Fitzgerald uses Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby to introduce the narrator, Nick Carraway, and establish the setting and time period of the summer of 1922 in New York. Nick frames the story as a retrospective told from 1-2 years after the events occurred, indicating that the fate of the characters is already determined. The chapter contrasts the Midwestern values of Nick's family with the superficial glamour and hidden corruption of the wealthy East Egg and West Egg neighborhoods, foreshadowing moral judgments of the characters. Fitzgerald employs geographical divisions to link locations with differing moral qualities and social criticisms.

1. Aspects of Narrative
The Great Gatsby

2. Aspects of Narrative
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Time and Sequence
Characters and Characterisation
Points of View
Voices in texts
Scenes and Places
Destination
Look out for this
flagging up Aspects
of Narratives
All of these aspects work together to form a complete
narrative: separating them can help you understand how the
narrative works but when it comes to the exam you will be
expected to draw on your knowledge of all the aspects, and
decide which ones are most relevant in writing about your
chosen text.

3. Aspects of Time
 There are two broad aspects of time within any novel or are going to start
We writing.
1. The time covered by events in the story.
with the time that
surrounds the story
Writing about how the author manages the time within the story is AO2.
2. The broader time which surrounds the story – the time period in which it is set.
Writing about the author manages this aspect of time is AO4.
For example:
Fitzgerald wrote a kind of love story in The Great Gatesby and the time covered
by events in the novel are from when Daisy and Jay meet to Jay’s death. But
Fitzgerald also set The Great Gatesby in the 1920’s and so other aspects of time
are involved – he incorporates aspects of life in the 1920’s.
How the author manages time WITHIN the story is AO2, which looks at aspects
of form, structure and language, in this case with a special focus on structure.
Meanwhile, how the author manages time that SURROUNDS the story is covered
by AO4, which looks at context.

4. Context
Naming the period
Listed below are some of the names given to the period between 1918
and 1939 and the generation who became adults during it.
Annotate the names with your ideas about what this period might
have been like e.g. mood/tone, themes, impressions of the people or
of the period.
Jazz Age
Roaring 20s
World War 1 Generation
Pre-depression Era
Lost Generation
Golden Twenties
Golden Age of Hollywood
Prohibition Era
Inter-war
La Generation de Feu (Generation of Fire)
Bright Young Things
The Flapper Era
After the gruelling
experiences of WW1,
the anti-hero was
often portrayed as a
powerless figure,
caught-up in social
processes that were
rigidly mechanical
with no room to
prove personal worth.
This was called the
Lost Generation,
characterising an age
which seemed to
have no sense of
historical purpose.

5. Context
The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, in the
middle of a decade of hero-worship in America.
Newspapers, reaching a larger readership than
ever before, were extravagant in celebrating a
feat such as Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight
across the Atlantic in 1927, while the careers of
screen idols ranging from the romantic Rudolph
Valentino to the comic Charlie Chaplin filled the
pages of magazines eagerly purchased by
Americans hungry for glamorous images.

6. Context
Fitzgerald is renowned as the chronicler of the
Jazz Age. He evokes in his stories not the
pessimism and sense of powerlessness but the
pleasure-seeking spirit of the decade following
WW1. His stories were written primarily to
entertain, and a few of them suggest that there
is a Lost Generation concealed behind the veil of
hedonism.
Is The Great Gatsby suggestive of
a concealed Lost Generation?

7. Context
As he began to write it, Fitzgerald sent a letter to
Maxwell Perkins, his editor, saying that he wanted
his book to be extraordinary. He was aiming for
beauty and simplicity, but at the same time he
knew the book would be intricately patterned.
It is its intricacy that makes for richness and invites
a range of interpretations. On the most
straightforward level it can be read as a love story,
the tale of a man’s obsessive desire for the woman
he has lost and the tragic consequences of that
desire. On another level it is a social satire,
mocking the follies of contemporary social life, the
shallowness, hypocrisy and greed that Fitzgerald
recognised in America in the years following WW1.

