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The Great Gatsby
The Story
Chapter 1
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Nick’s father gave him advice: “whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…remember that all the
people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you had”
- His family is wealthy and privileged
- His dad is telling him that things are parceled out evenly
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Gatsby:
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Air of mystery around him
Gatsby represents everything that Nick scorns
He is romantic
He’s as sensitive to the promises of life as a seismograph
 The promises of life are like an earthquake – they can be destructive
Background information on Nick:
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His family made their money in hardware business in Mid-West
He went to Yale
He fought in World War I
He came back “restless”
He moves out East and goes into the stock/bond business
Hardware
v.
Stock:
 Making money the traditional, old
 Intangible: speculation
fashioned way
 Opens up the possibility of corruption and
 Family businesses like his family’s
deception
help build America
Life out East: casual, no commitments
- His roommate and his dog both leave
He’s an “original settler”
- Fitzgerald is using the language of the frontier  the frontier has shifted to the east
- The frontier is supposed to be where you could make a fortune and a new life
- The west represents freedom, while the East is where the old established ways are
West Egg (Great Neck):
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Where Gatsby lives
It’s “less fashionable”- doesn’t have the prestige
Gatsby’s house = “colossal”, has “raw ivy” which he’s planted to make it look old
It was “factual imitation” – Gatsby has tried to make the house look like old money and has
imitated it to the last detail, but he can’t capture the essence of it
Nick thinks it’s overdone and is a big eyesore
East Egg (Manhasset Neck):
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Where the Buchanan’s live
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More traditional; old money and lots of wealth
The Buchanan’s house is like a painting
But it’s hollow as well
Tom Buchanan:
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Arrogant, supercilious
His body has enormous power; he has a hard mouth and a gruff, husky voice; he has refined
clothes but you can tell he’s muscular and aggressive; he’s ready to tackle/charge like a bull
- He has a cruel body
- He establishes dominance and must be on top of the social hierarchy; he has “paternal
contempt” and looks down on everyone
- He is fractious (=easily irritated) and breaks up the harmony
- His eyes flash around restlessly  he’s alert, on edge
- He has a harsh, defiant wistfulness about him
- He could destroy you
- Nick knows him from school, he played football in college, his family was very wealthy
- Nick thinks Tom would go back to the past if he could
- Tom takes Nick around his house to boast that he has money
- Tom tells Nick he’s never heard of the company that he works for – putting him down
- Tom is racist: he believes in Social Darwinism, which is the idea that the white Nordic race is
superior and dominating
- He’s having an affair and doesn’t hide it
We go into the house:
- Expensive fan, decorated ceiling, “wine-colored rug” which is a slight allusion to the Odyssey
- It’s elaborate
Jordan and Daisy are sitting on the couch and seem to be “buoyed” and floating as if they were
on the sea
 2 images:
1. Sirens-Daisy is like a siren
2. Balloons- things that float up in the air but don’t have much substance
- When Tom walks back in the room, the couch seems to sink – he’s a killjoy
- Jordan Baker: is stuck up and arrogant and keeps her chin tilted up- she yawns and doesn’t
talk to Nick
- Jordan has been to Gatsby’s parties
- Daisy knew Jordan in their “white girlhood” – white signifies pure, naïve innocence, but
Fitzgerald is also pointing out Tom’s racism
- Daisy wants to go back to Chicago because people loved her there  she needs a lot of
attention
Daisy is compared to the sirens: there is something about her voice that made people lean into
her
- Her voice promises that there’s nobody In the world who matters as much
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“Promise:” links her voice to promises that incredibly charming even though you know they
are hollow  resembles the American dream and its hollow promises
- She’s charming, and her murmur makes people lean over to keep up
- **DANGER: sirens draw you in with promise and then destroy you
Connection between Tom and Daisy: she’s arrogant too
- She’s melodramatic and likes to be over the top and the center of attention
- She’s insincere and he feels tricked
- She and Tom are part of their own “secret society” – they both stick together and are
deceptive and arrogant; they’re alike
 Secret societies are elusive, elitist, have special privileges, and are serious about
protecting on another
Daisy is frivolous- she wants to arrange a marriage between Nick and Jordan
One of the reasons Nick moved out East was to avoid commitment and engagement
