Chapter 9-p.163-180

Chapter 9-p.163-180

Summary: Nick starts the chapter by describing how all the reporters are swarming to hear the story of Gatsby's murder. Nick, unable to find any of Gatsby's family, is left to plan the funeral. Nick is extremely upset however, because despite all the people who came to Gatsby's parties, he cannot find anyone to attend his funeral. Tom and Daisy move away, Klipspringer has a picnic to go to, and Meyer Wolfsheim refuses to get involved with a murder. Luckily, Gatsby's father attends as well as Owl Eyes. Gatsby's father is extremely proud of him and carries around a picture of his mansion. He also shows Nick a book in which Gatsby had a schedule written in from childhood. After Gatsby dies, Nick decides to go back to the Midwest. He breaks things off with Jordan and has one last encounter with Tom in New York City. Tom says that Gatsby deserved to die and Nick reflects on what awful people they all are.

a. Daisy Buchanan

b. " They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they made" p. 179

c. Daisy Buchanan, first described as something of an angel, has now been portrayed for her true self. She is artificial and material. She leaves Gatsby without even saying goodbye and does not even stop Tom from inaccurately telling on Gatsby. The character that seemed to charm the reader in the first chapter now disgusts them. She has been proven to be entirely materialistic with no real substance or character after all.

d. Daisy Buchanan represented the dream in this novel. All though her character proved to be disappointing she was a strong symbol of idolization. Without Daisy Gatsby would have no obsession and henceforth there would be no story. Daisy's eventual abandonment of Gatsby only furthers Fitzgerald's message, that dreams have the ability to destroy you, and that they are either impossible to attain, or once attained will be the demise of the dreamer.

"It eluded us then, but thats no matter-to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning----" p.180

This quote is important because it is Fitzgerald final word in the novel. All the sudden the reader is being not only acknowledged but becomes a part of the whole, a subject of the novel. Fitzgerald reveals to us that all along we were Gatsby, chasing for our dreams, even when they seem crazy. There is no biased passed on whether or not it is foolish to chase dreams, Fitzgerald is simply highlighting a basic fact of humanity, and that is the true purpose of the story.

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Chapter 8-p. 147-162

Chapter 8-p. 147-162

Summary: Nick wakes up at dawn and goes to check on Gatsby at his house. Gatsby tells Nick that he was waiting at Daisy's house all night but she never came out to speak to him. Nick, trying to be practical suggests that Gatsby leaves town, since he was just in a car that killed a woman, but Gatsby responds by telling Nick the story of him and Daisy when they were young, in great detail. The story is interrupted when Gatsby's gardener tells Gatsby he is going to drain the pool. Gatsby objects because he hasn't gotten to swim in it. Nick leaves Gatsby's to go to work but cannot focus. He refuses a date with Jordan Baker and then begins talking about George Wilson, who is mourning his wife's death. He makes the connection that whoever was driving the car was Myrtle's lover and goes to ask Tom who's car it was. Tom tells him it was Gatsby's and George goes over to Gatsby's mansion, where he finds him floating in the pool on an air mattress, and shoots Gatsby and then himself.

a. Jay Gatsby

b." He had intended probably to take what he could and go-but now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail." p. 149

c. Jay Gatsby has become a completely different character than the one he was portrayed to be in the beginning of the novel. The once interesting and mysterious hero has become hopeless and slightly depressing. His feelings for Daisy, which initially seemed romantic, have become obsessive. After losing Daisy Jay Gatsby has become a ghost of a person. Without his goal of having Daisy, Gatsby has no purpose all the things that initially seemed to make him who he was are meaningless to him and becomes a person completely void of purpose. Gatsby is an empty man who has surrendered to the harsh world.

d. Gatsby's role in the novel is extremely important. While Nick is the narrator, Jay Gatsby is the one who drives the story. Gatsby is used to portray Fitzgerald's message of dreams. Through Gatsby's story the reader is led to question whether it is beneficial or harmful to follow dreams. Gatsby acts as a hyperbole of everyone who has ever read the book. He forces the reader to question the obsessive materialistic part of themselves that every human possesses.

" 'They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn lot put together."

