The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Table of Contents
Significant Quotations
Throughout the book, there are several quotations that "stand out" and have a high level of significance to the overall story. These are important to discuss, in order to see how they relate to the rest of the book and what deeper information about the setting and the time period they are actually working to convey.
Quotation One: I hope she'll be a fool — that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
In Chapter One, Daisy says this about her little daughter, when she is talking to Jordan and Nick. It is not relevant in the sense of the novel's main themes, but it does provide quite a bit of knowledge about who Daisy really is as a person and the kinds of values on which she focuses. While she is not a fool, Daisy sees that intelligence in women is generally not valued, especially when it comes to rich women. They are expected to be beautiful and put-together, but they are also expected to do what their husbands say and not think too much for themselves. If her daughter ends up that way, she will have a better life in the sense of being attractive to wealthy suitors. While the older generation wanted docility and subservience, the younger generation wants women to seek pleasure and be giddy and happy in a highly thoughtless sort of way.
Quotation Two: He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.
In Chapter Three, Nick really gets the opportunity to examine Gatsby closely for the first time. The way he describes Gatsby's smile addresses the charm and charisma that he has, along with how theatrical of a character Gatsby actually is. Also, it shows how Gatsby is seen to the world outside of himself. Slowly, as the novel moves along, that image is deconstructed. Gatsby defined the role he wanted to play when...
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