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The Great Gatsby - Chapter 1
R.L.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine two or more themes or
central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the
Common course of the text, including how they interact and build on
one another to produce a complex account; provide an
Core
objective summary of the text.
Standards R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze the impact of the author’s
choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a
story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is
ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Essential Questions
• How do Fitzgerald’s descriptions of geography and
setting influence our understanding of character
motivations and conflicts?
• How does Fitzgerald use symbolism to communicate
the theme?
Objectives
• analyze character behavior and quotes and explain
what these reveal
• explain how symbols contribute to the overall
theme of the story
Main Characters
• Nick Carraway: Narrator, Daisy’s cousin from a wealthy family in Minnesota. Nick
introduces himself as an impartial narrator. As the story progresses, we see more and
more evidence that this is not true. He judges the way social class has impacted Tom’s,
Daisy’s and Jordan’s behavior. The way the women dress (floaty white dresses), the way
they lounge on the furniture with studied laziness, even the way they talk, all are
indications of their indulgent lifestyle. The way Tom is blunt and makes no effort to hide
his racist views and illicit affair show how privileged he is and unconcerned with
consequences.
• Daisy Buchanan: Nick’s cousin, from a wealthy family in Kentucky. Daisy’s half-joking
remarks about her “accidentally” bruised finger and her wish for her daughter to be a
“beautiful fool” show the darker side of the American Dream – having it all. Daisy is
trapped in this nightmare; she is being abused and feels miserable about Tom’s
cheating, but will not leave him. This is a central theme in the story.
• Tom Buchanan: The protagonist, Daisy’s wealthy but no-good husband. Tom Buchanan
is a brute who embodies the preening, power-hungry narrow-mindedness of the East
Egg elite. Nick, who knew Tom from their time at Yale, remarks that Tom was once an
incredibly talented football player.
Jordan Baker: Daisy’s childhood friend who will eventually date Nick. She is known to
have cheated to win her first major golf tournament. According to Nick, Jordan
constantly bends the truth in order to keep the world at a distance and protect herself
from its cruelty. Nick senses Jordan’s aloof yet alluring nature when he initially
encounters her lounging on a couch with Daisy.
The Great Gatsby: Although Gatsby is only mentioned and seen from afar in this
chapter, we learn immediately of Nick’s conflicted feelings about him. Unlike his
judgmental and scornful reactions to Tom, Jordan and even Daisy, Nick is sympathetic to
Gatsby and forgiving of his moral failings.
Setting & Symbolism
In Chapter 1, the table is set, both figuratively and
literally. Figurative table setting includes meeting our
narrator, Nick Carraway, and getting a sense of the
wealthy Long Island neighborhood where the novel
will take place. Literal table setting—well, that’s the
dinner Nick has with his cousin Daisy, her husband
Tom, and their friend (and Nick’s eventual love
interest) Jordan Baker.
The eggs are fundamentally different – Nick refers to the
‘sinister contrast’ between them. East Egg (where Tom and
Daisy live) is the fashionable suburb which houses families with
long-established generations of wealth – the ‘royalty’ of New York. West Egg, by comparison
is no less splendid: white palatial mansions are dotted along tree-lined avenues and Wealth
is everywhere. The reason that West Egg, the ‘nouveau riche’, is ‘less fashionable’ than its
neighbor is because the inhabitants have not been born into well-established ‘money’
families. The have made their fortune from scratch, emerging from a natural state of
poverty to become a ‘self-made men’.
The green light is a permanently lit electric lamp that marks
the end of Daisy and Tom's boat dock. It's a way to warn boats
at night or during inclement weather that there is a structure
there—this is why it is always on. The light stands for
everything that has been driving Gatsby over the past five
years: the desire to be with Daisy. It could represent money -
the quest for enough money to marry her – green is the color
of money in America and this could be a symbol of “the
dream” and achieving wealth. It also represents the delusion
that she has been as obsessed with him as he has been with
her. Green can represent jealously and envy and this could
indeed be applied to Gatsby’s desire to be part of East Egg
society.