I think this quote is extremely important to the story because it demonstrates how Nick Carraway has changed throughout the novel. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald makes a point of how slow Nick is to judge and how honest he is in everything he says. After experiencing how horrible everyone has acted, hearing Nick, who we have come to trust as a narrator, confirm out hatred for the characters shows how evil they truly are.

Chapter 7-p.113-146

Summary: Gatsby stops having parties and fires all of his servants in order to keep his affair with Daisy a secret. On an extremely hot day in summer, Jordan Baker, Jay Gatsby, and Nick Carraway all go to the Buchanan's house for lunch. The reader is first introduced to Daisy's baby girl, Daisy is fairly dismissive and Gatsby is shocked that the child is real. Gatsby and Daisy's love for each other is obvious and makes Tom extremely angry. Daisy invites Gatsby to the city and Tom takes up her offer and everyone goes in together. Gatsby and Daisy ride together and the others drive Gatsby's car, Tom stops for gas at Wilson's garage and learn that George has learned about Myrtle's affair and plans to leave town with her. Once in New York, they all get a suite at the Plaza and Tom begins to confront Gatsby by calling him a liar and making fun of the way they speak. In response Gatsby tells him that Daisy never loved him and Daisy backs him up, until Tom recounts occurences of love that force Daisy to admit that she did, at a time, love him. Tom orders Daisy and Gatsby to go back to the eggs and Nick realizes it is his thirtieth birthday. On the way home Jordan, Tom, and Nick find out that Myrtle has been hit by a car which Nick presumes to be Gatsbys. Gatsby is hiding in the bushes outside of Tom's house when Nick returns, he is making sure that she doesn't get hurt by Tom and tells Nick that Daisy was the one who hit Myrtle but he will take the blame. Gatsby sends Tom in to check on Daisy only to find Tom and Daisy eating and talking and reconciling their differences.

a. Tom Buchanan

b. "There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control"

c. Tom Buchanan is a large aggressive man. He is extremely hypocritical and confrontational. He is bored with his life since he has already completed his dream of being a proffesional athlete. Although Tom seems to have everything he is inarguably empty. Tom has little concern for other people's feeling and thrives off of control

d. Tom's role in the novel is extremely important. He provides an antagonist in the story. Fitzgerald uses Tom to illicit compassion for Daisy from the reader by making him such a horrible husband. He creates a necessary road block for Gatsby's plan and creates a stark contrast from Gatsby's dream world to the harsh real world in which Daisy is taken and love is corrupted.

"I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before — and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well."

This quote is important because it comments on how immense the pain that Wilson and other men who have been betrayed feel. At the moment Wilson finds out he has been betrayed, it is not wealth nor social standing that separates him and George Wilson but the fact that Tom's heart is not broken. This says a huge amount about the nature of heartbreak and Tom's hypocritical and skewed vision of love. Fitzgerald presents two men in a parrallel situation of betrayal and uses it to highlight Tom's lack of emotional pain from being betrayed.

Chapter 6-p.97-112

Summary: Rumors about Gatsby are at an ultimate high, and the chapter begins with a reporter coming to the door to examine these rumors by interviewing Gatsby. The story is halted however, when Nick narrates the true story of Gatsby's life, unlike the reader has heard it before. It turns out Gatsby was a poor farm boy in North Dakota who's real name was James Gatz, after dropping out of college out of embarrassment for having to do janitorial work to get through it. He begins fishing and one day he rows out to a man's yacht to warn him of an impending storm. The man, a millionaire named Dan Cody, likes Gatsby, who changes his name when introducing himself, so much that he invites him to be his assistant on his sail around the world. This made Gatsby want to be wealthy, Dan Cody died and left Gatsby some money but his mistress stole it, leaving Gatsby with nothing. Later in the chapter Nick stops by Gatsby's house to find Tom Buchanan along with two friends there. Gatsby talks about Daisy and invites them all to dinner but they decline and awkwardly invite Gatsby to dinner to which he awkwardly accepts, proving his bad social abilities. Daisy and Tom attend a party at Gatsby's but Daisy doesn't have much fun which makes Gatsby angry. Gatsby thinks he can recreate the past.

