Flashcards for The Great Gatsby

Daisy Buchanan

Daisy Buchanan is the enchanting, elusive focus of The Great Gatsby, serving as both a romantic ideal and a stark symbol of the American Dream's emptiness.

character

George Wilson

George Wilson owns a dilapidated garage and gas station in the Valley of Ashes, the bleak industrial area between West Egg and New York City.

character

Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby is the enigmatic character at the center of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby — a self-made millionaire whose opulent mansion in West Egg and extravagant parties have one obsessive goal: winning back Daisy Buchanan, the woman he loved before the war.

character

Jordan Baker

Jordan Baker is a professional golfer and a close friend of Daisy Buchanan, who acts as Nick Carraway's main social guide into the dazzling yet corrupt world of East Egg society.

character

Meyer Wolfsheim

Meyer Wolfsheim is a mysterious figure from New York's underbelly, serving as living evidence of Gatsby's criminal connections and the moral decay lurking beneath the Jazz Age's dazzling facade.

character

Myrtle Wilson

Myrtle Wilson is a secondary yet essential character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, acting as a dark reflection of Daisy Buchanan and a symbol of how the American Dream is brutally out of reach for those not in the privileged class.

character

Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway serves as the first-person narrator and moral compass of The Great Gatsby.

character

Owl Eyes

Owl Eyes is a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, but he carries a significant symbolic weight.

character

Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan is the main antagonist of the novel and a former Yale football star, whose imposing physique and old-money arrogance are evident from his first appearance in East Egg.

character

“Her voice is full of money.”

This line is spoken by Jay Gatsby to Nick Carraway in Chapter 7 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, during a discussion about Daisy Buchanan.

Jay Gatsby · Chapter 7

“Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.”

This line is spoken by Nick Carraway, the first-person narrator of the novel, in the opening paragraphs of Chapter 1.

Nick Carraway (narrator) · Chapter 1

“And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy.”

This clever, paradoxical remark is made by Jordan Baker during one of Gatsby's lavish parties in West Egg.

Jordan Baker · Chapter 3

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness.”

This critical observation comes from Nick Carraway, the novel's first-person narrator, near the end of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Nick Carraway · Chapter 9

“Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!”

This powerful line is delivered by Jay Gatsby to Nick Carraway in Chapter 6 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925).

Jay Gatsby · Chapter 6

“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.”

This line is spoken by Nick Carraway, the first-person narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), in Chapter 4.

Nick Carraway (narrator) · Chapter 4

“The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”

This striking observation is made by Nick Carraway, the novel's first-person narrator, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925).

Nick Carraway (narrator)

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

This closing line is delivered by Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in the book's final paragraph.

Nick Carraway (narrator) · Chapter 9 (final chapter)

“I hope she'll be a fool — that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

This line is spoken by Daisy Buchanan to Nick Carraway soon after he arrives at the Buchanan estate in Chapter 1.

Daisy Buchanan · Chapter 1

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.”

This closing reflection comes from Nick Carraway, the novel’s first-person narrator, in the final pages of Chapter 9 — the book's last chapter.

Nick Carraway · Chapter 9

“No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.”

This line is spoken by Nick Carraway, the novel's first-person narrator, as he reflects on Jay Gatsby's obsessive love for Daisy Buchanan.

Nick Carraway (narrator) · Chapter 5

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'”

These are the opening lines of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), narrated by Nick Carraway as he reflects on advice his father gave him when he was young.

Nick Carraway (quoting his father) · Chapter 1

Gatsby's Parties

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby's extravagant parties reflect the emptiness and excess that lie at the core of the American Dream.

Gatsby's Shirts

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's flashy shirts highlight the empty indulgence of the American Dream and the pointless quest to use wealth to reclaim the past.

The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the faded billboard eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg symbolize the decline of moral and spiritual authority in modern America.

The Green Light

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock represents Gatsby's impossible desire—and, more broadly, the American Dream itself.

The Valley of Ashes

In The Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes reflects the grim reality behind the American Dream — highlighting the human toll of unchecked wealth and ambition.

White and Yellow/Gold Colors

In The Great Gatsby, white and yellow/gold serve as contrasting symbols.

Symbolism

Fitzgerald fills the novel with objects that hold deeper meanings beyond their literal uses.

Extended Metaphor

The green light serves as a powerful metaphor throughout the novel.

Imagery

Fitzgerald's writing is rich with sensory details that tie social and moral conditions to physical elements.

Motif

Heat recurs as a motif tied to violence, desire, and the moment when illusions come crashing down.

Irony

Irony runs deep throughout the novel, both in its structure and its dialogue.

Metaphor

Individual metaphors throughout the novel distill social observations into striking images.

Dramatic Monologue

Nick Carraway serves as a first-person narrator, essentially delivering an extended dramatic monologue: everything the reader learns comes through his perspective, shaped by his feelings and his blind spots.

