ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


The Great Gatsby Videos 16 videos

The Great Gatsby Part 1: Course Introduction
30263 Views

It's the roaring 20s. A time of wealth, partying, and a huge inequality gap. Fun, fun, and, uh...not-so-fun. Hit play to discover more about the se...

The Great Gatsby Part 2: Glittering Eggs
43690 Views

East Egg: East coast, old money, and ponies. Maybe unicorns. Those snotty East Eggers won’t tell us anything. West Egg: West coast, new money, an...

The Great Gatsby Part 6: Eternal Graceless Circles
58414 Views

Gatsby’s a man who throws huge parties and still has zero friends. Maybe they’re all like...Tupperware parties or something. Check out the vide...

See All

The Great Gatsby Part 8: Old Sport 74437 Views


Share It!


Description:

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for...Gatsby is kind-of sort-of revealing his origin story! ...Wait, seriously? That’s what we’ve all been waiting for? We all need to get out more.


Transcript

00:01

We speak student!

00:05

The Great Gatsby

00:07

Old Sport

00:09

a la Shmoop

00:14

What do we learn about Gatsby from his conversations with Nick?

00:19

Sure, yeah. Gatsby calls Nick "old sport,"

00:21

which is another one of these things where it's like

00:23

he's so clearly putting this on.

00:26

That's like something that the old wealth would say.

00:28

"Old sport."

00:28

[ elderly man groaning ]

00:30

So we get Gatsby's backstory.

00:33

He tells it himself for the first time.

00:36

We've had tons of rumors and gossip,

00:38

and he finally kind of tells his story.

00:40

We have to remember to take it with a grain of salt,

00:43

because not only is this Gatsby telling the story,

00:45

but then it's Nick telling Gatsby's story.

00:47

So he tells a story about how he

00:51

fought in the war.

00:53

How he went to Oxford.

00:56

He pulls out a medal

00:58

at one point, from the war,

00:59

like a medal of honor type thing to kind of prove it.

01:01

And we go, "Oh.

01:03

Maybe he is telling the truth.

01:04

He has proof here."

01:06

But all the while, we're like,

01:07

"This can't be real,

01:09

because if all these things were true about him,

01:12

why is he on West Egg?

01:14

Why is there this facade?" But he's telling his story

01:18

and he -- So he says he went to Oxford.

01:20

He says he

01:22

inherited some money

01:24

and that's how he got his wealth.

01:26

But there are some holes in his story for sure.

01:28

But it's cool because this is the first time that we actually get

01:31

Gatsby's story from Gatsby.

01:33

And it gives us another take on the man.

01:36

And we can see that even

01:38

when he's telling his own story, he's still not

01:40

being completely real.

01:43

And that's kind of one of the many ways we look at it and we say,

01:46

"Okay, we're getting this story from the source,

01:48

but is the source reliable? No. No it's not."

01:52

[ whoop ]

01:53

What do we learn about Gatsby from his conversations with Nick?

02:00

Oh, yeah.

Related Videos

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123038 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105893 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1256 Views

Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...

Quotes: A fool's paradise
294 Views

Find out the meaning behind "a fool's paradise."