a. Dan Cody

b."At any rate Cody asked him a few questions (one of them elicited the brand new name) and found that he was quick and extravagantly ambitious. A few days later he took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat, six pairs of white duck trousers, and a yachting cap. And when the Tuolomee left for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast Gatsby left too." p. 100

c. Cody, who was much older than Gatsby, made his whole fortune through mining for metals. He was robust but soft-minded which made him a target for gold diggers. Dan Cody was a nice man when sober but was an extremely heavy drinker. He allowed himself to be taken advantage of and mysteriously died when one of his pursuing gold diggers was on board.

d. Dan Cody plays a huge role in the story because he is the cause of Gatsby's dream of wealth and success. After meeting Dan Cody Jay Gatsby changes his name in an obvious symbol of recreating himself to be of a higher class. Before Dan Cody Gatsby was a simple man but after seeing something he wants Gatsby becomes obsessed with obtaining the wealth he experienced on Cody's yacht. Dan Cody not only provides Gatsby's desire for wealth and change into the character that stars in the novel, but also provides insight into Gatsby's obsessive desire for things that he sees. Dan Cody also supplies the reason for Gatsby's sobriety, as he was turned off from alcohol by watching Dan get so drunk.

"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" p. 110

This quote is extremely important because it shows the true depth of Gatsby's illusions. While initially he could be confused for a man in love, it becomes apparent that there is something off about Gatsby in this line, that he is perhaps suffering from a break with reality.

Chapter 5- p.81-96

Chapter 5- p.81-96

The chapter begins with Nick arriving home after a date in New York with Jordan Baker. Gatsby’s mansion is bizarrely lit up but seems to be empty. On the walk home Nick runs into Gatsby, who is clearly trying to please Nick by inviting him to Coney Island and over for a swim in his pool. Nick comes to the realization that Gatsby is trying to make him agree to his plan to invite Daisy over. Nick agrees and Gatsby tries to pay him but Nick refuses, slightly offended. The day Daisy goes to Nick’s it is raining, however Gatsby gets Nick grass cut and brings over flowers anyway, evidently nervous about their meeting. He walks around the house in the rain when Daisy arrives as to not appear that he was waiting for her. Initially Gatsby and Daisy’s meeting is incredibly awkward however, after being left alone for thirty minutes Nick finds the two incredibly happy. The rain stops and Gatsby shows Daisy all his belongings, making her cry. Nick worries that Daisy will never live up to Gatsby’s dream of her, but when Gatsby gets Klipspringer to play the piano for them it is apparent the two are enamored with each other and completely forget that Nick is there.

Nick Caraway

“Your acting like a little boy,” I broke out impatiently. “Not only that, but you’re rude. Daisy’s sitting in there all alone.” P.88

Nick is extremely unbiased and honest. He sees things the way they are and he draws people to tell him their secrets. Nick is portrayed as incredibly normal and level headed which creates an interesting contrast from the rest of the characters. Nick is like the control level of an experiment his overwhelming ordinariness allows Fitzgerald to highlight how unordinary the rest of the characters are.

Nick is obviously the narrator as well as the author of the story. His unbiased and “normal” nature allows us to believe that the things he writes are true because unlike the rest of the characters he is incredibly honest. In this chapter Nick shows a sharper side of himself, he gets harsh with Gatsby and possesses an almost fatherly quality, asking Gatsby to snap out of it. Nick is like the ringmaster, amidst all the chaos of the meeting, he maintains control of the situation. Nick helps Gatsby, the man who seems to have everything, to get the thing that he does not know how to get. Nick is essential to moving the story along.

“They were sitting at either end of the couch, looking at each other as if some question had been asked, or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone. “

This quote is important because it makes it apparent that Daisy and Gatsby have an undeniable connection. They are obviously lingering in the obvious conflict of whether or not they should pursue their nearly immediate rekindling of love. This moment is extremely important because in a way it is the climax of Gatsby’s dream.

Chapter 4- p.61-80

Summary: After a couple of outings with Gatsby, for the first time Gatsby sends for Nick. He picks him up in his beautiful car and drives him up to New York where the two have planned to have lunch. On the ride there Gatsby tells Nick about his life, leaving many things a mystery, which frustrates Nick. He asks Nick to do him a favor and go to tea with Jordan so she can explain to him what that favor is. Nick meets with Gatsby for lunch where they are joined by a old Jewish gamblers named Meyer Wolfsheim, who is extremely sentimental and later revealed as the man who fixed the World Series in 1919. At lunch Nick sees Tom Buchanan and tries to introduce Gatsby to him but Gatsby evidently has no interest in meeting Tom. At the tea with Jordan, Nick learns that Gatsby’s favor is to have Daisy over for tea so that he can see her. She tells Nick that Daisy met Gatsby when she was 18 and that he has loved her ever since, prompting his move to the West Egg and all the lavish parties. The chapter comes to a close with Nick’s agreement to invite Daisy to tea and his own subtle romance with Jordan progressing.

