Characterisation of Gatsby by Ailsa McCreadie https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby 1. 3 words to describe Gatsby 2. 3 quotes to show it (and when they happen) 3. 3 stylistic devices 4. Link to context (what is Fitzgerald saying) en-us 2016-02-23 12:33:12 UTC 2025-10-29 16:59:26 UTC hello@padlet.com Adi  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96678539 1. Self-made
a. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one . . . just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." Chapter 1
2. Optimistic
b. 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. Chapter 1
3. Charming
c. It was one of those smiles with the quality of eternal reassurance. Chapter 3
-
3. Green light (hope metaphor)', foreshadowing (library).  Similes (A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat)
4. Green light -> American dream
Façade-> Decadence/Immorality
Self-made-> American dream 

Please add in 3 quotes for EACH characteristic


]]> 2016-02-23 12:53:57 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96678539 Juan Diego Ramirez https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96684075 1.) Naive, New Money, Friendly,  In love, Liar, 
2.) "Gatsby's entire life is devoted to the faint hope of rekindling his old affair with Daisy." 
3.) Symbolism, the colors adopt certain meaning throughout the novel; green light- hope, yellow- fake gold
4.) The consequences of ones man obssesions, and how the world and society practically forced him to change and kill himself to become a new person.]]> 2016-02-23 13:16:14 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96684075 Ana  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96718610 1. Hopeful
"an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person ". 
-The green light as a symbol for hope and to a certain extent also Daisy, yet she (or what he hopes for) is unachievable. Fitzgerald comments on the illusion of the American Dream and the impossibility to achieve it. 
2. Extravagant
"a whole pitiful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums". 
-By listing and repeating the word "and" the extravagance of Gatsby's parties is conveyed by depicting them as overwhelming. 
3. Artificial 
"muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse" , "The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. 
- The symbolism of the library shows how Gatsby was perceived by the outside world, yet when one takes a closer look at the details, the truth is uncovers. Hence the importance of chapter 6, where the reader is introduced to the details of Gatsby's past. Fitzgerald structures it this way so that Gatsby is portrayed in a positive light. 

-Furthermore, the symbol of the clock also adds to Gatsby's characterisation: "he was running down like an over-wound clock." This simile foreshadows Gatsby's tragic death if related to the meaning behind the falling clock, an impossibility of repeating the past. ]]> 2016-02-23 14:45:36 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96718610 Laura Gonzalez  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96718808 He represents the failure of the american dream. As he dies trying to reach his goal of getting Daisy in order to fully belong into the society the audience perceives how the American Dream is a lie and only those born in upper classes can thrive though it. ]]> 2016-02-23 14:45:56 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96718808 Francisco https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96718860 Enigmatic
"Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once." Pg 48 (Chapter 3)
Pretentious
Repetition of "Old sport" Pg 52 (Chapter 3)
Friendly
"One of those rare smiles with  a quality of eternal reassurance in it." Pg 53 (Chapter 3)
------
Symbolism of the library: Represents his façade/persona. "If one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse." Fitzgerald uses it as a way to demonstrate how critical 1920s American society were towards those who were considered New Money, as their wealth was not inherited and thus it was considered less honourable. 

His persona  was created as a way to be socially accepted, he changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby as he thinks it will help him accomplish his dreams. His car is yellow in order to represent the fact that he is hidding his true self. 

Constant repetition of the expression "Old Sport" shows how comtrived his vocabulary is and how he wants people to see him as a sophisticate and well educated person. He tries to be recognized as "Old Money" as people will see him as a respectable person.

The clock represents how hopeful he is, as he says "Why of course you can" (Chapter 6 pg 118), showing that he is optimistic and believes that by creating a persona he will get his old life back.]]> 2016-02-23 14:46:02 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96718860 MAG https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96719404 1 and 2Ambitious
"Gatsby bought that house so 
that Daisy would be just across the bay' " (Chapter 4, Page 137)

Mysterious  
"Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once." (30)

Romantic hero, hopeful dreamer 
"Extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again" (Chapter 1, Page 4)

3. T.J Eckleburg eyes 
"The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose" (2) 
-Sees everything 






]]> 2016-02-23 14:47:08 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96719404 Carlos Calderón https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96719993 1.Heroic criminal
a. "They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."
2. Determined
b."So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end. "
3. Optimistic
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the future that year by year recedes before us. "

]]> 2016-02-23 14:48:22 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96719993 Adolfo https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96721750 1. Mysterious, Artifice, Hopeful
2. Mysterious = "It was Mr. Gatsby's mansion. Or rather, as I didn't know Mr. Gatsby it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name"

Artifice = "He snatched the book from me and replaced it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse"

Hopeful = "devoted to the faint hope of rekindling his old affair with Daisy"

3. Gatsby's Mansion. Symbolic to the emptiness of the Roaring 20's.

New Money. Symbolic for the adquicition of wealth through work and not by heritage.

