How does Fitzgerald tell the story in Chapter VI of 'The Great Gatsby'?

I never quite understood what I should say about the use of time and sequence in Chapter Six. Could anybody help?

(@kingaaran - I thought you'd be good for this :colondollar:

)

Reply 1

crashMATHS

Original post by ivybridge

I never quite understood what I should say about the use of time and sequence in Chapter Six. Could anybody help?

(@kingaaran - I thought you'd be good for this :colondollar:

)

Well it leads on from chapter 5, the pivot of the entire narrative - what is the structural significance of revealing Gatsby's past straight after? Why use anachronism? Why did Nick not just tell us before? Remember this is metafiction, Nick knows that he is a writing a story...

The 'riches to rags' tale unravels this persona of Gatsby, allowing us to see him as a true person. Consider the significance of echoes within the story that link back to the little 'hints' of Gatsby that Nick gave us earlier and the imagery that acts to foreshadow his later doom.

The narrative perspective seems to switch in form; it is still Nick, but he takes more of a detached, extradiegetic (and even voyeuristic) place in this chapter. Why is this?

Contrast between Tom and Gatsby, 'I believe the man is coming' - this can be interlinked with the idea of class that Nick just revealed is Gatsby's downfall. Does this chapter, thus, become a book in itself that should be titled 'all the reasons Gatsby can never be with Daisy'? Fitzgerald gives us a series of reasons, each of which amplify the tragic qualities of this story.

You could consider Fitzgerald's use of analepsis at the end of the chapter too. What is the significance of him opening and ending with a flashback to the past? Why does the story go, past, present, past, is there no future for Gatsby and his dream? The imagery of moonlight at the end was striking, if I remember correctly.

Sorry, there's not a lot, I just did this from memory - I haven't picked up Gatsby since the AS exam!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

ivybridge

Original post by kingaaran

Well it leads on from chapter 5, the pivot of the entire narrative - what is the structural significance of revealing Gatsby's past straight after? Why use anachronism? Why did Nick not just tell us before? Remember this is metafiction, Nick knows that he is a writing a story...

The 'riches to rags' tale unravels this persona of Gatsby, allowing us to see him as a true person. Consider the significance of echoes within the story that link back to the little 'hints' of Gatsby that Nick gave us earlier and the imagery that acts to foreshadow his later doom.

The narrative perspective seems to switch in form; it is still Nick, but he takes more of a detached, extradiegetic (and even voyeuristic) place in this chapter. Why is this?

Contrast between Tom and Gatsby, 'I believe the man is coming' - this can be interlinked with the idea of class that Nick just revealed is Gatsby's downfall. Does this chapter, thus, become a book in itself that should be titled 'all the reasons Gatsby can never be with Daisy'? Fitzgerald gives us a series of reasons, each of which amplify the tragic qualities of this story.

You could consider Fitzgerald's use of analepsis at the end of the chapter too. What is the significance of him opening and ending with a flashback to the past? Why the story go, past, present, past, is there no future for Gatsby and his dream? The imagery of moonlight at the end was striking, if I remember correctly.

Sorry, there's not a lot, I just did this from memory - I haven't picked up Gatsby since the AS exam!

Cheers bro! Yeah, I know, I am just resitting this exam to boost my UMS :smile:

Thanks so much, man.

Reply 3

crashMATHS

Original post by ivybridge

Cheers bro! Yeah, I know, I am just resitting this exam to boost my UMS :smile:

Thanks so much, man.

Btw, you're going to want to be extremely careful when you talk about time. I did so last year and when I ordered my script back, both the initial and remarking examiner commented that it is 'not quite the narrative method'. Just be very careful to make the method of telling the story (perhaps use that word) very clear - and that goes for any other technique you talk about.

Reply 4

ivybridge

Original post by kingaaran

So you mean constantly referring to how it tells the story not just how and why it's present? :smile:

Reply 5

crashMATHS

Original post by ivybridge

So you mean constantly referring to how it tells the story not just how and why it's present? :smile:

How, not why.

Why is AO3 and is not really important here. You want to talk about method, authorial crafting, how Fitzgerald tells his story and the significance of this with relation to the plot.

You should say why he does it to help him tell his story (i.e. what does it help propel, reveal, etc), but not what he was trying to comment on about society, for example. That is for the even numbered question.

Reply 6

ivybridge

Original post by kingaaran

Indeed

Reply 7

TheonlyMrsHolmes

Original post by ivybridge

I never quite understood what I should say about the use of time and sequence in Chapter Six. Could anybody help?

(@kingaaran - I thought you'd be good for this :colondollar:

)

I'm re-sitting too! :tongue:

Reply 8

ivybridge

Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes

I'm re-sitting too! :tongue:

Yay! What would you say about it? :smile:

Reply 9

ivybridge

Original post by kingaaran

I dunno, I know what the time and sequence stuff is in this chapter, it's more just the effect it has. You feel like you're being repetitive - it makes readers engaged, it tells us the truth about Gatsby, blah blah blah. I dunno...

Reply 10

crashMATHS

Original post by ivybridge

You want to link to the events earlier or later in the novel and how these narrative methods allow for earlier events to be better understood, for later events to be prepared for (or perhaps misguided towards) or how the plot is propelled at that very instant. There's plenty to say.

I found this paragraph I wrote about chapter 2 from last year:

Fitzgerald’s characterisation of Myrtle contrasts her with Daisy. “Thickish…and faintly stout”, Myrtle is exaggeratedly Edwardian. Her style embodies her status and alerts the reader to how, as a kept woman, she is Tom’s antidote to modern times. Fitzgerald thus develops the plot by suggesting why Tom has a mistress and contributing to the tension between Tom and his environment. Before introducing us to Myrtle’s apartment, Fitzgerald uses the vignette of the dog-seller to foreshadow Myrtle’s shifting self. The man bears an “absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller”, just as Myrtle, dressed in chiffon, will later bear an absurd resemblance to Daisy. “All kinds”, the puppies can be any kind “you want”, switching from police dog to Airedale, boy to bitch. Like Myrtle, they are “indeterminate”. His characterisation of the McKees, too, who talk about making something of Myrtle’s dress and doing something with her, further develops the theme of deception: a trick of the light could make her look like she belongs with Tom naturally, developing the dysfunction within the novel.