8. Alternative Readings
American literary critic Lionel Trilling argued in 1945 that
Jay Gatsby stands for America itself. It can be read as a
mediation on the fate of American ideal in the modern
world, a contemplation both of the vision that sustained
early European settlements of the New World and the
sacrifice of that vision to materialistic values in the course
of the nation’s rapid growth.
The novel raises the question of what makes a successful
nation. Does the success of some in acquiring wealth
necessarily disadvantage many others and so create a
divided and failed society? Does material prosperity
necessarily lead to loss of valuable ideas such as honesty,
loyalty and fairness?

9. Historical Context
Key Points
Connections with the novel
World War 1
Immigration and
migration
Prohibition
The position of
Women
The consumer
Society
Look back at the text to select 10 short quotations relating to these contextual areas.
Make sure that all of the contextual areas are given relative quotation.

10. Context
What have we learnt?
Consider too:
•The historical, cultural and literary context of the novel in an age
when, as Fitzgerald himself put it, ‘America was going on the
greatest, gaudiest spree in history.’
•The context of reading, particularly in light of the 21st-century
knowledge about The Great Depression and World War 2.

11. What kind of book is The Great Gatsby?
The Great Gatsby is first and foremost a book
about a man writing a book. The relationship of
Nick to Gatsby established in this basic fact
frames the presentation of all the other
relationships between characters in the story.

12. Exploring the Narrative of The Great
Gatsby
Learning Objective:
How does Fitzgerald tell the story in Chapter 1 of the Great
Gatsby?
This is what you are asked to do for Section A Question 1 of
the exam. It assessed AO2 – form, structure and language.
Learning Outcome:
To explore Fitzgerald’s use of:
Section A Question 2
• Time and Sequence
is where you get
your AO4 Context in
• Characters and Characterisation
(with AO1 and 3)
• Points of View
• Voices in texts
• Scenes and Places
• Destination
Section A Question 2 is assessed on AO1, 3 and 4.
Section B is assessed for AO1, 2 and 3 (no 4) and focus is
on the Aspects of Narrative.

13. Introducing Nick
‘The choice of the point(s) of view from which the story is told ...
fundamentally affects the ways readers will respond emotionally and
morally to the fictional characters and their actions.’
David Lodge: The Art of Fiction, 1994
In The Great Gatsby Fizgerald chooses to use a firstperson narrator. However, this narrator, Nick Carraway,
does not set out to tell his own story but that of Jay
Gatsby ‘the man who gives his name to this book’ (The
Great Gatsby, p8). Nick’s voice is not the same as the
author’s voice and Nick’s viewpoint is not the same as
Gatsby’s perspective – Nick has survived Gatsby and is
able to tell the story of his life, and death, after it has
all ended.
• What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of
the first-person narrator?

14. Other Voices
What are some of the ways in which
Fitzgerald overcomes the limitations of
the first-person narration?
Some of the ways Fitzgerald modifies the first-person voice in order to include stories
and events of which Nick has no first-hand experience are:
• Recounting dialogue between characters
• Direct quotation of another character’s sustained account
• Paraphrasing another character’s words
• Piecing together fragments of a story into a continuous narrative in Nick’s voice
• Speculation about what might have happened
• Speculation about what a character might have felt (for example, “he must have
felt…”)
• Evocations of another character’s consciousness (for example, “he felt”)

15. Chapter 1
Chapter 1 – the summer of 1922
In Chapter 1 Nick begins his narration of the events of the
summer of 1922. We are made aware that this is a
retrospective narrative and that there is a gap between the
events and Nick’s retelling of them of one to two years
(1923 to 1924): ‘When I came back from the East last
autumn’ (Chapter 1, p8). We are reminded again of this at
several points along the way. Gatsby’s death happens
before the beginning of the novel. This gives Gatsby’s
death a predetermined quality – it is inescapable. All of the
characters’ fates are already decided.
• What does this approach reveal about the way in which
Fitzgerald chooses to tell the story of Jay Gatsby (and his
narrator Nick Carraway). What do you notice? How do you
think this might impact on your response to the events and
the characters?
Remember AO1 is being able to use technical
terms when discussing a novel or poem.

16. Geography and Morality are linked
Fitzgerald uses the superficial similarities between the Eggs
to emphasise how different they really are – they’re
‘identical in contour’ but dissimilar ‘in every particular
except the shape and size’.
He also gives each location a different morality, which
encourages the reader to make comparisons between
them.
• Looking at Chapter 1, what does The Midwest represent?
Ensure you include evidence.
The Midwest is...
•Old fashioned and represents family values – the Carraways are a
‘prominent, well-to-do’ ‘clan’ and Nick’s father runs the same hardware
business that his Great Uncle set up.
•Possibly dishonest under the surface – the ‘founder’ of Nick’s family avoided
the Civil War by sending a ‘substitute’ and they all pretend that they’re
‘descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch’.

