The Great Gatsby, Fitsgerald

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on ll 115 and 116 emphasizes her anxiety and the fact that she’s speechless.

The other violent character is Gatsby in this excerpt even if he keeps his calm “Gatsby said politely” on ll 33. Indeed, he involves himself in a cock-fight for Daisy’s love but he also takes his revenge on Tom “ I’ve got something to tell you, old sport” on ll 58,since his first attack about Oxford on the first part of the excerpt. He goes straight to the point “Your wife doesn’t love you” (ll 65), “She’s never loved you. She loves me” (ll 65-66) even tough he then ridicules himself because he shows (too much) his emotions “he cried” on ll 69, and his speech is jerky. In this cock-fighting, one round follows another and the game so far is drawn. Moreover, he also make a fool of himself since he takes for guaranteed Daisy’s love during the second part of the excerpt “she never loved you” on ll 69, “going on for five years” on ll 82. Besides, he bullies Daisy to make her admit that she loves him “Just tell him the truth- that you never loved him” on ll 113-114. However, as Hamlet says there’s the rub for Daisy is far from being ready as we’ve seen earlier.

Nick is also violent in those excerpts. Strangely, in the first excerpt, he is manipulated by Tom “ turning me around by one arm” ll 42, whereas in the second one he is violent “to get up and slap him on the back” on ll 24. Plus, he make Tom’s portrait seems violent since this portrait is stinky self-complacency “like a clergyman” on ll 91.

Violence is very ubiquitous and its very important in the whole novel of The Great Gatsby. It reflects a form of power as false things/phoney things do. GG depicts a world ruled by men

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As we have seen, Gatsby governs, only temporary, Daisy’s emotions and Daisy’s and Tom’s life.

Indeed, make-believe permeates the two excerpts. In the first one, the weather misleads us. Indeed, the alliteration in “w” “warm windy afternoon” on ll 12 and 13 seems seemingly softly. Even though the violence is ubiquitous on this excerpt. Then, this whole passage seems like a hallucination since Daisy and Jordan don’t seem to be characters, they seem to be only ideas, dreams, illusions since they’re seen as people who idealize love on ll 38 to ll 55 “the windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass” “two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon” or “fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight”.Moreover, some words such as “reflected” on ll 9, “the appearance” on ll 15, “seemed” on ll 17, or “the impression” on ll 21. Those words may be likened to Plato’s cave. As a matter of fact, the people can only see shadows in the walls.

Then, friendship is also phoney. Indeed, the unwilling initiator of tragedy, Nick, says that he’s driving to see “two old friends’’ on ll 2. However, he then goes on by saying “whom I scarcely knew at all” on ll 2 . It seems like a paradox and friendship is deteriorated. It also emphasizes the reliability that we can have on the narrator and the vacuity of human relationships due to a recurrent recourse to make-believe. Besides, the one of the two old friends is Tom Buchanan, and we find it really hard to believe that Tom considers Nick as a friend “just because I’m stronger and more of a man than you are” ll 26 “turning me around by one arm” on ll 32.

Even Tom’s estate is phoney. Indeed, it seems to be a cheerful house “a cheerful red-and-white Georgian mansion” on ll 3-4. However, it belongs to Tom, who is a violent person.

The salon is likened to white which puts to the fore artificiality. Daisy, who is very often associated with white, is a very fake person, she plays her role perfectly during the whole novel.

On the second excerpt, false appearances are also ubiquitous. To start with, money is a synonym of false things. Indeed, the origin of Gatsby’s fortune is contraband during the Prohibition so he didn’t earn his fortune legally. Plus, he’s a “nouveau riche”. Then, his parties are extravagant and everyone thinks that he organize some parties in order to strengthen his social relationships. However, he only wishes to see Daisy. In The Great Gatsby, women have power which is proportionate to the attraction that they can exercise. However, they often remain in the shadow of men.

Secondarily, love is also seen as a false topic in this excerpt. Indeed, Tom refers to Biloxi, who is a gatecrasher at his marriage with Daisy “about the time Biloxi went to New Haven” on ll 8 which shows that Tom considers Gatsby as a gatecrasher and that love is seen as a phoney thing. Besides, Tom is very rude to Daisy and the latter is rude to Tom “the trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn’t know what she’s doing” on lines 100 to 102, “you won’t seem so stupid to yourself” on ll 29. This word “love” becomes empty of meaning. Moreover, Daisy is jealous of Tom’s mistresses and the latter literally refers to having some affairs, thus, cheating on his wife by emphasizing the word “spree” on ll 104. Plus, Daisy, on this excerpt, uses her trump card, her voice “her voice, dropping an octave lower, filled the room with thrilling scorn” on ll 107-108. She thus degrades herself, by turning herself into an object.

Tom seems careless about the fact that Daisy having an affair with Gatsby “Oh-that’s all.” on ll 90.

Thirdly, even tough Tom’s psychological side is reinforced and seems a little more clever than in the first excerpt, his stupidity is also reinforced. Indeed, we could think at a first level of understanding that he’s more clever. However, he’s also brainless in this excerpt. He doesn’t understand anything since he’s too blinded by jealousy and hatred, even if he repeats the verb “understand” on ll 1 and 4, or the words “incredulous “on ll 6 or “unbelief” on ll 19 and 20. Daisy, his wife even says that he’s stupid “then you won’t seem so stupid to yourself” on ll 29.

Tom literally humiliates himself in this excerpt. I quote on ll 56 and 57 “the transition from libertine to prig was so complete”. Prig, which refers to a self-righteously moralistic person which is totally true if we attach ourselves to what appears at first sight.

Tom tries to be wise. However, he’s very stupid. “I was tempted to laugh whenever he opened his mouth.” on ll 55, 56 since he attempts to indulge a praise of good old fays compared to “nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family instructions, and next, they’ll throw everything overboard and