My reason for combining The Great Gatsby and Talking Heads is obvious; to tell Gatsby's story, which has been distorted by rumour and a possibly devious narrator due to the characters' view of Gatsby as an enigma, from a perspective that is potentially more truthful and from the one source we never hear from; Gatsby himself. However, not even Gatsby would be so loquacious about his biography, which is where Alan Bennett's style of subtle details comes in; Gatsby betrays many secrets about himself through his monologue without realising them himself and this allows us a more intricate view of his past. The two texts deal with similar themes such as isolation and the climaxes of Bennett's work often allow a whole new perspective as the character experiences a catharsis in an unlikely setting, such as when Kafka sees his father as God in Kafka's Dick.

The Plutus (the name for the Roman God of wealth) is symbolic of Gatsby's nouveau-riche status, as he has the money (the outer bronze plating) but not the experience or class that the old rich have (which is symbolised by the limestone, a cheap material compared to the bronze on the outside) and shows how he is pretending to be something he's not by donning the bronze plating. Similarly, his comment that the Plutus doesn't look like him shows how he isn't reflected accurately by the rumours of his character that are spread around town. However Gatsby shows that he is aware of this rumour mill by saying "the artist must be laughing at me behind my back" as the artist only sees the wealth of Gatsby rather than his character.

The picture Gatsby is having converted into a portrait is representative of how Gatsby sees the past; rather than the photograph, which depicts the event as accurately as a still image can, Gatsby prefers the painting, which has had colour added to it and offending elements removed so as not to sully his idealistic visions of the past, keeping him from seeing Daisy as a person with flaws and taking her off the pedestal.

One of the main aspects of Gatsby's character that we are certain of is his nostalgia for the past and his hope to repeat it. I chose to allow him to, in an ironic sense, by having his life flash before his eyes as he dies, to show him the error of his philosophy. The more traumatic events, such as his experiences of The War and Dan Cody's yacht fiasco are poignant as they demonstrate how his past wasn't as bright as he suggests. These events are on opposite sides of the wealth scale, but both are traumatic, which shows how Gatsby can't find comfort in poverty or wealth and that his belief that accumulating wealth will satisfy him spiritually is false.

Throughout the text, there is a theme of striping away layers; the gold on the statue is peeling away, Gatsby removes his jacket to go swimming and must move countless layers of clothes to reach his box containing a bathing suit. All of this is symbolic of how Gatsby is shedding his image and, to an extent, his dream, as he is no longer certain of his future with Daisy ("She did say, didn't she?"), although giving up the dream is symbolic of the end of Gatsby, who has become synonymous with it and hence he is immediately shot by Wilson, before he can blame Daisy for Myrtle's death. The box represents Gatsby's past life as James Gatz (hence the 'z') and how he has tried to hide it away under his showy clothes and lifestyle, but it contains what he needs; his bathing suit, showing how he should rely on character (unclean though it may be) rather than wealth and rumour.

A major theme of The Great Gatsby is how people with money influence the lives of those without, often in a very negative way. As such, I have made several references to this, including Gatsby's paying an artist in exposure rather than anything substantial like money, despite his wealth, and Wilson's gun, which is hinted to have been lent to him by Tom Buchanan, which kills both him and Gatsby in a backfire, showing how the carelessness of Tom and the gun-maker has resulted in casualties, not unlike losing pawns on a chessboard.