This is a complete study guide needed for IB HL English Language and Literature Paper 2. It contains plot summaries, character, quote and theme analysis etc. It is all I used to study this book for my IB exam and I scored a 7.
Novela:
● Narration: frame narration, direct or indirect
● 1st, 2nd 3rd person
● Tense
● Structure
● Climax/ anti climax
● Characterisation through description/ dialogue
● Tone
● Mood
● Literary devices eg imagery, alliteration simile, metaphor, irony, hyperbole
Overview
Text The Great Gatsby
Plot A story told by Nick Carraway, who was once Gatsby's neighbor. The story is told
sometime after 1922, when the incidents that fill the book take place. As the story
opens, Nick has just moved from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, seeking his
fortune as a salesman.
Themes - Post-war
- American dream
- Materialism/wealth
- Appearance vs Reality
- Loyalty
- Superficial vs Real (facade)
- Hope
- Loss
- Corruption
- Immorality
- Love
- Social classes/status
Characters - Daisy
- Myrtle
- Nick
- Gatsby
, - Wilson
- Jordan
Motifs - The rise of new money
- Time
- Racism, domestic violence, patriarchal society drinking → all indicative of
the time
- The lost generation
Pathetic fallacy:
The conflict between Tom and Gatsby comes to the surface and their argument reveals their flaws. Gatsby: immoral, criminal activities, inability to let go of past.
Tom: prejudice, unloyalty and bullying. The climax occurs on the hottest day of summer and the heat reflects the passion and tension of the characters affairs. It also makes
everyone irritable, bringing everything to the boil.
Motifs/What Fitzgerald was saying about the time:
Role of women In the 1920s women’s rights were expanding spurred by the adoption of the 19th
Amendment in 1919 which allowed women to vote.
Gender pay gap existed.
This time period was the birth of the suffrage movement.
Women were also increasingly finding employment—a trend that would increase
during World War II, when many men left factories to go to war.
However the prevailing expectation was still that women, especially wealthy
women, would get married and have children and that was all. Divorce was also
still uncommon and controversial.
So Daisy, as a wife and mother who is reluctant to leave an unhappy marriage, can
be seen as a product of her time, while other female characters like Jordan and
Myrtle are pushing their boundaries a bit more as Myrtle had an affair.
Pink suit Pink represents Gatsby’s social class and his innocent view on losing his American
, dream. Pink is a colour that is created by mixing red and white. Red represents the
illusory of the American dream and white represents false innocence . Pink
symbolizes the ending of Gatsby’s American dream, leaving him with false
innocence and naive perspective that he can gain it back.
Time “The clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head,
whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back and
place.”
When he finally meets her in Chapter 5, he insists she is late. This is ironic as he
waited for 5 years.
The clock symbolizes how Gatsby wants to turn back time, the destruction of the
clock demonstrates how he wishes he could destroy the past and go back to where
Gatsby and Daisy were 5 years ago.
The green light symbolizes the future and what Gatsby wants.
The mantel light symbolizes the past.
The Roaring 20s/lost generation It was set at an exhilarating time of rapidly evolving culture and technology. It was
a decade of tremendous wealth in the United States following the deprivations of
the First World War, and the upper-class characters of Gatsby exemplify the
hedonism of the era.
Symbolizes loss of innocence after WW1.
Life was dominated by material wealth and prosperity that was shaped by the
surging economy and little morality.
It was a time of great optimism.
Technology was also on the rise e.g. radio, movies, cars etc.
Economic growth was soaring.
Hedonism: the pursuit of pleasure, sensual and self-indulgent.
The color yellow/gold Yellow and gold are recurring colors in the novel. These colors are known to be
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