Nick drives away feeling confused and disgusted
Nick sees Gatsby sitting out on the end of his dock
- He was trembling: connection to the trembling of the seismograph metaphor
- There is nothing but a single green light across the water: green represents LIFE and HOPE
Chapter 2
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Valley of the ashes:
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Everything is dead, gray, desolate
It’s where garbage was burned
Compared to a wheat farm: ironic because wheat is referred to as the staff of life, and this
place has no life whatsoever
- Represents:
1) A dumping ground: Myrtle and Mr. Wilson are Tom’s garbage
2) The results of this spiritless, godless culture with no moral standards
The eyes of Doctor TJ Eckleburg
- It’s a billboard for an occulist who has left
- Hollow and empty- no face, nothing
Mr. George Wilson = embodiment of the Valley
- He’s gray, spiritless, pale
- He’s at the mercy of Tom
Mrs. Myrtle Wilson:
- She’s physical and overly dressed
- She’s full of life, living in a place that’s dead
- She’s caught up in money: she buys gossip magazines, makeup, and perfume; she wants to
ride in a lavender car; she wants a dog as another accessory
- She doesn’t even look at her husband when she comes down
Tom doesn’t want to ride in the same train car as Myrtle because he doesn’t want his neighbors
to know
- Concerned with public image
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When they get to the apartment, Myrtle acts like a queen
- She associates royalty with pride and being stuck up; she tries hard to speak polished but
has the tendency to slip back to old ways
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The apartment is small, but it is crowded with furniture
*The apartment represents Myrtle:
- She has no sense of proportion or reality
- She’s trying to cram all the furniture (which represent her desires) into the tiny room (which
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represents her life)
Nick gets drunk for the 2nd time of his life: the whole experience is unreal, like a dream sequence
Catherine:
- She looks unnatural and has no sense of what looks good; she’s too much of everything
- She looks at the place as if she owns it
- She’s a call girl
- She’s been to Gatsby’s parties
Myrtle puts on a “costume” – she’s putting on a role, acting snooty and arrogant.
- “Costume” is associated with the theater
- She’s creating an illusion of reality: these roles are fake, pretend; they’re also insubstantial
and don’t actually exist
- Her behavior is overly acted and fake and she’s overblown. Her desires are too unrealistic
for her life.
Mr. McKee is a photographer and is caught up in pop culture.
Tom is just using Myrtle: he told her that Daisy is Catholic and doesn’t believe in divorce, but
daisy isn’t Catholic at all
Tom hits Myrtle because she keeps saying Daisy’s name after Tom tells her to stop
- FOIL to Daisy teasing Tom by calling him “hulky” and he doesn’t get mad. He respects Daisy.
Nick is lured by the life of New York but it also repels him
- The hype, fast-moving, no commitments, new morals appeals to him
- He’s sucked in by the people but he also wants to get out
- He’s enchanted from the outside, but repelled from the inside
- He feels tied down and doesn’t feel free to leave; yet he feels like an outsider
Chapter 3
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Gatsby is getting ready for a party
- He throws one every 2 weeks
- He lights up his place- everything glitters and shines
- Fitzhugh likes party guests to moths: they’re attracted to the light
- This demonstrates his WEALTH
 Associated with the color yellow/gold (Gatsby’s rolls Royce)
- Showy, lavish, opulent, plentiful, shiny
- Full-fledged orchestra
His parties never get busted, even though they’re openly drinking during prohibition
Nick feels alone, until he sees Jordan Baker
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One woman says that the last time she was at Gatsby’s parties she tore her dress, and he
bought her a new one
 Someone else says that Gatsby doesn’t want trouble with anybody: he wants to be
everybody’s friend
Gatsby is a mystery: nobody knows who he is
- They gossip and imagine
People behave like they do at amusement parks
- Reckless
- Lots of anonymity: you’re just part of a crowd
- People can misbehave because they’re anonymous
- Element of fantasy and illusion: put away your world and enter another existence
Jordan takes Nick around; they go looking for Gatsby
The house is designed to look old:
**The Library** - gone out of his way to pretend he’s got old money
- “Owl Eyes” is a party guest is able to see when others cannot
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Surprised that the books are real. He thought Gatsby wanted it all for show
He says Gatsby is a regular Belasco: set designer on Broadway known for creating really
realistic sets  he created such an authentic fantasy you think it’s reality
- He can see through Gatsby and knows he is making a huge effort to appear authentic, detail
by detail. Owl Eyes says that Gatsby has tried really heard to look like the real thing and has
gone through great pains to create this illusion.
