Gatsby’s costumes in the book show us that he has transformed himself into someone that can show off how rich he is. When he first met Daisy in five years he is wearing a white flannel suit, silver shirt and gold coloured tie. By wearing this, when you first see him you would automatically think that he is wealthy. Gatsby probably did this on purpose so that Daisy could see how rich he is now. When Gatsby is at the Plaza Hotel when the fight happens he is wearing a pink suit. This also to emphasise just how rich he is so then he can convince Daisy to leave Tom and be with him. He also has many nice shirts in the scene when Daisy starts crying, saying it’s because they are such nice shirts but really she is crying over what she could’ve had. By looking at the clothes that Gatsby wears, you can tell he is wealthy because of the materials and colours. He wears them because when people look at him, he wants them to know that he is wealthy.
The props that are used also show how rich he has become. They provide evidence of his lifestyle and backstory that he has made up. His car is yellow which could show that he wanted to buy one that would stand out to others. The little white card that he shows to the police officer shows us that he must have done something to get that card which could have something to do with how he got his money. When he meets Daisy at the start, he orders heaps of flowers. “The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o’clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby’s, with innumerable receptacles to contain it. This shows how much he still wants Daisy. The photos that he has tell us that he uses them to back up his backstory if people don’t believe him like the photo from Oxford and Dan Cody. The photos he has of Daisy emphasise how much of an obsession he has with her.
The setting of the stage is mainly his house. His house is massive and shows off his money hugely. Owl Eyes refers to Gatsby as a ‘regular Belasco’. This means that he makes his house seem so real when it’s really all for show. It helps present his illusion of himself. Gatsby throws massive parties in hopes of Daisy wandering in one day. If she came then she could see how far he has come and what he can do. When Him, Daisy and Nick go over to his house, they go through the front gates because that is the best and most impressive angle of it and he wants to show off to Daisy. “Instead of taking the short cut along the Sound we went down to the road and entered by the big postern. With enchanted murmurs Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odour of jonquils and the frothy hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odour of kiss-me-at-the-gate.”
Gatsby speech and dialogue comes across as kind of forced and practiced. In the book it says, ‘Whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.’ This shows that Gatsby was careful of what he was saying and didn’t want to say something that was out of character for his new persona. His phrase ‘Old Sport’ also sounds forced like he is making himself say it to sound more sophisticated. In the notebook that Gatsby’s father shows Nick that has the timetable in it also has scheduled in, Poise and elocution. This means that he was training himself to speak with clear and expressive speech and good pronunciation. He is training himself because he wants people to believe that he has a wealthy family. If he has a posh way of speaking, it will make people believe that he has grown up speaking like that and his backstory will become more believable.
Gatsby goes to great lengths to construct his backstory. No one really knows who he actually is so they made up rumours like he killed a man and he was a German spy in the war. When Gatsby tells Nick his ‘true’ backstory, he has the photos and medal to back it up which makes it suspicious that he just happens to carry them with him all the time.”‘Well, I’m going to tell you something about my life,’ he interrupted. ‘I don’t want you to get a wrong idea of me from all the stories you hear.'”
Fitzgerald intends to show us that Gatsby’s whole lifestyle and the way he presents himself is all for show and he made it all up j ust to get what he really wants, which is Daisy. By having a fancy house, fancy clothes and talking fancy then he will fit in with the rich people, even though it is all based on lies.
1 Comment
Add Yours →Hi Lucy,
You have made a strong start with this. Well done!
Here are a few things that you can think about doing or asking yourself in order to strengthen your work:
Add quotations to each of your answers. Find quotes from the novel that support what it is you are saying and explain how each one aligns with your ideas about the different aspects of Gatsby’s character.
Sometimes you aren’t expanding into the ‘why’ of things. Why would Gatsby want to practice speaking so formally? Make sure all of your ideas are explained in depth to your reader.
Begin to reflect on the purpose of all of these things- why do you think Fitzgerald (the author) wrote this character like this? This is called considering the author’s purpose. Have a crack at it for each category. You can get yourself started. by using the phrase “Fitzgerald intends to…”
Keep up the great effort!
Mrs.