1. Independent Study
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Write a one sentence summary for Chapters 5
Choose a single quotation to sum up each chapter
What can you say about chapters 5 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
Create a flow diagram (like the one from last lesson) on your given theme:
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Aspirations and the American Dream James
Class and status Lauren C
Appearance and reality Ella
Artificiality Lauren M
Idealism v. Realism Jacob
Identity Josh
Perception (sight and insight) Leah
Desire Lauren E
Heroism Lily
Masculinity and femininity Betsy
Honesty and deceit Tamara
Corruption v. Purity Emily
Next week it’s Chapters 7, 8 and 9 so reread please.

2. Chapter 6

3. Exploring the Narrative of The Great
Gatsby
Learning Objective:
How does Fitzgerald tell the story in Chapter 6 and 7 of the
Great Gatsby?
Learning Outcome:
To explore Fitzgerald’s use of:
• Time and Sequence
• Characters and Characterisation
• Points of View
• Voices in texts
• Scenes and Places
• Destination

4. Platonic Conception
• A platonic conception is the most perfect you.
What would you be like if you were still you but
incredible in every way? How do you imagine
yourself to be in your most arrogant and
hopeful moments?

5. Gatsby could be seen as a
Religious Figure
‘He was the son of God – a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that –
and he must be about his Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and
meretricious beauty.’
Nick links Gatsby directly to God. This statement could be ironic – the ‘Father’ that
Nick is referring to could be Dan Cody or Wolfshiem, immoral self-made
businessmen who were father figures to Gatsby. Gatsby’s business is the pursuit of
wealth.
Alternatively, Fitzgerald could have intended to connect Gatsby with Jesus or
Adam. There are biblical allusions that develop similarities between Gatsby and
Jesus – Jesus became mortal and sacrificed himself for mankind’s sins whereas
Gatsby tied himself to Daisy’s mortal “perishable breath” and died because he took
the blame for Daisy’s sins. The American Dream of creating a land of opportunity, a
perfect world where anything is possible, echoes the nature of the Garden of Eden.
A woman is responsible for the downfall of both Adam and Gatsby – Eve and Daisy
respectively.
In the novel’s shallow, materialistic and immoral society, religion has been replaced
by consumerism, so Gatsby’s wealth and dreams could make him a corrupted
Christ-like figure within a corrupted world. However, any allusions to Gatsby as a
religious figure are the result of Nick’s narration, and may just reflect Nick’s own
moral confusion.

6. Remember this in
Chapter 4:
Daisy’s role as a symbol of the
American Dream
• Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy can be seen to symbolise the
American Dream. The image of him as a lone figure, reaching out
for the green light (end of chapter 1) shows him striving for the
object of his desires.
• The fact Gatsby strives to win Daisy, who’s shallow, snobbish and
fickle, reflects the corruption of the American Dream – it has
become focused on the shallow pursuit of wealth.
• Gatsby doesn’t care that breaking up Daisy’s marriage is immoral –
he claims it’s “nothing underhand”. The American Dream has
become about individual satisfaction, not reaping the rewards of
hard work.
• Nick juxtaposes the physical reality of Jordan, “the girl beside me”
with the dream image of Daisy’s “disembodied face” to show that
the woman Gatsby loves is just a dream. He also associated with
the “blinding signs” of New York shops, which symbolises the way
Gatsby’s dream of Daisy is tied up with his dream of financial
success.

7. Past Perfect Tense
Gatsby’s kiss with Daisy is narrated through Nick’s
second person perspective using past perfect tense –
Nick’s narrative voice emphasises the fact that Gatsby’s
first kiss is something belonging to the nostalgic past.
Past Perfect Tense:
The past perfect tense is quite an easy tense to
understand and to use. This tense talks about the "past
in the past". It is formed with [had + past participle]

8. Chapter 6
• Write a one sentence summary
• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter
• What can you say about chapter four and each of
the aspects of narrative?
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Time and Sequence
Characters and Characterisation
Points of View
Independent Study: Reread Nick’s account
of Gatsby’s past. Do you think that Gatsby
Voices in texts
achieved the American Dream? Give
examples from the text in your answer.
Scenes and Places
Destination

9. Chapter 7

10. Number Crunching the Punctuation
Chapter
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total words
6018
4330
5819
5527
4293
4103
8933
4612
5304
Question
marks
28
30
34
36
34
24
89
22
30
Exclamation
marks
9
10
15
12
9
5
51
4
9
•What do you notice about the use of question marks and
exclamation marks across the novel?
Which chapters leap out as unusual? What might the
number of question marks or exclamation marks suggest
about the chapter?

