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This extract establishes a severe self-consciousness and insecurity within Gatsby’s character – “‘Well, I’m going to tell you something about my life,’ he interrupted. ‘I don’t want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear.’”. Gatsby is attentive and concerns himself with Nick’s opinion of him. He wants to ensure that Nick bats a blind eye to the accusations he has heard. This consequently exhibits that Gatsby is fond of Nick, and wants to portray his brightest colours towards him, to form a sociable relationship with Carraway.

“We hadn’t reached West Egg village before Gatsby began leaving his elegant sentences unfinished himself indecisively on the knee of his caramel-colored suit.” This quotation strengthens my argument in the previous paragraph. Gatsby is putting on a persona, as an attempt to satisfy and fulfill Nick’s inevitable initial opinions on him. Indicated by the word ‘elegant’, Gatsby achieves this by utilising complex and opulent wording, to come across as an affluent high class individual. His ‘unfinished sentences’ indicates that he perhaps doesn’t actually speak in this manner. His fury after stumbling over his words, evinces a sense of disappointment within himself, and anxiety about Nick’s perception of him.

We acquire information about Jay Gatsby’s life in historical flashbacks. This is called retrospective narration, and is prominent throughout the novel. A retrospective narrative is when the story being told is not happening at the time the narrator is describing it. The events happened in the past.

Additionally, the information about Jay Gatsby is rarely in chronological order, which emphasises the already established mystery revolving around the character. This is because it adds a degree of difficulty when the reader attempts to put the pieces together and fully comprehend the unique nature of Mr Gatsby.

“The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their irises are one yard high.” The eyes of Dr Eckleburg is an immaculate painting that is displayed on an antiquated advertising billboard. It is situated over the valley of ashes, seemingly staring down upon America. The purpose and direct symbolism of the intense and everlasting glare of the dilated pupils was never precisely established throughout the novel, but one can make definite assumptions.

‘Eyes of god starting down at society’, is the generic and popular symbolic meaning behind the eyes of Dr Eckleburg (according to George Wilson). It is a greater power looking down and judging the actions and decisions of man.

In chapter 8, Nick vaguely discusses his personal thoughts on the painting, and believes that it represents emptiness and purposeless in life.

The observant stare of the eyes for me personally, is essentially an endless collection of thoughts based on visual stimulus. It is entering a new world inside your own mind, going wherever you desire, doing whatever you desire. Instead of constantly feeling the need of doing something, one should simply ‘live in the moment’ for brief periods during a day.

The location of the painting on the billboard is also symbolic, as it is looking down at the valley of ashes. The valley represents the moral and social decay, the plight of the poor, and the visual representation of the disconnect between the rich and poor. It also symbolises the negative result of the pursuit of wealth and luxury.

Society has lost of connection with religion and god as the billboard is deteriorating and the paint has faded. This establishes a gradual disappearance of  the belief in god, and seeking for advice and moral incentive from a higher power.

The glasses also symbolise unclarity and the need to see the flaws of society.

Our presentations revolved around main themes about the novel of The Great Gatsby. Matthew and I discussed the concept of ‘The Roaring Twenties’. The roaring twenties was a decade overwhelmed by technical innovation. Several significant scientific discoveries such as antibiotics. Electricity also became abundant. However, the roaring twenties was lead by the production of cars. Car were a luxury in the 20s and only the affluent could afford it – vehicular ownership symbolised power and wealth.

The roaring 20s started just after the end of the Great War and thus many engineers were unemployed and many factories unused.The engineers were then implemented into the automotive industry in the neglected factories.

Another presentation was about bootlegging, which was the illegal distribution of goods, often alcohol. Soldiers would put bottles in there boot to hide it from being seized. The jazz age was another discussed topic. It was the rise in popularity of the bubbly nature of jazz music and dancing.

A flapper was a woman who associates with the lifestyle that is represented by the flapper dress. They were rebellious towards the stereotypical image of a woman, and were controversial in the eye of the public as a result. Motion pictures was the increase in popularity of films, acting and cinemas. The prohibition was the increase in the severity of laws and the banning of alcohol to eradicate chaotic alcoholism within the population.

The american dream was the ideal living standards, which was partially inspired by the conclusion of the war, so people wanted to live their life ‘to the fullest’.

The editing in this trailer manifests a sense of chaos and the thought of constant action and entertainment, owing to the fact that none of the shots last longer than about half a second. I believe that this is also an advertising technique, because the nature of this video is essentially a trailer. The constant change in viewing image causes an amusing experience for the viewer, as they have to process each and every setting, culture and people within split seconds of observing the images. This illusion of continuous action entices the viewer into purchasing and viewing the entire documentary.

In addition, every camera shot that comes consequently after one another is in a different place. The editing ensures that the viewer can instantly recognise that the next shot is in an entirely different location, and has a contrasting point of interest. An example of when this occurs is around fourty seconds into the film. There is a shot of Felix standing on a towering cliff, where he is hovering above sea water, absorbing the astonishing view of endless ocean. The next shot is a street carpeted by vehicles, and radiant colourful lights illuminating the night’s darkness. The editors put these shots in this particular order purely due to the fact that they are eminently different, and the reader can instantly presume that the shots are in entirely different countries. This drastic change in aesthetic image creates an atmosphere of travel and movement, as Felix strives closer and closer to his cherished and breathtaking goal of travelling from country to country and circumnavigating the globe on his bike.

He suddenly jolted his head and glared at the street sign. Ladbroke Grove. The abrupt turn of his head was almost predatory-like, closely mimicking a carnivorous animal picking out the scent of it’s next kill. His athletic posture and towering height instantly manifested a sense of superiority within him, emphasized by the uneasy looks that other individuals were imposing towards him. He was sporting an immaculately white shirt, which contrasted the colour of his skin and arms, that were overshadowed by large bursting veins, that chaotically meandered underneath the surface of his skin.

“Life is all about choices. On every journey you take, you face choices. At every fork in the road, you make a choice. And it is those decisions that shape our lives.”

This quote establishes that in every journey in life that one undergoes, no matter what type of journey it may be, simple yet necessitous choices manifest endless possibilities, and sculpt the destiny of ones entire future.

I believe that this quote is attempting to touch on the topic of destiny. It generalises that you as an individual determine precisely what path you will take, by virtue of the choices you make and direction you go when you are confronted with a dilemma. Personally, I do fully agree with this quote, despite the platitude of it. I believe that these “decisions that shape our lives” happen at essentially every second of your life, without any perception of it.