The Great Gatsby: Interpretations (OCR A Level English Literature)

The Great Gatsby: Interpretations

AO5 assesses your ability to understand different ways of reading and interpreting texts. Those different readings can take different forms, from interpretations by critics to watching and analysing different productions of a text.

There are numerous ways to explore different interpretations in order to meet the AO5 assessment criteria, and you must explore a range of secondary reading and perspectives to supplement your understanding of the text. These can include:

• Exploring critics

• Interpretations over time

• Dramatisations

Exploring critics

Different critics will offеr variеd insights and intеrprеtations of The Great Gatsby, and citations will lеnd crеdibility and authority to your analysis. Rеfеrеncing well-known critics demonstrates that your interpretation is groundеd in literary criticism. It will also еnhance thе validity of your argumеnt. By citing multiple critics, you can prеsеnt a morе comprehensive and balanced analysis and demonstrate the different range of perspectives and interpretations surrounding the novel.

Below are two notable critics who have commented on The Great Gatsby:

Barbara Will: “The Great Gatsby and the Unseen Word” (2005)

Barbara Will specialises in twentieth century literature, culture and history and has a keen interest in Anglo-American and French modernism. She has written an essay on The Great Gatsby and one of the scenes in the novel when the narrator erases an obscene word that is scrawled on Gatsby’s steps. Barbara Will focuses on what that scene means and what it symbolises.

• She starts by referencing the narrator’s line that “Gatsby turned out all right in the end”:

  • Despite Gatsby’s ongoing failures, he attains a form of greatness in the final paragraphs of the novel

• She references another critic by the name of Lionel Trilling, who states that Gatsby “comes inevitably to stand for America itself”:

  • The novel’s conclusion transforms Gatsby’s fate into a mythic allegory for the direction of the American nation and for the struggles and dreams of its citizens

• Nick Carraway, the narrator, is able to look beneath the superficial surface and sees a vital American hope, seeing Gatsby as the embodiment of this national impulse

• Gatsby’s story is portrayed as a collective American narrative, with his fate intertwined with that of the nation

• However, this ending contradicts Gatsby’s characterisation throughout the rest of the novel, where he is depicted as a corrupt force

• The text places its ending on the assumption that readers will forget the problematic aspects of Gatsby’s character

• The narrative deliberately incorporates the process of “forgetting” into its structure, as the penultimate scene, where Nick erases an obscene word scrawled on Gatsby’s steps, is crucial but the least examined

• By erasing the “obscene” word, he is repressing or erasing the version of Gatsby in the rest of the novel:

  • For most of the novel he is a “force of corruption: a criminal, a bootlegger, and an adulterer”, which does not fit the image of Gatsby that Nick portrayed when stating he “turned out all right in the end”

Peter Gregg Slater: “Ethnicity in The Great Gatsby” (1973)

Peter Gregg Slater is a retired professor of history, whose scholarship in American intellectual and cultural history is often referenced in both academic and popular publications. He has written many essays, including Ethnicity in The Great Gatsby.

• He states that the 1920s marked a period of heightened ethnic concern in American culture

• The essay aims to demonstrate that ethnic awareness is a significant element in The Great Gatsby

• Tom Buchanan makes blunt proclamations about ethnic affiliation and rivalry:

  • At the start of the novel, Tom talks of the “superior white race and the inferior colored races”, which he took from Goddard’s “The Rise of the Colored Empires”

  • During his confrontation with Gatsby, he initially uses language to demean his rival by attacking Gatsby’s social class and then turns his argument into a racial one, even though it was not relevant to their argument

• Nick disapproves of Tom’s chauvinism and prejudice, considering his ideas as “stale” and “impassioned gibberish”

• However, Nick’s awareness of ethnicity in The Great Gatsby is rooted in physical distinctions and mannerisms, reflecting an unstated belief in his own superiority

• During his drive with Gatsby, Nick applies stereotypes to Southeastern Europeans and black individuals, and scrutinises the Jewish Meyer Wolfsheim’s physical features in detail

• Gatsby’s ethnicity is vague and never really discussed in detail, so it could be inferred that he is a product of his dreams and his imagination

Interpretations over time

F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby in 1925 and, since then, society has changed a great deal in many ways. Below are some examples of critical reactions since the publication of The Great Gatsby.

