THE GATSBY SURVIVAL KIT
A sheet to keep while we transcend into our literary voyage.
A reminder to my students about our Scottiepoo and what he wanted to achieve with The Great Gatsby:
“I want to write something new. Something extraordinary and simple and intricately patterned…This book will be a
consciously artistic achievement” –F. Scott Fitzgerald (So, at least in the case of this book, we teachers are not just blowing
smoke when we say the novel is jam packed with symbols and meaning. Fitzgerald purposefully wrote it that way.)
“Ms. Heath, I bet he just wrote about water but like, didn’t like, mean for it to mean anything.”
FALSE, MY SKEPTICAL STUDENT. ALLOW ME TO BE YOUR EDUCATIONAL TOUR GUIDE ON OUR LITERARY
ADVENTURE! Trust me, and I will not lead you astray!
Symbolism (enchanted objects) found in The Great Gatsby: (I’ve written them out for you, you’re welcome.)
Colors
Blue: Nonfulfillment and/or fantasy (which kind of go hand in hand. I would argue that those who are unfulfilled would
fantasize quite a bit about the aspects of their life that they are not stoked about.)
White: Describes the upper class, unblemished, unattainable. Can also mean innocence
Red: Violence (Notice how many things revolving around Tom are red, especially Tom and Daisy’s house)
Grey: Lifelessness, emptiness, and insignificance
Yellow: The coupled idea of wealth AND corruption (never one or the other, always both.)
The Green Light: Last year, I had written that the green light symbolized: “Hope, more specifically, Gatsby’s hopes”
After reading So We Read On, (you know, the book about the book The Great Gatsby that I asked to get for Christmas? Yeah.
That one. Your English teacher is a huge nerd. Use this to your advantage. I know my ish) I’m altering this line to say that the
green light represents yearning, more specifically Gatsby’s yearning.
Other Symbols
Eyes: Unbiased observers. This is seen in not only the character Owl Eyes, who is fascinated with Gatsby even while aware he
is a fraud (we see this in the party scene of chapter 3), but also in the billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes. These are later
described in the novel as “the eyes of God.” This is important not because they are “God’s” eyes, but because it represents an
observant, unbiased figure that cannot do anything, only watch those who act underneath them.
Some critics also argue that this should be taken as a sign that God has been replaced by capitalism. Instead of a truly religious
representation, the best this world can do is manifest God in a billboard – an advertisement.
Weather: As we read on, we will notice the “boiling point” of the book happens on the hottest day of the year. We should also
pay close attention to the rain, and how it interacts with Daisy and Gatsby (it serves as a barrier between the two of them).
**Also, So We Read On points out that “almost every page of the novel references water” (Corrigan, 36). I call baloney. But,
I’ve never tried to read The Great Gatsby while trying to look for every reference of water, so I challenge all of us to seek this
out. I assume Corrigan knows what’s up, I just never realized Fitz included water (which would also include rain, bodies of
water, bathtubs, fountains, drinks, etc.) on almost every page.**
Time: Watch for clocks (or any other object that may represent time…i.e. watches, seasons, the progression of when parties
happen) throughout the novel as well. Gatsby longs to “repeat the past,” and in doing so, is utterly obsessed with time.
Another concept to note:
Reading So We Read On, has really helped me to understand that while the symbols in the book are incredible (AND
important), nothing is as important as the statement Fitzgerald is making about social class. Reading with this idea in mind, it
will be important to notice the many times Fitzgerald writes about the “secret society” of the rich. For instance, even in chapter
1 we will read that Daisy “looked at [Nick] with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in
a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged." This is not an isolated incident, and there are several
remarks about how the upper class are a part of a society in which no one else can ever truly belong to.
Name: ___________________________
Date: _______
Assignment: With a partner, go through the first 3 chapters of The Great Gatsby and find an example of the symbols
below. Cite the text and the page number. Then, explain the relevance of symbol being there.
Blue:
The Green Light:
Red:
White:
Grey:
Yellow: