The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis May 2011

2. Chapter Eight – Summary • Nick wracked by anxiety – hears Gatsby come home and heads to his house • Gatsby had been outside of Daisy’s house all night • Nick advises Gatsby to leave town – Atlantic City, Montreal • Cannot leave Daisy

3. Chapter Eight – Summary • Gatsby tells Nick the real story as to how he first met Daisy • 1917, Louisville • Smitten with her wealth, beauty and youthful innocence • Gatsby lied about his poverty and past • Daisy promised to wait for him after the war • Daisy married Tom, her social equal and her parents’ choice • When Nick leaves, he gives Gatsby a compliment • “worth the whole damn bunch [of the Buchanans and their East Egg friends] put together.”

4. Chapter Eight – Summary Valley of Ashes • George Wilson being consoled by Michaelis • George Wilson tells Michaelis that he confronted Myrtle with the evidence of her affair • She could not hide it from the eyes of God • George Wilson mistakes Dr. T.J. Eckelburg for the eyes of God • Assumes the driver of the car was Myrtle’s lover

5. Chapter Eight – Analysis • Although Gatsby has a criminal past and nouveau riche affectations, Nick cannot help but admire him for his nobility • Nick does recognize Gatsby as a visionary, capable of grand passion and great dreams • Represents an ideal that had grown rare in the 1920s, which was an age of cynicism, decadence and cruelty

6. Chapter Eight – Analysis • Nick believes Gatsby’s great mistake was loving Daisy • American Dream has degenerated into the crass pursuit of material wealth • Gatsby strived only for wealth once he had fallen in love • Gatsby, not murdered for his criminal activities, but his unwavering devotion to Daisy • Nick writes, Gatsby “[pays] a high price for living too long with a single dream.”

7. Chapter Eight – Analysis • Gatsby unable to accept that his dream is over – continues to insist that Daisy may still come to him • Clear to everyone, including the reader, she is bound to Tom • Gatsby’s death seems inevitable – dreamer cannot exist without his dreams • Through Daisy’s betrayal, he loses his reason for living

8. Chapter Eight – Analysis Wilson – Gatsby’s grim double in Chapter VIII • Fundamentally alters the course of his life by attaching symbolic significance to something that is, in and of itself, meaningless • Gatsby, Daisy and her green light • Wilson, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckelburg • Destroyed by their love for women who love the brutal Tom Buchanan • Both consumed for longing for something more • Gatsby, “American Dreamer” – in-so-far as his dreams of wealth • Wilson, exemplifies the fate of the “Failed Dreamer” – poverty deprived him of even his ability to hope

9. Chapter Eight – Analysis Wilson – Gatsby’s grim double in Chapter VIII • Gatsby’s death takes place on the first day of autumn • Decision to use his pool in defiance of the change of seasons • Gatsby’s unwillingness to accept the passage of time • Summer = reunion with Daisy • End of summer = end of their romance

10. Chapter Eight – Key Questions • How does Fitzgerald achieve a melancholic mood in the beginning of this chapter? • How are seasons used in constructing this novel? • Who is Dan Cody and what is his significance in Gatsby's life? • How does Nick's statement "You're worth the whole bunch put together" show a change in Nick from the beginning of the novel? • How does T. J. Eckleberg affect Mr. Wilson?