Great Gatsby Chapter One Close Reading

After Nick arrives home from a date with Jordan, Nick gets disturbed by Gatsby who tries everything to convince Nick to set up a date with Daisy. Nick finally agrees and invites Daisy for tea. By the time Daisy arrives it starts to rain, Gatsby enters to meet her but it is not successful until a while later they start to warm-up and have a good time. Daisy is the object of desire and passion for Gatsby, she has dominated his life for the past couple years. His original love for her has developed into a love for the idea of her that has let his imagination fill in the blanks which is just setting him up for disappointment. She didn't become emotional with Gatsby until she saw all of his processions, this disappointment will remind Gatsby

This chapter opens with a reporter at Gatsby’s door asking him if he had anything to say and wants to interview at random. It is explained that rumors are constantly going around New York about Gatsby. Nick knows mostly all about Gatsby’s personal life so he does not believe many or all of the rumors he has heard. Nick then begins to explain Gatsby’s personal life. It is explained that his legal name is James Gatz. He changed his name when he was 17 when he saw Dan Cody drop the anchor of his yacht into Lake Superior. It is also explained that Gatsby’s parents were “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people”. He actually had attended a small Lutheran college called St. Olaf’s in Minnesota. He only ended up staying there for two weeks then left.

The Great Gatsby takes place during a time when there is a great difference between the poor and the rich. The places where people live illustrate their class in society. The characters in the novel portray their social class in their personalities and actions. The theme of social class is important to the character development in Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby.

The American Dream, a long standing ideal embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal. In the novel, Gatsby, a wealthy socialite pursues his dream, Daisy. In the process of pursuing Daisy, Gatsby betrays his morals and destroys himself. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick,

The rekindling of this epic “love” tale begins when Gatsby buys a house directly across the bay from Daisy, her husband, and child. They do not know it yet, but Jay certainly does. Every night he walks outside and stares through the fog at the green light on Daisy’s dock. Some would consider these gestures endearing and romantic, but with all of that left aside it still seems as if he is stalking her. He is always searching for her everywhere he goes and is intrigued by the mentioning of her name. She is married to Tom Buchanan, a descent from old money, and is living quite lavishly. She hardly remembers Gatsby even exists until Jordan Baker mentions him at dinner. When Daisy hears Jay’s name a sudden bolt goes through her and she flooded with memories of the past. Everyone at dinner can see how this has affected her, including her husband. Nick, who is unaware of the situation, is surprised at what he has seen.

As the summer goes on, Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby’s big parties. He meets Jordan at the party and they meet Gatsby himself, a young man, a great smile, and tells everyone “old sport”. Later on in the party Gatsby asks to talk to Jordan Baker alone. Nick learns that the parties were all to get and impress Daisy. Gatsby asks Nick to invite Daisy over to his to tea, so Gatsby can meet her. When Daisy and Gatsby meet each other for the first time in five years it starts off awkward, then they start talking to each other. Gatsby tells her about how rich he is now and invites her over to his house. Daisy and Gatsby then begin the affair between each other as their relationship grows. Later, Gatsby get invited to Daisy’s house where Tom starts

The desire for social pleasure was rampant in the roaring twenties and in The Great Gatsby. On the surface, Gatsby’s dream appears very materialistic. We’ve just talked about his fancy parties and his flash car. But if Gatsby’s dream was truly material, would he chase after Daisy? If his aim was purely material, he wouldn’t have been such a desperate romantic figure. We’re selling him a bit short here by accusing him of just wanting money. He is unsatisfied with his wealth, and pursues something greater – ‘true love’. Gatsby’s idea of ‘success’ was Daisy. Granted, you and I will agree that Gatsby could have done so much better. In fact, what does Daisy represent? Daisy has a symbolic name, and the way she gleams “in the sunlight” (pg 160) is merely a white façade covering her superficiality. The truth is, she and Tom are “careless people”, they “smash up things…and retreat into their money and carelessness…let other people clean up the mess they’d made” (pg 191). You may think Gatsby’s corrupt. However, clearly Daisy and Tom are the corrupt ones; they think they can do anything and everything, with the social influence and wealth they gained at birth. Daisy exploited Gatsby, his naive desire of “the golden girl” (pg 128), the ‘girl of his dreams’ – or so he believed. Fitzgerald also wanted a girl out of his league; Ginevra (Erbentraut, 2013). Very much like Daisy, Ginevra couldn’t be with Fitzgerald because of she was rich and cool and he

