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I realize now that under different circumstances that conversation might have been one of the crises of my life. But, because the offer was obviously and tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no choice except to cut him off there. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter V)

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Gatsby has offered Nick to join him in some illegal business, and at some point this may have been a difficult decision for him. But because Gatsby is only offering as a return favor for helping him meet Daisy, Nick refuses.

Nick’s voice—his ingrained attitudes of right and wrong—creeps into his tone and comments often. Here he feels insulted that Gatsby would expect him to want to be paid for helping him meet Daisy.

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6 years

This implies that if Gatsby hadn’t offered this illegal opportunity, only to return the favour of meeting Daisy, then perhaps Nick would have taken him up on his offer. This alludes to Nick’s more corrupt nature – he isn’t as morally upright as he claims to be, as he doesn’t condone Gatsby’s illegal activities. Thus, Nick only refuses due to a bruised ego – he wanted Gatsby top genuinely offer this opportunity, either in recognition of his talent or because he specifically cared about Nick.

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Gatsby’s gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three-noted horn. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter IV)

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Like his house, Gatsby’s car is ostentatious. It’s another opportunity to show off his wealth.

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100

4 years

It is yellow “scampered like a brisk yellow bug”

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4 years

Gatsby’s car is a caramel beige in the book, in the film it is a yellow colour.

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6 years

Doesn’t mention the car is yellow here.

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8 years

Gives his car some significance, which is very important for later on in the novel (Myrtle’s death).

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8 years

Aslo the fact that his car is yellow could be represented as fake gold. Highlighting that Gatsby’s wealth is fake and veneer rather than substance.

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On Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages alongshore, the world and its mistress returned to Gatsby’s house and twinkled hilariously on his lawn. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter IV)

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Gatsby is holding a Sunday party. The ringing of church bells (good, righteous) is contrasted with “the world and its mistress” (immoral).

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2 years

rich go to gatsbys instead of church connoting that gatasby is a god to the upper class

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4 years

the contrast between the ‘church bells in the villages’ and the ‘world and its mistress’ show a clear contrast between the way in which the world worked~: the villages had more religious values whereas in the city, the world has a mistress and it is accepted: it shows the clear juxtaposition between the two different ways of life at the time.

As well as this, it says ‘On Sunday morning’, religiously Sunday is the day of rest however, in the city, Gatsby’s party continues.

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10 years

This shows secularisation (decline of religion). While people were supposed to be at church, instead they are going to parties. Shows the decline of morals, and that religion is having less of an influence now that society is changing.

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Delight in Disorder Robert Herrick – Delight in Disorder

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Robert Herrick, 1591 – 1674, likely wrote this in response or as a corollary to Ben Jonson’s “Simplex Munditiis.”

His use of iambic tetrameter makes the sonnet more musical and playful than the conventional iambic pentameter.

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It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing.” F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter V)

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Gatsby is hinting that the business he is involved in is questionable, possibly even illegal (for example, bootlegging).

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hydroplane F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter IV)

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Today we think of a hydroplane as a type of airplane, but for the first half of the 20th century, it also referred to a type of boat according to the OED:

A motor boat designed to skim the surface of the water by means of a bottom that consists in part of one or more flat surfaces sloping upwards towards the bow.

Gatsby lived along the ocean shore line so he often took his hydroplane out to ride in. This was an item that only the rich could afford, because it was extremely new at this time.

“hydroplane, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 15 April 2016.

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6 years

When the hydroplane is first mentioned in chapter 3, however, Gatsby suggests that they “go up” in the hydroplane. Whilst this could mean go up north, or go up to sit on top of it, it would likely suggest a type of sea-plane (i.e. an aircraft).

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He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career — when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter VI)

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https://s3.amazonaws.com/filepicker-images-rapgenius/i35dMMMLQGB3NptoQXQq_jay_Gatsby.jpgAs

Nick mentioned earlier, James Gatz was from North Dakota.

This moment is a turning point for Gatz. He changes his name and undergoes a rebirth into the character who readers have gotten to know up until this point in the novel, Jay Gatsby.

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6 years

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trying to sound too smart

8 years

just say focus you retard

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152

8 years

At this point, Fitzgerald turns the focalization over to Gatsby (focalizer: one who sees, as compared to the narrator: one who tells). Nick could not have seen Dan Cody’s yacht. Gatsby saw it and it’s implied that Gatsby related this story to Nick who is now retelling it. The novel is filled with shifting perspectives like this.

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Let’s go to Coney Island, old sport. In my car.” F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter V)

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Coney Island is a peninsula in Brooklyn famous for its amusement parks. It was increasingly popular at the turn of the century.

With his suggestion that they “go to Coney Island,” Gatsby might be unintentionally giving away his status as part of the nouveau riche. Old money folk like the Buchanans would be less likely to go to Coney Island.

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3 years

Gatsby makes this request a statement implying that he will say yes and that he has nothing better to do. This is like how Tom made a statement to Nick implying that he would say yes about going to New York back in chapter 3. Not only does this suggest that Nick gets pushed around easily but that Tom And Gatsby me more similar than they think.

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“He’s a bootlegger,” F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (Chapter IV)

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Through all the untrue and wild rumours about Gatsby stated by characters throughout the novel, this one might slip by unnoticed…

Gatsby’s guests often speak about Gatsby’s past even though no one is really sure who he was. This statement introduces one of the subjects of this chapter: Gatsby’s biography.

In Chapter 3, Gatsby’s guests have the following conversation:

The two girls and Jordan leaned together confidentially. ‘Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.’ A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. Mumbles
bent forward and listened eagerly.
‘I don’t think it’s so much THAT,’ argued Lucille skepti-
cally; ‘it’s more that he was a German spy during the war.’ One of the men nodded in confirmation.
‘I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew
up with him in Germany,’ he assured us positively.
‘Oh, no,’ said the first girl, ‘it couldn’t be that, because he was in the American army during the war.’

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127

4 years

During thhe national prohibition of alcohol was passed (1920-33)- the nobel experiment to reduce crime and corruption and solve social problems. This failed as Americans did not stop drinking and instead created a vast illegal market for production, trafficking and sale of alcohol.

Gatsby was indeed a bootlegger as well as earning money through fake stocks. This shows Gatsby did not earn his money honestly but was a very honest man when it came to what he wanted.

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I always had a Ph.D: a pretty huge dick Kanye West (Ft. Ludacris) – Breathe In Breathe Out

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