Green Light. Represents the hopes and dreams of Gatsby as well as the physical and emotional distance between him and Daisy.


4. The characterisation of Gatsby becomes critical toward the Roaring 20's, mainly to those that achieved wealth though improper and honourless means, in Gatsby's case its bootlegging, as they are not following the principles of the American Dream.



 
  ]]> 2016-02-23 14:52:13 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96721750 Sebastian sebastianfiguer https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96734442
Confident "They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart man." (Chapter 1) - "Oh, I've been in several things," he corrected himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. (Chapter 5) - "Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" (Chapter 6).

Hopeless romantic "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams — not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion." (Chapter 5) - "He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God." (Chapter 6)]]> 2016-02-23 15:21:48 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96734442 Maria Alejandra H https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96754752
1. New money
Hopefull
Mysterious

2. Quotes: 
The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God— chapter 6 pg 105 book "she was the firts'nice' girl he has ever know"- ch 8 pg 154—  " he might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretences" ch 8 pg 155 — " He felt married to her, that was all" ch 8 pg 155

3. Stylistic devices:
 "her voice is full of money" metaphor — " gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor" simil and metaphor ch 8 pg 15

]]> 2016-02-23 16:12:03 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96754752 Catalina  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96761786 -façade about himself, creates a complicated lie about his life in order to ensure status and wealth
"Did I tell you about the books? They’re real"

Hopefull that his efforts will make Daisy fall in love with him and that they will repeat the past
"You never loved him.’'

Tries to fit in the old money, yet he never can and beleives that Daisy will love him if he has money

]]> 2016-02-23 16:28:36 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96761786 Lina https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96907769 1. Illusion (fake) 
Naive / hopeful
Materialistic
2. "If one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse"
- "Can't repeat the past? (...) Why of course you can!"
"Her voice is full of money"
3. - Library symbolic of the illusion, if one book falls then the whole library(illusion) will fall apart 
- symbol of the green light, represents his hope for Daisy which is an unachievable dream
- symbol of Gatsby's mansion, completely  ostentatious because he believes wealth is everything
4. The criticism of Gatsby reflects Fitzgerald's personal views in relation to the people in the roaring twenties.]]> 2016-02-24 04:45:08 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96907769 Catalina González  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96965923 Gatsby creates a persona, changing his name, having opulent parties, he is optimistic, unrealistic, romantic, and haves a extraordinary an gift of hope. He creates rumors about himself and we know it because of nicks narrative voice.]]> 2016-02-24 13:02:02 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96965923 Laura Peralta  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96998864 1.  American Dream 
New money 
Ambitious 

2. "I thought you inherited your money." 

"I did, old sport," he said automatically, "but I lost most of it in the big panic – the panic of the war." 

I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, "That's my affair," before he realized that it wasn't the appropriate reply. 

"Oh, I've been in several things," he corrected himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I'm not in either one now." (5.97-103)

"The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God— chapter 6 pg 105 book" 

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

3. metaphor
 "Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily." (Pg 93)

Symbolism
"His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy white face came up to his own." (Pg 112)

Hyperbole
"But his heart was in constant, turbulent riot." (Pg 99)

Simile
"He was running down like an overwound clock." (Pg 93)







]]> 2016-02-24 14:44:48 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96998864 Manuela Fernández and Daniel Sanchez. https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96999666 1. - Mysterious : "It was Mr. Gatsby's mansion. Or rather, as I didn't know Mr. Gatsby it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name"

- Hopefull:  "If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.… [Gatsby had] an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again."
- materialistic: "Gatsby's house is a factual imitation of some hotel in Ville in Normandy"

3- in chapter five, Fitzgerald uses a lot of diction to describe Gatsby's relationship with Daisy, simile,- " he is pale as death" (91) 
- narrative voice of nock to learn about Gatsby's past life: ―"He‘s a bootlegger...One time he killed a man who had found out that he...‖ (61, ?)
- symbolism of the green light: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. "
- hyperbole: "But his heart was in constant, turbulent riot." 

4: context: 


]]> 2016-02-24 14:46:34 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96999666 Dominique Andrade Ochoa  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96999911 1. Ambitious, Determined, illusion 

2.
- "I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. "You can't repeat the past."
"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!"

-"He was a son of God"

- "See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. But what do you want?" 


3. 
- Symbolism color Green- American Dream 
Gatsbys books- illusion, fakeness. 
West egg- new money 

- hyperbole: sun  of God . Ambition, decadence of faith and religion. 






]]> 2016-02-24 14:47:06 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/96999911 Juan Sebastian Vergel  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97002611 1. Mysterious, charming and a dreamer

2. 

3. Imagery: "Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes." (Pg 86)

Hyperbole:"But his heart was in constant, turbulent riot." (Pg 99)
]]> 2016-02-24 14:52:54 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97002611 Nicolas Martinez https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97278984 1. Optimist, reserved, confident, ambitious, new money.

2."I don't think she ever loved him." Gatsby turned around from a window and looked at me challengingly. "You must remember, old sport, she was very excited this afternoon..."