Jordan says that big parties are intimate because at small parties there isn’t any privacy
People drink too much at the parties
When Nick first meets Gatsby (although he is unaware of the identity of the man he meets),
Gatsby immediately establishes a link/bond between them: they were both in the war
- Gatsby says he was in the division that came and rescued Nick’s when they were stuck in
France
Gatsby:
1. His smile: makes you feel so wonderful and focuses on you entirely
- He can read what it is you want and then give it to you – it’s all a facade
- It’s like a mirror: it reflects what you want back at you
2. His key phrase is “old sport” – trying to sound like the old British
- He measures everything he says: everything is planned
He gets calls from Chicago and Philadelphia
Jordan gets called away to talk to Gatsby
Fights start to break out: lots of drinking, some want to go home
The car accident:
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Confusion about who the driver is
That driver is labeled as a criminal
Owl Eyes is involved
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- About the carelessness of drivers
- Ends in chaos
SHIFTS to the rest of Nick’s summer, which was crowded and busy
- Work took up most of his time
He began to like New York
*motif of film-making: he gets caught up in the rush
- He’s not going to commit
It’s a crowded city, but he’s totally alone and isolated
Jordan is a liar and a cheater
- She lied and moved the ball at one of her games and bribed them to let her cheat
- She avoids clever men because they can figure her out and she can’t manipulate them
- She thinks she’s above everyone else
***She’s like TOM: they both lie, cheat, like to be on top, and don’t like being challenged
But this doesn’t bother Nick: he’s willing to let go of his own morals and principles for this girl
Jordan drives really badly:
**Cars are associated with careless people
Chapter 4
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During the month of July, Nick goes to Gatsby’s parties and makes a list of all the people he sees
- DIVERSE variety of people: different ethnicities
- Combination of real and not real names
- They’re making their money by infiltrating and manipulating the stock market
- Cataloging: commentary on modern America  these are wealthy people, the most
successful in America, and they’re getting their money through corruption
Gatsby invites Nick to lunch: his goal is to get him to do a favor
EVERYTHING is planned by Gatsby: nothing is spontaneous
- He wants to befriend Nick to get invited over so he wants to make a good impression
- He basically says do as I ask or there will be consequences
- He wants Daisy so bad he’ll do anything
On the ride going in, Gatsby is trying to win Nick over because he wants a favor
- He smiles, tries to bond with him, takes him on the hydroplane and out to lunch
- Gatsby is nervous, restless because he wants to impress Nick – wants to find out what Nick
things of him
- Nick thinks Gatsby has no substance
- Nick is about to laugh at the ridiculousness of his stories and thinks he’s a liar, fake, and
phony
- But then Gatsby pulls out 2 pieces of evidence:
1. Medal from the war
2. Picture from Oxford
- And Nick falls for everything
- Gatsby tells Nick “he didn’t want him to think he was just some nobody”  he wants to be a
somebody and wanted to be good enough
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Juxtaposition of scenes: the policeman
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The policeman stops Gatsby who then shows him a white card which identifies him as
Gatsby, and the policeman apologizes to him. Gatsby tells Nick that he did him a favor and
now gets Christmas cards every year. They then drive by a hearse, which is associated with
death.
- Significance: Gatsby has manipulated his way into the city government as well
 Even the city government is run by corruption!!
 The promise of America and the idea that the nation is founded on honest money is an
illusion
 New York City represents America: the illusion that the nation is built on honest money is
dead, in the past
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Mr. Wolfsheim:
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He knew people that were involved in a gangster shooting called Metropole, so he’s
mourning their deaths  he deals with dangerous people; the police chief was even in on
the gangster shooting
- He offers Nick a “business gonnegtion”  he can connect him with people to make easy
money
 Indirectly luring Nick: if he was interested, he could pursue
 Gatsby is indirectly offering Nick an easy way to make money
- He is like a wolf: he has small eyes and a sniffing nose; he eats cornbeef hash with ferocious
delicacy, like an animal
When Gatsby leaves the room, Mr. Wolfsheim reassures Nick that Gatsby is a great guy and also
threatens Nick
- Gatsby went to a good college, has a good breeding, and is the type of guy you take home to
your family
- Mr. Wolfsheim also shows him that his cuff buttons are made of TEETH: he’s intimidating
him and threatening him with what could happen if he doesn’t cooperate
Then Gatsby comes back, and he leaves  he’s done his job
- Everything is planned!
Gatsby tells Nick that Mr. Wolfsheim was the one who “fixed” the World Series
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Baseball was the American past time, where anyone could play. It was a truly Americanmade sport, and it’s supposed to be based on hard work
This was a huge disappointment to the nation
America is the land of opportunity by honest work
But even opportunity is corrupted
*Undermining the notion of what the nation stands for*
SHIFTS: Jordan Baker tells Nick about Daisy and Gatsby’s past
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Daisy is associated with white: purity, innocence
She dated officers, and then fell for Gatsby. But then he had to go to the war. She tried to go
to New York to say goodbye, but her family stopped her because Gatsby doesn’t have
money.
