The Great Gatsby Key Quotes Graded A+
'I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'
️️Chapter 1
Daisy
Struggles of women
Women had the right to vote, but people disliked this.
Women were the property of their husbands.
Dais...
'I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'
✔️✔️Chapter 1
Daisy
Struggles of women
Women had the right to vote, but people disliked this.
Women were the property of their husbands.
Daisy feels unfulfilled with her life.
Daisy believes her daughter's life will be easier and more enjoyable if she is beautiful, but without the
desire for independence and freedom.
'Old sport' ✔️✔️Throughout
Gatsby
Used among wealthy people in England and America
Used by Gatsby to build up his image as a man of old money.
Tom and Jordan are both skeptical of Gatsby's use of the phrase, showing how difficult it is to pass
yourself off as old money when you aren't.
'...he was running down like an overwound clock'. ✔️✔️Chapter 5, when Gatsby meets Daisy
Gatsby displays a loss of control, which contrasts his carefully constructed persona.
Foreshadows the tragedy of the climax: clocks are symbols of time, and Gatsby is 'running down'.
'Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!' ✔️✔️Chapter 6
Gatsby
Shows his naivete, optimism, and delusion about what is possible in life.
Hint at desperation; desperate delusions.
His attitude differs from Nick's cynicism.
, 'Your wife doesn't love you. She's never loved you. She loves me.' ✔️✔️Chapter 7
Gatsby
Gatsby finds it impossible to believe that Daisy could have changed or loved anyone else since they were
together.
He sounds desperate and delusional.
Shows how badly he wants his delusions to be true, but also how confident he is that they are.
Link to 'can't repeat the past'
'Gatsby believed in the green light' ✔️✔️Chapter 9
Nick
Nick's final analysis of Gatsby is that he believed in a future he could never attain.
Gatsby believed in a world and future better than the one he found himself in.
'...just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had.'
✔️✔️Chapter 1
Nick is judgmental, privileged, and thoughtful.
'Only Gatsby...was exempt from my reaction - Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an
unaffected scorn.' ✔️✔️Chapter 1
Lets the reader know that Nick will become close to Gatsby whilst everyone else earns his 'unaffected
scorn'.
Poses the question, 'Why does Nick come to care for Gatsby if he represents everything Nick hates?'
'Unaffected scorn' furthers the reader's impression of Nick as judgmental.
From this quote, the reader becomes suspicious of all characters except for Gatsby going into the story.
'I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known'. ✔️✔️Chapter 3
Nick
The reader begin to suspect that Nick does not always tell the truth- if someone has to claim their
honest, it suggests they do things that are not trustworthy.
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