Reactions on publication

• Upon publication, The Great Gatsby was generally unpopular:

  • Critics complained about its writing style and the underdeveloped characters

• Harvey Eagleton wrote in The Dallas Morning News that Fitzgerald showed a lot of promise but it was likely “to go unfulfilled” 

• Even the author’s friends were disappointed in the book:

  • His friend, Edith Wharton, stated that Fitzgerald needed to add more detail to Gatsby’s character in order to make “his final tragedy a tragedy”

• In The Chicago Sunday Tribune, on May 3rd 1925, the journalist HL Mencken tried to convince his readers that The Great Gatsby should not be considered a piece of serious literature:

  • He also stated that the author focused too much on narrative structure rather than characterisation

Reactions by the author

• Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to show the American Dream and its achievability 

• He lived during the Jazz Age, but struggled to fit in and gain wealth and success of his own

• Through the characters of Nick Carraway and Gatsby, Fitzgerald depicts his own struggles with unequited love, wealth and the disadvantages of having “new money”

• Fitzgerald wrote the story in 1924 while living in Paris

• His intention was to write about the American Dreamin a way that would go beyond everyday life

• After the success of his first novel, he gained some success and wealth, but still found it difficult to fit in:

  • The divide between “old money” and “new money” became his inspiration for East Egg and West Egg in the novel

• The inspiration for Daisy Buchanan was also based on Fitzgerald’s early life:

  • Like Gatsby, he was also unable to marry the woman he wanted to due to class and a lack of money

• He also took inspiration for Tom Buchanan from his first love’s father, who refused to let him marry her

• Fitzgerald spent the majority of his life struggling with wealth, success and alcohol

More recent reactions

• The novel is more popular today than it was during its publication

• Scholars study this novel to analyse social class and self-made wealth, as well as gender and race, among other things

• Its popularity rose in the 1950s, and by the 1960s, it became one of the great American novels

• The Great Gatsby has had six film adaptations

• In 1974, a version was released starring Robert Redford as Gatsby

• The most recent adaptation is Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the main character Gatsby

Dramatisation

Examining various productions on stage and screen of The Great Gatsby will help you to appreciate different interpretations of the characters and themes, and also how they may have evolved over time, reflecting shifts in society and culture.

Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film adaptation 

The 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann, follows the basic plot of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, but introduces some stylistic and narrative changes. This adaptation is known for its visually stunning and stylised approach, combining elements of the classic novel with modern cinematic techniques. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for its visuals and criticism for partially deviating from the source material.

• One of the chief differences is at the beginning of the film:

  • This sees the narrator, Nick Carraway, check into a mental asylum after a doctor diagnosed him with alcoholism

  • This is a departure from the novel, which states that Nick has “been drunk just twice in my life”

• Another difference is the romance between Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway, which the film chooses to omit:

  • In the novel, Jordan and Nick become a couple, but break up near the end of the novel

• When it comes to the racial references in the novel, Baz Luhrmann is careful to preserve the key passages from the novel about race:

  • These include Tom’s reference to a racist book at the start of the film, and Nick’s glimpse of wealthy black men and women driving past them

  • However, when it came to casting Meyer Wolfsheim, Luhrmann choose the Indian actor, Amitabh Bachchan, instead of a Jewish actor

  • This was in order to not present the character as stereotypical and, as a result, not to appear anti-semitic while still being able to preserve the idea of “otherness”

• At the end of the film, instead of Gatsby’s butler hearing gunshots, Luhrmann shows his murder:

  • Gatsby hears the phone ring and gets out of the pool, when he is then shot by George Wilson

• Finally, in the film, Gatsby’s father does not appear at the end and does not attend his funeral:

  • While there are not many people who attend Gatsby’s funeral in the novel, even less people attend it in the film

• The film retains the 1920s Jazz Age setting, but infuses it with modern music, blending the Roaring Twenties with contemporary music

• The visual style is characterised by opulence, vibrant colours and extravagant parties, capturing the lavish lifestyle of the characters

• The film explores Gatsby’s past through flashbacks, revealing his humble beginnings, but does not go into as much detail as the novel, especially regarding his relationship with Daisy and the intensity of his love

• The film depicts the volatile relationship between Myrtle and Tom, ultimately leading to a tragic accident

• The film retains the novel’s exploration of the American Dream, wealth and the moral decay of society during the Jazz Age

• The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock remains a powerful symbol of Gatsby’s unattainable dreams