Everything that Gatsby ever did, his wealth, his social status, and his complete new personality, have all been for Daisy. The corrupted and illegal ways in which Gatsby achieved his great wealth make it unclear whether good or evil notions drive him. Nick notes his immense wealth when he exclaims that Gatsby’s mansion is a “colossal affair by any standard” (5). Nick later learns from Jordan that “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (79). These two quotes show that Gatsby’s wealth is not just for his own personal

Gatsby, after having met Daisy, does everything in his power to make a lot of money from the nothing he had through illegal means. When Gatsby made a lot of money through his business, he moved into a large wealthy house right across the bay from Daisy to impress her. He throws large, extravagant parties in the hope that Daisy will come over to one of them, which Fitzgerald also uses to illustrate how people pursued only their pleasure with parties and alcohol even though it was banned. Later when Daisy meets with Gatsby, he shows her his house and Fitzgerald emphasizes that all Gatsby cares about is how Daisy sees it and how Daisy just sees the wealth, “He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real” (Fitzgerald, 91).

Daisy’s love starts to turn into the sole reason Gatsby wants to be rich;he wants to impress her.

As the opposite of Daisy, Gatsby “remained faithful to an ideal love for five years” (Seiters). Daisy comes from a good family and is also a very beautiful girl who has a strong desire for love and that may only be the reason she married Tom instead of Gatsby. She was scared that Gatsby did not come back so she did not want to wait any longer. Tom and Gatsby are two very different people, Gatsby wasn't rich all his life he had even changed his name, “Jay Gatz--that was really, or at least legally, his name” (Fitzgerald 98). He sailed with his mentor Dan Cody who had taught him to speak and act like a well educated gentleman. Knowing that it allow him to have a good reputation in high societies. With Gatsby's ability to make friends in the city he became a criminal who used him to sell bootlegged alcohol, basically a drug dealer. Gatsby is what they call new money which means he has to show off and prove to the world that he is rich, for example to his parties he wears extravagant suits with gold ties and drives an eye-catching yellow car “Gatsby's car is an adolescent's dream, the very vehicle for one who formed his ideals as a teenager” (Seiters), all this is done to get Daisy’s

This chapter starts out with the description of another part of New York known as the “Valley of Ashes.” This is the poverty side of New York and is noticeably poor since it's referred to such a name. We are introduced to another character named George Wilson and his wife Myrtle. Tom takes Nick to George Wilson's garage, which is located in the Valley of Ashes. By this we know that George Wilson is a poor man.Tom is cheating on his wife for Wilson's wife which is pretty absurd.Tom takes a visit to a party with Catherine, and brings Daisy Nick and Myrtle along with him. (Catherine and Myrtle are sisters). The group starts gossiping about Gatsby, while getting drunk. Myrtle then begins to annoy Tom because she keeps talking about his wife Daisy. This non-stop talk about

The Roaring Twenties is when the Americans, especially wealthy people, are being so wasteful on spending money and are addicted to alcohol and drugs. During that time, many people have hopes for the American Dream. The American Dream is a belief that a better life could be achieved through hard work. Different people have different understandings of American Dream and different ways to pursue their dream. Some key ideas of the American Dream are equality, rights, opportunities and the pursuit of happiness. In the book The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the American Dream is an unattainable illusion and the materialism led to the corruption of the American Dream in the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby, Daisy and Myrtle all have been fail to achieve their dreams in the book and destroy by the American Dream.

This close analysis is based around the passage at the beginning of chapter II of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Gatsby stops giving parties, which he hosted primarily to lure Daisy. He also fired all his servants to prevent gossip and replaced them with people connected to Wolfsheim. On a hot summer day, Nick goes to the Buchanan’s for lunch with Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, and Jordan Baker. When he comes in, Gatsby is standing on the carpet, Jordan and Daisy are laying on the couch, and Tom is on the phone, supposedly talking to Myrtle. Then, to Gatsby’s surprise, the nurse brings in Daisy’s daughter, who Daisy seem almost uninterested in. After lunch, Daisy suggests going to the city, and Tom, who is starting to notice the chemistry between her and Gatsby, agrees. Nick rides with Jordan and Tom in Gatsby’s car, and Gatsby and Daisy ride together in Tom’s car.