Notes From Feb 1

 

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1)  What do you make of the quote: "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had"(1)? Explain how it is important in the first few chapters.

2)  What do you think the blue eyes on the billboard (23-4) may mean?

As well as the green light on the end of the dock (22)?

3) “Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge,” I thought; “Anything at all....”

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder (69). What does your group make of this passage? Think in reference to Gatsby, what America was becoming and read the last two sentences above that passage and what it says about race.

4) Look at the conversation between Nick and Jordan on page 59 in chapter three. Take a deeper look into that conversation; on the surface they are discussing her driving skills but there is more to it. What you’re your group think and why?

 

 

 

 

-American dream

       How is Gatsby representative of this idea?

Many Americans have a tendency to believe that if they have enough money, they can manipulate time, staying perpetually young, and buy their happiness through materialistic spending.

-The corrupting influence of wealth up against the purity of a dream. What can go wrong?

-What would you say Charlie and Gatsby have in common?

“I tried to die but lived an enchanted life” (66)

-Nick rides with Gatsby over the Queensboro Bridge and learns about his life…at least what Gatsby wants him to believe.

“Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge,' I thought; 'anything at all..'

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular won­der”(69).

-The endless possibilities of the new America. The idea that a person could come from Gatsby’s poor background and make it as far as he had. In many ways, New York City represented that ideal…whether it is true or not…

Gatsby is pulled over by the police and simply shows him a card with his name on it…he is free to go.

Nick has lunch with Gatsby in a speakeasy and sees the type of people he hangs around with.

 

“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired” (81)

       -What does this mean?

Who are:

       --the pursued (in the novel and in the world)

       --the pursuing (in the novel and in the world)      

       --the busy (in the novel and in the world)

       --the tired (in the novel and in the world)     

Gatsby offers Nick a job but he says no. Once again, Nick is the only character doing honest work.

Daisy and Gatsby meet (Nick sets it up) and Nick tells Gatsby he is acting like a child (89).

“The quality of his present happiness” (97)

       -Always a fleeting feeling, fantasies never living up to the reality.

There is more speculation about Gatsby—More rumors (98).

James Gatzà Jay Gatsby…he meets Dan Cody when he was younger and Cody becomes his idol. He travels the world with him and does not drink because that is what killed him.

“Believed nothing and everything about him” (102).

       -What does this mean?

Nick begins to understand that West Egg is a world of its own—has its own standards (109).

Tom wants to find out where Gatsby gets his money (110).

“You can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can” (111)

       -Gatsby says this to Nick and begins to sound crazy.