英美文学作品选读-lecture 10-The Great Gatsby.pptVIP

A marriage of jealousy, resentment and acrimony * * 2. The Setting and the Structure 2.1 Setting(Major settings and subsettings ) -West Egg (where Gatsby and Nick lived; the less fashionable; new rich) -East Egg (where the Buchanans lived, the fashionable; old money) -The Valley of Ashes (where the Wilsons lived, the desolate wasteland) - New York City (where anything went, money was made, bootleggers flourished, parties and affairs came one after another) 2. The Setting and the Structure 2.2 Structure One of the most well written and tightly structured novels in American literature; using flashback; combination of the past and the present 3 The Major Characters Jay Gatsby (originally James Jimmy Gatz) ,the title character and protagonist of the novel, living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune. He was born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota; working for a millionaire made him dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth. When he met Daisy while training to be an officer in Louisville, he fell in love with her. Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity, as he was willing to do anything to gain the social position he thought necessary to win Daisy. Gatsby had courted but lost Daisy due to their different social standing. 3.3 The Major Characters Tom Buchanan —an arrogant old money millionaire who lives on East Egg. Daisys immensely wealthy husband, once a member of Nicks social club at Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him. He has no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes ou