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Work #822 · Mid

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald
1924-25 · English
Modernist American novel · Early-twentieth-century American modernism

Fitzgerald's 1925 Jazz-Age novel — Jay Gatsby and the American Dream

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Great Gatsby (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Great Gatsby

The Jazz-Age summer and the irrecoverable past.

Space

The Great Gatsby

West Egg, the Valley of Ashes, Manhattan.

Matter

The Great Gatsby

The mansion, the green light, the embodied actors.

Observer

The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway the implicated narrator.

Energy

The Great Gatsby

Energies of yearning and self-invention.

Information

The Great Gatsby

The green light as image of unattainable past.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby: foundational for the modern American novel; central reference for the American Dream and its discontents.