11. Trimalchio
Nick declares that Gatsby’s “career as Trimalchio
was over” when Gatsby ends his parties.
Fitzgerald gives Gatsby a new literary identity as
the modern Trimalchio of the American Dream.
Trimalchio:
Trimalchio is a character who is a former slave who has made a
fortune through hard work and gained a degree of power. He’s
famous for holding lavish parties, but the glamour of his exotic
feasts is undermined by the fact that he’s vulgar and his display
of wealth is garish.
Trimalchio’s story ends with his guests acting out his funeral for
his own entertainment, so Nick’s mention of Trimalchio could
be seen as foreshadowing Gatsby’s death.

12. Chapter 7
• Write a one sentence summary
• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter
• What can you say about chapter four 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

13. Jan 2012
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells
the story in Chapter 2. (21 marks)
AND
How do you respond to the view that it is very
difficult for readers to feel anything other than
contempt for Tom Buchanan? (21 marks)
Spend one hour on this section

14. Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the
story in Chapter 2.
Authorial methods need to be related to the story
being told in this chapter.
Possible content:
• narrative perspective/voices: first person
narrator, self-conscious story teller and author,
significance of Nick’s reconstruction of
drunkenness, use of voices of Tom, Wilson,
Myrtle, the McKees, Catherine, etc.
• setting: Valley of the Ashes, New York, Tom’s
apartment, Pennsylvania Station/ early 20th
century, one afternoon and evening, etc.
• 20th century tragedy, a novel about writing a
novel, a love story, etc.
• linear chronology in this chapter but with a
sense that the story is being told retrospectively
begins with the description of the Valley of the
Ashes, moves to the train journey to New York
and the party at Tom’s apartment, ends with
Nick on the station, etc.
• poetic prose, descriptive detail, sensual
description, use of dramatic dialogue,
descriptive writing, surreal description of
drunkenness, references to newspapers and
other texts, colloquial language, time
references, use of names, language of
altercation, use of ellipsis, etc.
How do you respond to the view that it is very difficult for
readers to feel anything other than contempt for
Tom Buchanan?
Possible content:
Some will agree and focus on
• Tom as the antagonist to Gatsby
• Tom as a bully and brute
• Tom as arrogant
•
Tom as a racist
• Tom as adulterer
• Tom’s attitude to women
• Tom’s language
• the behaviour of Tom at the end of the novel/ his
collusion with Daisy
• Tom’s dismissal of Wilson
• Tom’s snobbery
• Tom’s role as villain in the tragedy, etc.
Some will disagree and focus on
• Tom as a victim of the world of the 1920s
• Tom’s sadness at Myrtle’s death
• Tom’s discovery of his wife’s affair
• Tom’s own purposelessness, etc.
Some will challenge the word ‘contempt’.
• Some will see Nick’s bias in the presentation of Tom.
• Some will see Tom as a representation of a type.
• Credit needs to be given for any relevant argument.

15. Chapter 9

16. At the beginning Nick is...

17. At the end Nick is...
1. Judgemental – he becomes increasingly judgemental
as the plot continues and finally condemns Tom and
Daisy as “careless people” who “smash things up”.
2. Careless – Jordan accuses Nick of being a “bad driver”
– she thinks he’s guilty of carelessness, the very thing
he accuses Tom and Daisy of.
3. Morally ambiguous – he helps Gatsby to have an
affair with Daisy.
4. Disillusioned – he wants to move back to the
traditional West. He realises that it’s hopeless to try
and escape the past.

18. The Ending of the Novel
1. Read the two extracts from Chapter 9 and
discuss your initial thoughts about the ending of
the novel. Think about:
– Your view of what Fitzgerald was trying to achieve in
ending the novel in this way.
– What view of Nick emerges at the end of the novel
and whether he seems to have developed through
his experiences.
– What major themes are signalled and the way in
which Fitzgerald achieves this.
– Whether the ending provides satisfactory closure for
the reader.
– The mood of the ending and the style in which it is
written.

19. The Ending of the Novel
2. Look at the critical extract, choose 1 and follow
the prompts below to help you decide what
impact the criticism makes on your own initial
interpretation of the ending:
– Does it give you any fresh knowledge/ information
that’s useful in reading the ending of the novel?
– Does it confirm your interpretation of the ending?
– Does it add to or develop your interpretation of the
ending?
– Does it challenge your interpretation of the ending?

20. Chapter 8 and 9
• Write a one sentence summary
• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter
• What can you say about chapters 8 and 9 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