The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Chapter Seven

2. The Great Gatsby – chapter 7 Complete these sentences with one suitable word in each space. • The main ________ to the accident was Michaelis. • He said that Mrs Wilson________into the road. • The car that hit her slowed for a moment then ________ around the next bend. • Tom stopped his car when he realized there had been an ________ • He pushed through the ________ and saw Myrtle’s body on the worktable of the garage. • Tom found out that Myrtle had been ________ by a big yellow car. • Tom told Wilson that he wasn’t ________ the yellow car. • Nick met Gatsby in Tom’s ________. • Gatsby asked Nick about the accident but only seemed to care about ________ rather than ________. • Gatsby told Nick that Daisy was ________ the car.

3. The Great Gatsby – chapter 7 Complete these sentences with one suitable word in each space. • The main witness to the accident was Michaelis. • He said that Mrs Wilson rushed into the road. • The car that hit her slowed for a moment then raced around the next bend. • Tom stopped his car when he realized there had been an accident. • He pushed through the crowd and saw Myrtle’s body on the worktable of the garage. • Tom found out that Myrtle had been hit by a big yellow car. • Tom told Wilson that he wasn’t driving the yellow car. • Nick met Gatsby in Tom’s garden. • Gatsby asked Nick about the accident but only seemed to care about Daisy rather than Myrtle. • Gatsby told Nick that Daisy was driving the car.

4. Turning Point • This chapter forms the climax to the novel as we are led inexorably to the tragic ending. • As Gatsby becomes firmly embroiled in his affair with Daisy, he rejects the materialism and conspicuous consumption that have defined him so far. Everything is now invested and dedicated to the fulfilment of his dream – Daisy. Gatsby is no longer throwing theatrical parties on his lawn. ‘The whole caravansary has fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes’. In addition, he has sacked significant numbers of staff in order to prevent gossip about him. • This indicates how – for Gatsby – money in itself means nothing. he doesn’t enjoy the trappings of wealth (remember how he behaves at his parties). Everything is dedicated to the quest beyond money – Daisy, his dream.

5. The Heat • The writer uses pathetic fallacy through the ‘broiling’ weather which sets the scene for this pivotal chapter, establishing a mood of suppressed anger and spiralling passions. The straw seats of the car hovered delicately on the edge of combustion; the woman next to me perspired delicately… • This stifling humidity sets a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere. Fitzgerald creates an overwhelming sense of climax and impending doom. • The idea of a ‘breaking point’ is emphasised by the image of combustion, We have a sense of climax about the this passage, as if the weather has signalled a change in atmosphere, one which heralds disaster.

6. Daisy • Her admission of love for Gatsby is careless and impulsive. Her lack of thought beforehand indicates that her feelings lack conviction and shouldn’t be relied upon. Any admission of love given so easily needs to be questioned She just blurts it out, then goes on ‘innocently’ as if nothing had happened. Significantly, by demanding to go to town and declaring her love, she again sets the triggers for the disaster of the afternoon. • ‘Her voice is full of money’ (Important Quote!) Daisy has just been comparing Gatsby to an advertisement, unconsciously connecting him with his material aspirations. After all, it was the symbol of the shirts which finally alerted her to his renewed eligibility. Gatsby makes the above comment out of his understanding of Daisy’s mentality. He doesn’t mean it as a criticism. She represents, for him, the spiritual side of materialism.

7. The End of Gatsby and Daisy Crucially, it is Gatsby’s incriminating admission about the source of his fortune that really spells the end of his relationship with Daisy. In her skewed morality, infidelity, betrayal and cheating are all acceptable to the established elite as long as the rules are followed. However, the fact that Gatsby’s wealth comes from bootlegging and other illegal means is a step too far for Daisy. The hypocrisy of this is not lost on the reader yet there is no sense of irony from Daisy herself. Interestingly, it is the recognition and admittance of both their infidelities which provokes a renewed sense of intimacy between the couple – perhaps evidence of just how dysfunctional and destructive their relationship is at its core.

8. Tom and Daisy • Nevertheless, for the first time we glimpse a real and genuine sense of affection between the two in the hotel room, when Daisy admits “even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom.” The listing of significant shared events over the last 5 years together emphasises this intimacy which is again witnessed after the accident when they are seen conspiring together about the accident. In the end, when events spiral out of control, she retreats to the comfort and security of the old-money life. It is of course deeply ironic, that as she and Tom plot against him, Gatsby is protectively watching over her.

9. Myrtle’s Death • That she dies reaching out for the very thing she feared the most, Daisy, is especially revealing, as is the description of the accident. She is left kneeling, in an almost reverent pose while her “thick, dark blood” is reminiscent of her robust sexuality, vitality and passion. Even in her death her sexuality is exposed and made public: her “left breast…swinging loose like a flap” is an almost grotesque and gratuitous image, emphasising that she has been consumed and used up. • Both Tom and Daisy have been instrumental in her death (she believed Tom was in the car and Daisy killed her). Daisy doesn’t even stop to mop up the mess she has made.

10. Tom and Daisy Conspire… • Nick notices Gatsby standing outside in his pink suit. He is keeping watch over Daisy, in the improbable hope that he can protect her from Tom’s anger. Right to the end, he casts himself as her hero. • Gatsby also informs Nick that he intends to take the blame for Daisy, thus casting himself in a ‘martyred’ role. • As Nick leaves the scene, he comes across a lighted window. Inside, Tom and Daisy are sitting at the table: There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody would have said they that they were conspiring together. Daisy and Tom are obviously discussing how to frame Gatsby. It is therefore poignant and ironic that Gatsby keeps watch over Daisy until dawn – ‘watching over nothing’. Daisy is a pragmatist. She and Tom are very well suited to each other. She abandons all notions of Gatsby when details of his business practises are aired, and retreats into the solid, comfortable world of ‘old money’ in the wake of the accident, saving herself in the process.

11. Gatsby’s refusal to accept Daisy's betrayal is an indication of his idealism. Even when faced with the certainty that she is lost to him, Gatsby refuses to relinquish his dream. He is a purist and idealist. It is this which is both his most admirable quality and his downfall. Despite his flaws, he is ultimately elevated to heroic status. Gatsby is only content when aspiring for something. For example, at first he craved Daisy and when he couldn’t have her he amended his dream to include money as a means to attract her. When finally he had Daisy in his reach he changed it again, trying to hold onto the voice which is of course unattainable. The logical conclusion to Gatsby’s dream therefore will always be failure but although the dream is an illusion, it is nevertheless worth aspiring to. • In this way, Gatsby’s life represents the American Dream itself. It is a dream devoted to spiritual values, but once it is realised, it becomes corrupt.

12. Wilson’s Sickness • Wilson invites a direct comparison to Tom. Both men are now aware that their wives are having affairs yet react very differently. Gatsby also has completely different view on love and women. • George’s reaction to his wife’s infidelity is in stark contrast to the reaction of Tom to Daisy’s affair. George’s emotional reaction renders him sick and pale with grief – he even resorts to locking Myrtle in a room upstairs while he plans to return to the Midwest – away from her lover. • Tom is merely angry, seeing Daisy's love for Gatsby as a personal slight and a sign that civilisation is about to end – he cannot conceive of someone from her class stooping to consort with the ‘nouveau-riche’. He has merely had his pride dented.