"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. "


]]> 2016-02-25 14:43:36 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97278984 Angelina Raganato https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97290207 1. New money, misterious, romantic, optimistic, illusionist 
2. -"See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?" (3.49-50)
- Nick: "You can't repeat the past!"
Gatsby: "yes, of course you can!"
- "her voice was full of money"
3. Symbolism: Green light -> dollar (money), yellow car -> fake gold (new money).
- simile: "he was running down like an overwound clock."
4. In 1925, however, the novel served as a snapshot of the frenzied post-war society known as the Jazz Age, while today it provides readers with, among other things, a portal through which to observe life in the 1920s. Part of Fitzgerald's charm in The Great Gatsby, in fact, is his ability to encapsulate the mood of a generation during a politically and socially crucial and chaotic period of American history.

]]> 2016-02-25 15:08:38 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97290207 Alejandra Rivas Barona  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97401229 - Gatsby created a persona, false image of what he wanted to be and achieve in his life.  
-American Dream:  Gatsby is living the american dream as he build his fortune from his own hands, but in order to complete this dream he needs.
- Great? Gatsby: 
Great: he followed his dreams naively and parley of achieving love but is not great because the means to achieve his dream was corrupted. 
Green light on Daisy deck shows hope of Gatsby getting Daisy back. This fight of having Daisy back have todo with money, because as the roaring 20`s was based of materialism, the hope of Gastby was based on money. 
-Gatsby death: This represent that he did not achieve his dream. The death of Gatsby represent the consequences of being immoral.  Also the death of gatsby foreshadows the decay of 1929 because the way he obtains his dream is by corruption, and represent the materialism of the decade. ]]> 2016-02-25 19:51:28 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/97401229 Nicole Broersma https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104728408 Gatsby:
-Jay Gatsby was self made by James Gatz, he created a person for his new life. For his "new money" life. He is surrounded by luxury and mystery. Gatsby’s life is an illusion,Fitzgerald shows his background later on the book to emphasize on the theatrical quality to approach life. Is Fitzgerald way of making a critic towards the roaring twenties, presenting it as a reckless indulgence. Develops an obsession with his american dream, Daisy. Nevertheless, his obsession turns into an illusion due to his lies, unreachable. 
]]> 2016-04-08 02:25:01 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104728408 Juan Camilo Sánchez https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104899968
"I heard he killed a guy.
I heard he's a German spy.
No, he's not.  He's a relative of the Kaiser.
Everyone knows he's a bootlegger.
He's an Oxford man.
He's a great war hero."

- Different rumours about what people started concluding from the lack of identity or mystery Gatsby's past represents.

2. He is ambitious, determined and innocent. 

3. Gatsby's books which represent how fake his persona is, and illusion and vulnerability to collapse.

4. "sun of god" is what they describe him like, which shows materialism and as a consequence the decadence of religion in the roaring 20's where happiness was brought upon capital.

]]> 2016-04-09 23:45:28 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104899968 Maria Jose Cast https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104954469 1. 
- Illusion
- Ambitious/illegal
- Dreamer

2. - ¨It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole ex- ternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on YOU with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. " 
- ¨I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of sideline, you understand. And I thought that if you don’t make very much—You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?¨
  - ¨Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning¨

3. Symbolism: 
Green light: Aspirations of the money and status he desires. 
Library: the hollowness of having money just for show. 
Gatsby´s house: Wealth and money are everything one must desire. 

4. He shows the 1920´s context and its characters as a decadent time where people only care about obtaining wealth living morals and values aside in order to achieve whatever they want. No one cares about anyone but themselves showing how money and the American Dream made everyone reckless and ambitious but in a bad way. 
 

]]> 2016-04-11 00:05:39 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104954469 Laura Chaves Garcia  https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104965940  Characterisation of Gatsby 

Materialistic  / Obsessive /  Hopeful 

2.  Materialistic: "muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse" , "The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. 

  Obsessive: "I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. "You can't repeat the past."
"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!”


    Hopeful: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”



3. Symbolism library : The symbolism of the library represents Gatsby´s persona. It indicates that if anything fell apart, his whole life will be destroyed because his life was based on a lie. His life was an illusion, he would always be new money and would never belong to that world. 

Symbolism green light: The symbolism of the green light, indicates Gatsby´s naiveness and hopefulness towards achieving the unachievable American Dream. The green light (representing the American Dream) will always be further away for those dreaming to belong to a society you had to be born in. 

4. Linking Gatsby´s characterisation back to context, it is evident that Fitzgerald is portraying in Gatsby the failed attempt at achieving the inutile American Dream. Through the characterisation of Gatsby, Fitzgerald criticises the materialistic and superficial perception of life of the “Roaring 20s”  


]]> 2016-04-11 02:34:54 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/104965940 https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/228929903 2018-02-07 02:31:57 UTC https://padlet.com/amccreadie/Gatsby/wish/228929903