The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Chapter 7

2. When Gatsby’s popularity is highest • Stops having parties • Car still arrive/leave disappointed • Allusion:Trimalchio - Trimalchio is a character in the RomannovelThe Satyricon by Petronius. He plays a part only in the section entitled CenaTrimalchionis (The Banquet of Trimalchio). Trimalchio is a freedman who through hard work and perseverance has attained power and wealth. • Breaks contact (with Nick)

3. When Gatsby’s popularity is highest • Servant staff replaced • According to “[my] Finn”: “Gatsby had dismissed every servant in the house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others who never went into West Egg Village to be bribed by the tradesmen, but ordered moderate supplies over the telephone” (120). • Rude • The general upkeep of the house fell into disarray • Suggests people aren’t servants at all • Later revealed to be associates of Wolfshiem • Insinuates criminal activity • Rouses suspicion of Gatsby (by association)

4. When Gatsby’s popularity is highest • Gatsby tells Nick that he “…wanted someone who wouldn’t gossip. Daisy comes over quote often – in the afternoons” (120). • Simile: Compares the servants’ (Caravansary) dismissal to collapse, similar to a house of cards • Caravansary - A group of people traveling together; a caravan. • Weakness in structure – suggest weakness in Gatsby’s façade? • Gatsby calls Nick and invites him “at Daisy’s request” (120) to lunch at the Buchannans • Nick suggests a previous conversation, a “harrowing scene that Gatsby had described in the garden” (120) that foreshadows the scene later in the chapter at the hotel.

5. The Buchanans’ house: • Weather Motif • Recalls weather in chapter 5 (rain/sun as a reflection of Gatsby’s mood) • Nick comments that “[t]he next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest of the summer” (121). • Heat = passion/anger • Foreshadows hotel room confrontation • Parallel to the events in the beginning of the novel, particularly chapters 1 and 2 • The only difference is the presence of Gatsby

6. The Buchanans’ house: • Implication that his presence makes no difference as other (previously established characters act in the same manner as they did earlier in the novel without knowing the title character. • Irony/Parallelism • Jordan and Daisy laying on the couch doing nothing hot (bored) – Ch. 1 • Tom on the phone with George (Myrtle) – Ch. 1 • Jordan: “Rumor is that that’s Tom’s girl on the telephone” (122).

7. The Buchanans’ house: • Tom leaves the room to fetch drinks (George leaves the room to get chairs) – Ch.2 • Gatsby and Daisy knowingly kiss in front of Nick and Jordan (Tom and Myrtle knowingly kiss in front of Nick) – Ch. 2 • “As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby, pulled his face down kissing him on the mouth” (122). • Daisy asks, “What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?” (125) similar to her comment about “the longest day of year” – Ch. 1

8. The Buchanans’ house: • Pammy – Daisy and Tom’s daughter • Only appearance is in chapter 7 • Typically in the care of a nurse – common practice that (rich) mother would often see their children on a social basis and rarely be involved in the child’s daily life/care • Daisy treats her daughter as a possession (doll) • Color Motif – dressed in white • Constantly calling her “Bles-sed Precious” (123) instead of her name • Calls her an “absolute dream” as if to imply that she doesn’t really exist • “[W]anted to show [her] off” to her friends (123).

9. The Buchanans’ house: • Gatsby is stunned at her existence • Cements Daisy’s relationship to Tom • “Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don’t think he had ever really believed in its existence before” (123). • Conversation over drinks • Men attempt to show one another up • Tom attempts to “show off” • Sun • Showing off the place • Stables/garage conversation • Gatsby points out his house across the water. • “I’m right across from you” (124)

10. The Buchanan’s house: • Daisy admits her “love” for Gatsby/revealed to Tom • “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw” (125). • Tom discovers relationship through conversation • “You always look so cool” (125). • Restrains emotion • Continuing, Daisy compares Gatsby to “the advertisement of the man…You know the advertisement of the man” (125).

11. The Buchanans’ house: • Symbol • Billboard – represents something appealing to look at • Make viewer desire object • Object often presented in a way that hides flaws • Encourages consumer to buy into impulsively • Reflection of Daisy’s “love” for Gatsby • Like the way he looks • Immediately attracted to him • Does not see flaws in his wealth or his desire

12. The Buchanan’s house: • Decision to go to town • Tom discovers the affair but says nothing • Gatsby reserves his “play” out of respect for Tom (not mutual?) • “I can’t say anything in his house old sport” (126) • Daisy: characterized (by Gatsby) as having a voice “full of money” • Nick: “that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it…” • Implication of material desire/wealth • Emptiness?