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She needs to have a man in her life: was engaged 6 months later
She married Tom who was rich: she likes money
The night before the wedding she got a letter from Gatsby, got drunk, and wanted to call off
the wedding
- But then she married him anyway
- On their honeymoon in the South Seas, Tom got in a car wreck and there was one of the
chambermaids of the hotel in the car with him. Daisy was pregnant at the time
 CAR associated with Tom’s recklessness and carelessness towards his marriage
- They moved to Chicago
- Daisy doesn’t drink
Gatsby “fixes” everything:
- he bought the house across the river from Daisy so he’d be close to her
- he wanted to “fix” a meeting between Daisy and Nick
The house:
- Signifies that you own property – this is the American dream
- It gives you status- it’s Gatsby’s way of saying he has arrived and has wealth
Gatsby expected Daisy to be one of the moths and come to the party
He wants Daisy to go to Nick’s because he wants her to see the inside of his own house next
door
Chapter 5
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Gatsby’s house is all lit up
- MOTH metaphor: attracted to the light
- Nick says that it looks like the World’s Fair
Gatsby offers that connection to Nick again: an easy way to make money by corrupting the stock
market
- Nick says the offer was so tasteless that he said no and would not be tempted
The weather is rainy:
- It reflects Gatsby’s dismal mood
Gatsby wants everything to be perfect: he cuts Nick’s grass, chooses his desserts
Gatsby is really nervous
- Before we just see him as a crook. But now, he becomes more human and the reader feels
sorry for him.
When Daisy comes in, her smile brings light and her voice is exhilarating
Gatsby is working hard to look casual; he’s in pain from nervousness
Gatsby leans against a clock and almost knocks it over
- The clock is “defunct” – it’s stopped in time
 He’s caught in the past of their relationship
Nick goes for a walk
When Nick comes back, the rain has stopped, and Gatsby’s mood has changed
- Gatsby is glowing, like the light that attracts moths
- He’s in the past
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Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick back to his house
Gatsby starts slipping:
- He tells Nick that it took him 3 years to earn the money that bought the house. Nick says
that he thought he inherited his money, and Gatsby says he did, but lost it in the war.
- Gatsby says he was in the drug and oil business which implies that he was a bootlegger and
was involved in the pipeline that brought in booze. But now he’s fixing the stock market
 Now he’s corrupting the infrastructure of the nation
The worth of the house is only significant to him if Daisy likes it
Nick says Owl Eyes would laugh if he was there because he knows it’s all for show
His bedroom is the simplest room
By showing Daisy the shirts, he’s showing off his wealth
- She starts crying because she knows it’s all for her: she’s never seen such devotion and love
Gatsby is a dreamer:
- Hopeful presence, real romantic
- The ideals and illusions are stronger than his reality
The green light on the end of Daisy’s dock represents Daisy and a hope/dream of seeing her
again, but now it’s lost its significance because he has seen her again
Chapter 6
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The chapter starts with a reporter
FLASHBACK: Nick tells us about Gatsby’s past
Dan Cody represents a change in the frontier: he brings corruption back to the East
There are 2 parts to Gatsby:
1. He’s corrupt
2. He’s a dreamer
- His heart is always in emotional thrusts; he’s always going after something bigger
When he was 17, Gatsby attends to St. Olaf where he has to take a janitorial job which was too
low for him so he drops out. He then offers his services to Dan Cody when he sees his yacht
Cody leaves Gatsby money, but he doesn’t get it because Cody’s mistress Ella Kaye finds
loopholes and takes it all
- Gatsby was left with an education on how to swindle people out of money
The story then shifts back to the present
Gatsby invites Tom, Daisy, and the Sloanes over
**Even though Gatsby has made a lot of money, he does not understand how East Eggers
operate. He is blind to his own ignorance. He’s not in the “secret society,” the inner circle
- Nick can see through it, but Gatsby can’t pick up on any of the signals
- Gatsby is aggressive towards Tom and says he knows Daisy; he tries to impress them by
saying he knows celebrities
Mr. Sloane does not want to be there, and Mrs. Sloane is getting drunk so she’s more friendly
When Mrs. Sloane invites Gatsby and Nick, Nick can tell that Mr. Sloane doesn’t want them to
come, but Gatsby can’t
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Tom says he “old fashioned” but he thinks that women run around too much – he doesn’t like
