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Entry No. 6


Entry No. 6: Analysis using literary lenses

The psychological lens helped me to develop a good understanding of The Great Gatsby in many ways. For example, it gave me a good understanding of its main characters, specifically Daisy, Tom and Gatsby. Using this lens, I was able to closely examine Gatsby’s motivations as well as what helps him to remain resilient. All of these ultimately trace back to Daisy Buchanan since Gatsby is completely head over heels in love with her so much so that he often becomes irrational and excuses her despicable actions. This lens also helped me to understand Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s behaviour and attitudes and why they reacted to certain situations accordingly. For example, in my third journal entry I mentioned that Nick describes the couple as careless, saying that they smashed things up and retreated back into their money (Fitzgerald 186, 187). Examining this behaviour helped me to understand why Daisy and Tom let Gatsby die and ran away from the situation even though it was morally wrong. 


Meanwhile, the socio-economic lens furthered my understanding of the book by helping me to take a closer look at the at the social classes and roles of money and power. The Great Gatsby is principally centred around money, there are those who have it and those who don’t, but both have an equal thirst for more. In this novel, Fitzgerald criticizes the society the characters live in which claims to give equal opportunities to all when this could not be further from the truth. Anyone can clearly see that those who are born rich like Daisy Buchanan and Nick Carraway start their lives very differently than those who are much less fortunate like James Gatz. There is also clear evidence in The Great Gatsby of the rich taking advantage of the poor, knowing that they will do anything if they simply wave their money in front of them. This can be seen when George Wilson a poor mechanic complains to Tom Buchanan that he is taking a long time to sell his car to him. As a result of these complains Tom threatens to sell the car somewhere else, instantly making George panic. 


Lastly, it was crucial for me to use the contextual lens in The Great Gatsby since Fitzgerald wrote the novel based on the things he was experiencing during the roaring twenties. Fitzgerald was a rich socialite and would often go to parties like the ones Gatsby is said to host every night in the book. This author was also witnessing first-hand the massive amounts of wealth that people were accumulating in the 1920’s and how it had become the American Dream to have so much money that you could live carelessly. With this in mind, I began to understand that while Gatsby, Nick and the Buchannan’s weren’t real people, the world they lived in was. When The Great Gatsby was first published, it was like a mirror reflecting what American culture was like at the time as well as the values of its people. Using this lens gave the text a much deeper meaning and made it easier to connect the text to real world situations.



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