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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.