like as a character? And as a
narrator?
What does he think about the others?
How do we know?
WHAT DO WE LEARN ABOUT NICK?
 Believes he is objective and fair
‘I am inclined to reserve all judgements’
 Wealthy
‘My family have been prominent, well -to-do people’
 A war veteran
‘I participated in that […] Great War.’
WHAT DO WE LEARN ABOUT NICK?
 In East Egg at the Buchanan’s he feels social
awkward and uncomfortable:
I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for
having disturbed her by coming in.
Again a sort of apology arose to my lips.
‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I
confessed[...]‘Can’t you talk about crops or
something?’
 Envious of Tom Buchanan:
It was hard to realise that a man in my generation was
wealthy enough to do that.
 Ambivalence towards the Buchanan’s:
‘Their interest rather touched me and made them less
remotely rich – nevertheless, I was confused and a
little disgusted as I drove away’.
NARRATIVE VOICE/TECHNIQUE
 Retrospective narrative recalling events from one year ago:
‘In my younger and more vulnerable years ’
‘When I came back from the East last autumn’
 Reminiscing tone but also foreshadows the story he (the
narrator) is about to tell:
‘No – Gatsby turned out alright at the end;’
NICK AS AN INADEQUATE/UNRELIABLE
NARRATOR
I must have stood for a few moments listening […]
I could have sworn he was trembling.
And so it happened that in a warm windy evening I
drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I
scarcely knew at all.
SETTING
 West Egg
‘the less fashionable of the two’
‘small eyesore’ of Nick’s house
Which contrasts with the ‘colossal affair’ of
Gatsby’s mansion
 East Egg
‘white palaces of fashionable East Egg’
CHARACTERS
 Jordan Baker
‘Slender, smallbreasted girl’
‘wan, charming,
discontented face’
 Daisy Buchanan
‘sad and lovely’
‘absurd charming little
laugh’
 Tom Buchanan
‘supercilious manner’
‘hard mouth’
‘arrogant eyes’
‘a cruel body’