17. Geography and Morality are linked
•What does East Egg represent? What does West Egg
represent? Remember to provide evidence from the
text.
East Egg is...
•Conservative and aristocratic but not as refined as it appears. E.g. Tom is
‘aggressive’ and ‘hulking’, where typically the upper classes should be polite
and well-mannered.
•Fashionable but fake. Its appealing surface hides unattractive realities – the
Buchanans’ marriage isn’t as happy as it seems, and Daisy’s looks and wealth
mask a bored, cynical and empty interior.
West Egg is...
•Home to the new rich who’ve made their own fortunes rather than
inheriting money – most of the residents don’t have aristocratic breeding or
wealthy family connections (but Nick’s an exception).
•Characterised by extravagant displays of wealth that are poor in taste, e.g.
Gatsby’s mansion.

18. The Language
• Look at the list of words all taken from the first chapter of the
novel. Cluster them in any way that seems interesting to you.
One of the things you may have noticed through doing this is
while some of the words seem very modern (to do with new
technologies, transport, the city, finance and so on) others seem
to belong to a much more ‘Romantic’ world. ‘Romanticism’
refers to a movement which emerged at the end of the 18th and
beginning of the 19th century. Nicolas Trendell describes
Romanticism as:
A cultural and artistic movement which valued imagination over
intellect, feeling over reason, subjectivity over objectivity
conformity, extremism over moderation, ambiguity over clarity,
and the quest for transcendence over the respect for limits.
•Divide the words into ‘Romantic’ and ‘Modern’

19. The Language
• In pairs, look at the extract you’ve been given. Circle the ‘Romantic’ words
and phrases in one colour and those which seem to you more modern in a
second colour. Discuss anything you notice about the ways in which
language associated with the Romantic and modern is used.
• Join up with another pair who looked at the other extract and share your
discoveries. What is the effect of the way Fitzgerald uses Romantic and
modern language?
Watch the Romantic/modern discussion by Nicolas Trendell.
• Write a paragraph of notes entitled: Fitzgelald’s Romantic Modernism.
You may wish to include:
– The use of Romantic and modern rhythms
– The suggestion that Fitzgerald may either be using Romantic language to
expose ‘the debasement of the modern era’ or using modern imagery to
‘renovate Romantic language’
– How this juxtaposition of the Romantic and modern relates to the story of Jay
Gatsby
– The relationship between Fitzgerald’s style (the language choices he makes
and the rhythm of his prose) and the themes of the novel

20. Independent Study
SECTION A PRACTICE QUESTIONS:
• How is the story told in Chapter One of The Great
Remember you are being marked on
Gatsby?
AO2 only on this question
AND
• Even though Nick claims he’s not judgemental, his
presentation of the other characters encourages
the reader to make their own judgements about
them.’ To what extent do you agree with this
statement? Refer to the text in your answer.
AO1: being able to write about narrative analytically
AO2: being able to deconstruct the text, to look at technical authorial methods
AO3: being able to lay bare the possibilities of interpretation
AO4: understanding that evidence for your readings is in the relationship between
what is in the text itself and what you yourself bring to it. Context is included in
the question you just have to look for it. Remember context can be: cultural,
modern, autobiographical, historical and its reception too.
Remember you are being marked on
AO1, 3 and 4 on this question

21. Chapter 1
• Look at the extracts you’ve been given. Circle the ‘Romantic’ words and
phrases in one colour and those which seem to you more modern in a
second colour. Note (label/bullet point is fine) anything you notice about
the ways in which language associated with the Romantic and modern is
used.
• What is the effect of the way Fitzgerald uses Romantic and modern
language?
CHAPTER 1:
• Write a one sentence summary
• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter
• What can you say about chapter one and each of the aspects of narrative?
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Time and Sequence
Characters and Characterisation
Points of View
Voices in texts
Scenes and Places
Destination
Reread chapter 2 and 3 ready for Tuesday’s lesson.