Juxtaposition

Fitzgerald organizes the novel through ongoing contrasts of place, class, and character.

Pathetic Fallacy

Weather and the environment often reflect or even contrast with emotional states.

Allusion

The title of the novel hints at the "great man" biography tradition, but it’s used ironically for a criminal fantasist.

Simile

Fitzgerald's similes rank among the most admired in American prose fiction.

Conceit

Fitzgerald presents a complex idea of Gatsby as a product of his own imagination.

vulnerable

Open to being hurt emotionally or easily influenced by others; here it describes a period of youth when a person has not yet built up defenses against the world's harsh judgments.

adjective · Chapter 1

reserve judgment

To hold back from forming or expressing opinions about other people, especially critical ones, until you know them better or perhaps not at all.

phrase · Chapter 1

cardinal virtues

The most important moral qualities traditionally considered the foundation of good character — classically: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Here used loosely to mean a single outstanding personal virtue.

phrase · Chapter 3

involuntarily

Without choosing to do so; as a reflex or automatic reaction rather than a deliberate decision.

adverb · Chapter 1

distinguished

Made out or perceived something clearly, especially something faint or far away; here means managed to see or identify something in the darkness.

verb · Chapter 1

grotesque

Strangely distorted or unnatural in a way that is ugly and unsettling; here describes ash heaps that have taken on twisted, eerie shapes.

adjective · Chapter 2

retinas

The light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye that receives images; here used to describe the painted pupils of a giant billboard advertisement, giving the eyes an almost human anatomy.

noun · Chapter 2

nonexistent

Not real or not present; here describes the face that should hold the billboard's spectacles but simply does not exist, making the eyes float eerily in space.

adjective · Chapter 2

deft

Quick, neat, and skillful in movement; here used with dark irony to describe the casual, practiced ease with which Tom delivers a violent blow.

adjective · Chapter 2

eternal reassurance

A sense of comfort and confidence that feels as though it will never fade or run out; used to describe the rare quality of Gatsby's smile that makes people feel permanently understood and accepted.

phrase · Chapter 3

fixed

Secretly arranged the outcome of a sporting event through bribery or corruption, so that the result was predetermined rather than honestly decided.

verb · Chapter 4

incredulously

In a way that shows disbelief or shock that someone could think something so obviously wrong; unable to accept what has just been said.

adverb · Chapter 4

decking it out

Decorating or adorning something lavishly; here means Gatsby kept adding glamorous details to the invented version of himself, making it more impressive and appealing.

phrase · Chapter 4

colossal

Enormous in size or degree, far beyond the ordinary; here describes the overwhelming, almost superhuman scale of Gatsby's dream and the power it holds over him.

adjective · Chapter 5

vitality

Intense, living energy and power; here it means the sheer force and life that Gatsby has pumped into his dream, making it more vivid than any real person could match.

noun · Chapter 5

illusion

A false belief or mental image that feels real but is not; here it refers to the idealized fantasy of Daisy and the future that Gatsby has built in his mind over many years.

noun · Chapter 5

diminished

Became smaller or less significant; here means the number of magical, hope-filled objects in Gatsby's world has shrunk by one now that the green light is no longer a symbol of longing.

verb · Chapter 5

conception

An idea or mental image of what something or someone should be; here it means the carefully imagined identity of 'Jay Gatsby' that the young James Gatz created and then lived out.

noun · Chapter 6

shiftless

Lazy and lacking ambition or drive; unwilling to work hard or make plans for the future. Used here to describe Gatsby's parents as people who never strove to improve themselves.

adjective · Chapter 6

gathered

Concluded or understood something from indirect clues rather than being told directly; here means Nick inferred Gatsby's deeper motive from what he said without Gatsby stating it outright.

verb · Chapter 6

unutterable

Too great, sacred, or overwhelming to be put into words; here describes Gatsby's private visions and dreams as things so profound that language cannot capture them.

adjective · Chapter 8

perishable

Capable of dying or decaying; subject to time and mortality. Here it contrasts Daisy's real, mortal, human breath with the immortal perfection of Gatsby's dreams.

adjective · Chapter 8

romp

To move or play freely and without restraint; here it means the mind ranging joyfully and without limit, like a god's imagination — a freedom Gatsby gives up the moment he commits to Daisy.

verb · Chapter 8

careless

Not merely inattentive but fundamentally indifferent to the harm caused to others; here it describes a moral recklessness in Tom and Daisy that lets them destroy lives and walk away untouched.

adjective · Chapter 7

ceaselessly

Without ever stopping; continuously and without pause. Here it describes how the current of time keeps pushing people back toward the past no matter how hard they strive forward.

adverb · Chapter 9

borne back

Carried or pushed backward by a force outside one's control; here the image is of boats unable to make headway against a current that keeps sweeping them in the opposite direction.

phrase · Chapter 9