AQA - The Great Gatsby Critics

Great critics to use for AO5

Dear readers,

As you know, AO5 critics are vital for you to hit the higher bands. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the right critic. That’s why I’ve created this list of critics that you can use for your exams.

H. L. Mencken, 1925

• “Only Gatsby himself genuinely lives and breathes. The rest are mere marionettes.”

Kenneth Eble, 1964

• “Daisy moves away from actuality into an idea existing in Gatsby’s mind.”

Thomas Flanagan, 2000

• “Gatsby lives in the world of romantic energies and colours.”

• “Gatsby is somewhat vague. The reader’s eyes can never quite focus upon him, his outlines are dim.”

Jacqueline Lance, 2000

• “Becoming Tom was Gatsby’s dream.”

Claire Stocks, 2007

• “Nick wants to portray Gatsby as ‘great’ and undermines anything that might undermine that image.”

Marius Bewley

• “Daisy has monstrous moral indifference and vicious emptiness.”

A. E. Dyson

• “In one sense Gatsby is the apotheosis of his rootless society…He really believes in himself and his illusions.”

Judith Fetterley

• “Gatsby’s romanticisation of Daisy is heroic though misguided.”

K. Fraser

• “Daisy is torn between a desire for personal freedom and the need for stability.”

Lev Grossman

• “Gatsby lays bare the empty, tragic heart of the self-made man.”

Alfred Kazin

• “Daisy is vulgar and inhuman.”

A. License

• “Gatsby is a martyr od a materialistic society.”

K. Parkinson

• “Daisy is only allowed to exist in the images of men create of her.”

Christine Ramos

• “By attempting to maintain his way of life, Tom has reduced whole people to ashes without any thought of consequences.”

P. Staveley

• “Gatsby, like America itself … strives to reach a place he has created in his own mind, an impossible perfect.”

If this has helped you, spread the word about this newsletter and the Lit Revision YouTube channel.

All the best,