Main Events
Nick Carraway introduces himself briefly and reveals that he returned West to process
the events of the summer. He reveals that he moved to NYC to work in bonds and rented a
cottage in West Egg (despite being from “old money”). He has dinner at cousin Daisy’s who
lives in East Egg (where the people
with old money live).
A sharp contrast is seen between
Nick, hard-working and living in a
modest house, and
The Buchanan’s, living a luxurious
life filled with leisurely pursuits and
not much else. Nick meets Jordan
Baker, a successful professional
golfer and Daisy’s old friend and
houseguest. Like Daisy, she seems
bored and a bit shallow.
Tom recommends a racist book and reveals his deep insecurities,
although he dresses and acts in an arrogant and aggressive manner. His
mistress calls during dinner and Tom leaves to answer the call, with no
effort to hide what everyone seems to know.
Daisy pretends it is business, but runs out after Tom, visibly upset. She unintentionally
reveals that she is cynical and disillusioned through her comments about life and her
daughter. Jordan comments to Nick that the caller – a woman – should have been discreet
enough not to call at dinner time.
Once home, Nick sees Gatsby gazing across the water at a green light. He does not
introduce himself because Gatsby looks like he’d prefer to be alone.
Key Quotes
1. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've
been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the
people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." (1.1-2)
Explanation: Nick wants to present himself as a wise, objective, nonjudgmental
observer. but in the course of the novel, we realize that he is not as objective as he
claims to be
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2. "Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don't look
out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's
been proved."
"Well, these books are all scientific," insisted Tom, glancing at her impatiently.
"This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It's up to us who are the dominant
race to watch out or these other races will have control of things." (1.78-80)
Explanation: Tom says this at dinner about a book he’s really into. Tom is introduced
as a bully and a chauvinist from the very beginning, and his casual racism here is a
good indicator of his callous disregard for human life. We will see that his fondness
for being “dominant” comes into play whenever he interacts with other people.
3. “I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in
this world, a beautiful little fool.” (1.118)
Explanation: Daisy tells Nick that these are the first words she said after giving birth
to her daughter.
Because Daisy has never had to struggle for anything, because of her material wealth
and the fact that she has no ambitions or goals, her life feels empty and meaningless
to her. Based on her own experiences, she assumes that a woman who is too stupid
to realize that her life is pointless will be happier than one (like Daisy herself) who is
restless and filled with dissatisfaction and boredom.
4. But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be
alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far
as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced
seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far
away, that might have been the end of a dock. (1.152)
The first time Nick sees him, Gatsby is making this half-prayerful gesture to the green
light at the end of Daisy’s dock. This is our first glimpse of his obsession and his quest
for the unobtainable.
Themes and Symbols
● Love, Desire, and Relationships: Nick has several insights
into Tom and Daisy’s dysfunctional marriage. First, that Tom
is having an affair so indiscreet that everyone including
Jordan knows about it. Second, that Daisy is clearly miserable
about Tom’s cheating. But finally—and most importantly—
that Daisy simply will not leave no matter how terrible she
feels about his behavior. Their relationship, however flawed,
works for the two of them.
● Society and Class. “East Egg and West Egg”: Right away, we see the difference between
West Egg, the town of the vulgar nouveau riche and those driven by ambition to become
them, and East Egg, the place where the old money elite lives in more classy luxury.
● The American Dream: More universally, this desire to obtain something that is forever
just out of reach—and arguably can never actually be reached—is true for many of the
novel’s characters as they pursue their versions of the American Dream (the idea that
hard work alone will guarantee success). This dream relates to the idea of America as
the Land of Opportunity, and states that any man (note man), if he is willing to work
hard and improve himself, will find the means to do so there. Snobbery exists because it is
a class system within a class system – a reminder that, no matter how well you do in life, there
will always be someone ‘above’ sneering at your efforts.
The Greed Light: the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future.
Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a
guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated
with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal.