Meyer Wolfsheim

“He’s the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919”-Gatsby p. 73

Meyer Wolfsheim is a short Jewish man with an unfortunate nose and tiny eyes. His tiny eyes may be a symbol for a lack of something as eyes seem to have a huge amount of significance in this novel. He is rather intense and acts rather impersonally towards Nick. He is extremely sentimental and dramatic, it is obvious that he enjoys to be the center of a conversation. He takes pride in his money, as is demonstrated when he assumes that Nick is checking out his cufflinks, which were creepily made of human molars. There are a lot of weird things about Meyer, he is clearly involved in shady things.

Meyer is an obviously shady man who seems to be involved with a lot of illegal things. It is almost shocking that Gatsby would be associated with a man like Meyer. By being with Meyer, it is made clear that Gatsby was not quite as honest as Nick initially believed him to be about his past. Meyer is an interesting character who may turn up later in the novel and let the reader in on more of Gatsby’s past, after all there must be a reason he is such good friends with a man in a different age group who is involved with illegal business.

“Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge,” I thought; “anything at all...”

This quote is interesting to me because it shows the stark contrast in Nick’s perception of the city compared to the Eggs. Nick is beginning to see the Egg’s as home but the city is foreign to him. As he becomes more familiar with the unique ways of the Egg’s, the ways of the rest of the world are becoming a mystery to him. The last time Nick talked about going into New York he witnessed as Tom Buchanan took on another life all together, this is probably what has shaped his bewilderment for the city.

Chapter 3- p. 39-59

Chapter 3- p. 39-59

Summary: After watching his neighbor, Gatsby, throw parties weekend after weekend, Nick Carraway is finally given an invitation to one by Gatsby’s chauffeur. He arrives at the party alone and looks for someone he knows, and finds Jordan, the professional golfer. They spend the rest of the evening together looking for their host, Gatsby, who is absent from the party. The two look for him in the library and instead find a drunk old man who is amazed by the walls of real books. Finally they give up their search, sit down and begin talking to a middle aged man who reveals himself as Gatsby. After inviting Nick to fly airplanes with him, Gatsby retreats back to his office to take a phone call. Later in the night Gatsby calls Jordan into his office to talk. Nick is one of the last guests to leave and witnesses a car accident in Gatsby’s driveway. Nick stays in touch with Jordan after the party and begins to become quite fond of her, despite her carelessness and dishonesty. Nick ends the chapter by declaring that he is one of the last honest men.

Jay Gatsby

“He’s just a man named Gatsby” -Jordan, p. 48

Jay Gatsby is far more ordinary than the reader would expect him to be. He is slightly inverted and has an emptiness about him, despite the lavish events he puts on. He is immaculately kept and extremely careful. Gatsby has an amazing smile that has a quality of reassurance in it and faces the entire world before zoning in on the person he is aiming to smile at, but after his smile fades Gatsby is an elegant rough neck.

Gatsby is the man for which the book is named, he is also the man that Nick has seemingly been interested or almost obsessed with since the first chapter. It is clear that Gatsby has a large role in this novel. Gatsby’s romantic nature foreshadows that his story may take a romantic turn. Gatsby’s loneliness and meaningless parties also imply that he is waiting for a particular person. Based on his longing stance toward the East Egg I have reason to believe the object of Gatsby’s affection is Daisy Buchanan.

“There was dancing now on the canvas in the garden; old men pushing young girls backward in eternal graceless circles, superior couples holding each other tortuously, fashionably, and keeping in the corners-”

Even though Fitzgerald is talking about dancing he is really making a metaphor for the party as a whole as well as society as a whole. The old men pushing the young girls represents the power position the men hold in society. The eternal graceless circles represent the party, never ending, without a purpose, and without grace. Couples holding each other to be fashionable when really they are tortured by their forced and faux image of happiness.