Chapter Eight: Love & Historical Context
English Lit: AQA A Level The Great Gatsby - Specification A, topic 3.8.2
Chapter Eight - Love, Historical Context and Historicism
For specification A, you are specifically interested in the implication of texts in history and how the ideology of love is presented in this text. Here are some ideas relevant to that reading:
Gatsby's position in West Egg
- Gatsby’s love for Daisy is keeping him in West Egg. He has been watching her house but there is no great argument or change.
- He is hoping that she will come back to him but this does not appear to happen.
Daisy and Gatsby's relationship
- The reader receives more of the back-story about when Daisy and Gatsby first met and we also learn of the financial context of their relationship.
Practicality: Tom and Daisy's love
- The practicality of love with Tom Buchanan is also considered. This shows the context in which women of this era were operating. It was not good to be left on the shelf. Tom may not have been perfect, but seems to have realised that he was a good bet as a husband.
Gatsby's thoughts on the pool
- It seems that with the pool, Gatsby is thinking of himself and Daisy sat around it or swimming within it, in a romantic way.
Nick's newfound respect
- In Nick, there is a new respect for Gatsby’s pure love of Daisy.
Chapter Eight - Love, Historical Context and Historicism
For specification A, you are specifically interested in the implication of texts in history and how the ideology of love is presented in this text. Here are some ideas relevant to that reading:
Wilson's desire for revenge
- Wilson becomes more obsessed here with the infidelity of Myrtle and plans to do something about it.
- Here, the issue of love engages with revenge.
Gatsby's death
- The death of Gatsby means that Daisy and he will never be able to be together now. Their love is forever thwarted by fate and circumstances.
Wilson's death
- Wilson’s death means that he has been taken out of the equation and perhaps shows that the working-classes had no meaning or place.
Surviving love
- Most of the loves in the novel have now been broken, but ironically, the only surviving one appears to be Tom and Daisy.
Test yourself on Chapter Eight: Love & Historical Context
What does Nick come to respect in Chapter Eight?
What does the reader learn about Daisy's relationships in Chapter Eight?
Which love survives in The Great Gatsby?
Which characters die in Chapter Eight?