Jay Gatsby

The costume

When James Gatz was seventeen, he reinvented himself into what he considered a better person – Jay Gatsby. He wanted to prove his wealth to everyone, but most of all Daisy. When you first meet someone, you tend to judge them on what they are wearing. This is why when Gatsby had his first encounter with Daisy he wanted her to get the right impression, that he now had a lot of money and had changed into a different person. Gatsby was wearing a white flannel suit with a silver shirt and a sparkly gold tie. This outfit is very bold and extravagant with two precious metals incorporated into it. Gold and silver are expensive and these colours show his wealth that Daisy has missed out on. He wants her to know that he is very rich but doesn’t want to say it. This is why his outfit and house is so important to him. His suit was white which also symbolises Daisy’s character. Throughout the book, she is often compared to the colour white, which means purity and innocence. These are things that Daisy likes people to think she is but I think she truly is neither innocent nor pure.

The props

Throughout the text, we are shown some props that lead us to think that Gatbsy lies and doesn’t show his true self. Gatsby has a yellow car and in the book yellow is compared to fake gold. This is because he wants people to believe that he is rich like Daisy and Tom but he was a bootlegger so his wealth is illegal or ‘fake’. Another thing in Gatsby’s life that is a lie or dishonest is the white card that he has to keep him out of getting in trouble with the law. The quote ” ‘All right, old sport,’ called Gatsby. We slowed down. Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the man’s eyes. ‘Right you are,’ agreed the policeman, tipping his cap” shows us that he is not a truthful man. Gatsby and Nick got stopped by the police and Gasby told Nick that he did a favour for the commissioner so he gave him this card. Firstly how can we possibly believe that is true and even if it was that is very corrupt, the colour white also symbolises this. Corrupt is the perfect way to describe Gatsby’s life.

The setting of the ‘Stage’

Gatsby’s house is all apart of his illusion, making everyone believe in this perfect life he shows. Even though we know Gatsby has planned his life out to the smallest detail just to catch Daisy’s attention. Gatsby was compared to Belasco, who was a famous stage show producer. He went to extreme measures to make his audience believe the set was real, and if you think about it that is exactly what Gatsby has done. He purposely bought a house right across the bay from Daisy, right next to Nick and threw ginormous parties just so Daisy may happen to walk in on one. Gatsby’s house is the setting for his act. If he didn’t have the extravagant parties or the huge house his plan with Daisy would never work. After Nick brought Daisy and Gatsby together they all went over to Gatsby’s house where Daisy suddenly realised what she had missed out on. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.” They were in Gatsby’s room and he was throwing her all of his shirts from his closet. There were so many and his closet was so large and over the top – much like the rest of the house. Once again his house was a stage. A stage that made Daisy realised she had missed out on true love and his wealth.

The Speech and Dialogue

Gatsby often uses the phrase ‘old sport’ when he speaks. It seems very unnatural and forced like he has trained himself to talk like that. Just like the rest of his life, everything is always planned and created to make Daisy realise what she has missed. He wants her to know that in fact he is wealthy and she missed out because five years ago she married Tom. The term ‘old sport’ makes him seem well trained and wealthy in a way. Stereotypically rich people do speak with proper english and he was determined to make people believe he had a great upbringing. Gatsby has had this dream his whole life and he was determined to make it happen no matter what. We know that because his father said at his funeral that he had a time table where it said he practised poise and allocation and this quote illustrates that he believe in it and was going to make it happen “He knew he had a big future in front of him.”

The Backstory

There are many rumours that people have of Gatsby’s background. Gatsby moved to West Egg and bought a large house. Everyone then assumed he was rich, but didn’t know what from. He then had the opportunity to make them believe anything. Although there were a lot of stories and suggestions made of his past he tried his absolute hardest to make Daisy and Nick believe that his version was true. He went into so much effort it kind of made his story sound a little too good to be true. Like when he just seemed to have a picture in his jacket to show Nick his oxford days or his time at the war. He told Nick that “I was raised in America but educated in Oxford. That’s a family tradition.” He had to prove to them that his fabricated story was accurate just to get Daisy.