13. The Buchanan’s house: • Tom intentionally switches cars • = status symbol/wealth • Drug store comment – allusion to Gatsby’s criminal past • Refers to Gatsby’s car as a circus wagon • Insinuates gaudy/showy appearance • Lack of class/refinement • East Egg vs. West Egg sensibilities • Tom’s car = Gatsby and Daisy • Gatsby’s car = Nick Jordan, and Tom

14. The Valley of Ashes • Recurring Motif – the eyes of Doctor TJ Eckleburg (moral disapproval): “The giant eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg • Tom stops the car for Gas • Wilson’s station • Wilson – physically ill • Notices Gatsby’s car (driven by Tom) • Informs Tom that he and Myrtle are moving to California • Wilson has discovered Myrtle’s affair • “I got wised up to something funny the last two days” (130).

15. The Valley of Ashes • Irony • Situational Irony – Tom and Wilson make parallel discovery of wives who are cheating • Dramatic irony – Tom realizes that he is Myrtle’s lover; Wilson does not. • Dramatic Irony – Myrtle see Jordan in the care and figures her to be Tom’s wife. • Irony creates character foils • Tom and George = commonality = Myrtle • Tom (in sympathy) offer to sell and relocate

16. The Valley of Ashes • Tom loses control • Used to getting what he wants” • “Tom was feeling the hot wisps of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate were slipping precipitously from his control” (131). • Precipitously – rapid, hastily or abrupt

17. Hotel Room Confrontation • Climax of novel? • Tom begins his “attack on Gatsby as he defends her from Tom’s “crabbing” comment followed by the discussion of ‘Blocks Biloxi’. • Dramatic Irony – as the argument rages upstairs, the sound of a wedding reception can be heard coming from the floor directly below theirs. • Union (downstairs) • Breaking up (upstairs)

18. Hotel Room Confrontation • Asks Gatsby if he attended Oxford. • “You must have gone there about the same time Biloxi went to New Haven” (137). • Gatsby explains his attendance • Nick supports him over Tom • Why? • “I wanted to get up and slap him on the back. I had one of those complete renewals in faith in him that I’d experienced before” 136) • Before – implication that Nick has been suspicious of Gatsby previously.

19. Hotel Room Confrontation • Irony • Tom: “What kind of row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow? • Dramatic Irony: Myrtle • Tom is causing a “row” in his own house (with Myrtle) • Tom is cheating on Daisy with Myrtle: • He simply refuses to acknowledge this based on his own superiority complex and his views of his wife and particularly Gatsby. • Verbal/Dramatic Irony: Family Life • “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between a black and a white” (137).

20. Hotel Room Confrontation • Tom’s family life is in shamble. • He and his wife are both having affairs • Their child is a possession to them • He abuses Daisy emotionally (and suggested that he does so physically as well – Ch. 1) • Nick notes the Irony in Tom’s behavior when he mentions his change from “Libertine to Prig” • Libertine – someone who has a lack of moral restraint • Prig – concerned with the minute details (in this case of moral and social behavior)

21. Hotel Room Confrontation • Metaphor • “Flushed with impassioned gibberish he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization” (137). • Tom is alone, and left alone to defend his honor! • “I suppose you’ve got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends – in the modern world” (137). • Separation of class • East Egg vs. West Egg • Confrontation • Gatsby speaks for Daisy (confident) • “Your wife doesn’t love you. She’s never loved you. She loves me…She never loved you, do you hear? She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me” (137).

22. Hotel Room Confrontation • Tom’s retaliation: • “Daisy loved me when she married me, and she loves me now…and what’s more, I love Daisy too” (138). • Gatsby’s challenge and the failure of his dream. • Forces Daisy to declare her position • “Just tell him the truth – that you never loved him – and it’s all wiped out forever” (139). • Daisy is reluctant to confront her husband • She fears the repercussions of her actions • Loss of wealth? • Loss of status? • Denying the truth vs. that of the ideal (appearances)? • “…she realized at last what she was doing – and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all. But it was done now. It was too late”

23. Hotel Room Confrontation • Recognizes error of her statement/influence • “’I never loved him’ she said with perceptible reluctance” (139). • Does note wish to follow through with Gatsby’s intentions • Because she has her own? • Death of the American Dream? • Daisy’s reluctance shatters Gatsby’s dream/confidence • “Oh you want too much! I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past. I did love him once – but I loved you too” (140). • “You loved me too?” (140) • Continues the decline in Gatsby’s perception of Daisy (dream) • Romantic idealism – downfall of 5 years worth of planning, desire, and accomplishment

24. Hotel Room Confrontation • Tom wins the fight • “She’s not leaving me! Certainly not for a common swindler like you!” (140). • Recognizes Gatsby’s disillusionment • Daisy does not feel the same way • Embarrassment in front of others • Dream shattered • Tom attempts to discredit him in front of Daisy • “Who are you anyhow? You’re one of that bunch that hangs out with Meyer Wolfsheim – that much I happen to know!” (141). • Drug stores = grain alcohol (prohibition) • Walter Chase – Tom’s friend, wronged by Gatsby

25. Hotel Room Confrontation • Illegal betting • “You’ve got something on now that Walter’s afraid to tell me about” (141). • Bonds (forgery) • Daisy retreats into her own thoughts • Gatsby loses her before leaving the hotel • “…with every word she was drawing further and further into herself” (142) • Tom forces Daisy to ride with Gatsby • Confident in his victory • Recognizes Daisy’s apprehension • Revenge a success? • Magnanimously scornful attitude • Magnanimous – generous in forgiving an insult or injury

26. Nick’s birthday • Jordan, Nick and Tom remain in the hotel room following Gatsby and Daisy’s departure. • Nick recalls that it is his birthday • “…I just remembered that today is my birthday…I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous menacing road of a new decade” (142-143). • 30 years old – as opposed to 20s – indicative of maturity and adulthood • “Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single me to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair” (143). • Jordan and Nick return to East Egg with Tom

27. Flashback to Michaelis and his observations of George and Myrtle’s domestic dispute • Descriptions of George as sickly • Myrtle locked upstairs • “Beat me! Throw me down and beat me you dirty little coward!” (144). • Myrtle was killed by the “death” car. • Car – symbol of status and wealth • Irony? – Myrtle trying to achieve; her pursuit of the unattainable killed her

28. Tom arrives at the garage • Irony - dramatic • Excited for a Wreck – hoping Wilson will get business • 2nd time Tom is sympathetic to Wilson’s situation • Earlier, he agrees to sell him the car. • Recognizes Myrtle – distraught • Irony dramatic (again) – she is killed by Daisy, a woman who despised her but didn’t know who she was • Also, Tom’s problem of infidelity to Daisy has been resolved. • Through the police and witnesses, Tom learns that Gatsby’s car struck and killed Myrtle • Assumes that Gatsby was driving • Another reason to hate the man?

29. Tom arrives at the garage • Myrtle ran out into the street believing the car was driven by Tom (when he stopped at the gas station earlier in the afternoon (irony). • Tom – inadvertently the cause of Myrtle’s death? • Who is more at fault, Tom or Gatsby? • Labels Gatsby as a coward (ironic?) • Wilson believes Tom struck Myrtle based on the car he was driving earlier in the afternoon. • Tom denies this • Nick and another bystander confirm

30. Return to the Buchanan house • Tom offers Nick supper; he declines • Jordan also attempt to get Nick to come inside; he declines • “Won’t you come in Nick?”(149). • Nick’s conscience will not allow him to go inside • Sick of them all • Moral depravity • Lack of respect

31. Return to the Buchanan house • Begins to see them (the rich) as they truly are • Turns 30 • Maturity • Begins to (outwardly) pass judgment • “I’d be damned if I’d go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day and suddenly that included Jordan too” (150). • Jordan is offended and runs inside • Nick will never see her again

32. Gatsby is at the Buchanans! • While waiting for the cab, Nick sees Gatsby hiding in the bushes • Speaks of wreck with detachment similar to that of Tom and Jordan • “I disliked him so much by this time…” (151). • Opinion of Gatsby seems equal to those of the others • Nick learns that Daisy drove and inadvertently killed Myrtle • Gatsby chivalrously declares that he will take the blame for the accident (he has the car to prove it!)

33. Gatsby is at the Buchanans’! • Tells Nick that he is waiting to make sure that Tom doesn’t “abuse” Daisy any further • Waiting at window for “signal” • Room is empty • Metaphorically states – dream is empty – he has lost Daisy although he refuses to recognize his failure • “I want to be here till Daisy goes to bed” (153). • “So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing” (153). • Nick confirms this when he sees Daisy and Tom sitting at the table inside. • “They weren’t happy…and yet they weren’t unhappy either” (152).