that Daisy has met Gatsby. He can tell Gatsby is a crook and has made his money illegally
- IRONIC: he’s running around on her
Gatsby’s party = septic
- Nick is looking at it through Daisy’s eyes and now it looks different from the others
- Gatsby calls Tom the polo player to annoy and irritate him
- Gatsby is a good dancer and dances with Daisy
- He introduces them to celebrities, but Daisy doesn’t care
Daisy is not impressed with the party, despite Gatsby’s best attempts
- She doesn’t like it- she’s more refined than these sleazy people
Daisy defends Gatsby, even though she doesn’t believe it, to irritate Tom and make him jealous
After Daisy leaves, Gatsby tells Nick that she didn’t like it
He wants nothing of less than Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: I never loved you
- He wants her to wipe out everything that happened the 5 years
- He wants to live in the past
- He walks down a path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers  suggests
that you can’t pretend it all doesn’t exist; conveys images of crushed dreams
He wants to “fix” everything so it’s just like reliving the past
- Connects to Wolfsheim “fixing” the World Series
- Implies that any attempt to “fix” it would be corrupt
The past is liked to an actual place
Daisy recalls a fairy-tale-like memory
- It’s not reality
- Daisy is like a flower: she is the incarnation of Gatsby’s dreams
- If Gatsby can have Daisy, then all his dreams will come true. He’s put everything into this. He
can’t articulate the dream: it’s an emotional impulse, a romantic feeling.
- This idealized version of Daisy is just an illusion.
- Daisy is actually materialistic and loves money.
Chapter 7
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Decline of Gatsby
Weather is HOT  things are going to explode
Gatsby stops having parties and surrounds himself with Wolfsheim’s people. Daisy comes over
every day.
Nick is invited to Tom’s house with Jordan and Gatsby
Daisy and Jordan are likened to silver idols
- Idols = movie stars
- Flip side of the balloon image from earlier: now they are weighed down instead of floating
- Mood is oppressive, heavy, tense
When Tom walks out of the room, Daisy kisses Gatsby
Then Daisy’s daughter comes out
- The child is the signal that Daisy can’t erase the past
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- Gatsby didn’t really believe that she existed- before, she was just an abstraction
- Gatsby is blind and can’t pick up on the signals
Tom shows Gatsby his place – flexing his muscles
Daisy is falling apart- she wants to go into town and wants a change of scenery
- She’s torn: she likes the attention from Gatsby, but the money and wealth of Tom
She turns to Gatsby and says that he looks so cool: he looks calm and controlled
- Tom realizes suddenly that they’re having an affair
 Tom can read people and figure out what’s going on, unlike Gatsby
Gatsby says that Daisy’s voice is full of money
- Connects to the American dream
Tom drives Gatsby’s car: Nick and Jordan ride with him
- Gatsby drives with Daisy in Tom’s car
- Tom toys with and underhandedly insults Gatsby: indirectly calls him a clown
They stop at the Wilson’s garage
- Mr. Wilson is sick because he found out that she was having an affair. He wants to move
west, something she had always wanted to do, but now she doesn’t want to leave.
**Tom and Wilson both discover that their wives are having affairs
- Wilson gets sick and guilty
- Tom gets angry and goes on the attack
EYES of Myrtle: watch them drive away
There’s a wedding going on, and Tom and Daisy talk about their wedding
- Daisy is remembering the past, and says that Biloxi fainted at their wedding
- They’re all trying to remember who Biloxi is: all except Gatsby; they’re all part of that
common history except for Gatsby
- Biloxi crashed their wedding and overstayed his welcome  he’s an interloper, an intruder
 They’re really talking about Gatsby, but he doesn’t see it – he’s blind to how they
operate. He’s failed to read Daisy’s signals and can’t read East Eggers.
Tom starts attacking Gatsby: questions him about Oxford
- Gatsby comes out on top – he’s cool and confident
- Nick is happy – he’s on Gatsby’s side
- Daisy is also pleased, mostly because they’re fighting for her
Then Tom brings everything out in the open
- Gatsby is content: he’s certain that Daisy will side with him
- Tom is upset because Gatsby is a nobody
- Tom rambles on about how civilization is deteriorating and soon there will be intermarriage
between black and white – Jordan says that “we’re all white here”
Tom attacks Gatsby: he’s upset because he’s a nobody
- He brings up race, and Jordan calls him out by commenting that they’re all white
- Nick says that it is almost too easy to hate him, he is so annoying
Gatsby speaks for Daisy
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Tom realizes that most of the affair has been in Gatsby’s head. While speaking to Gatsby, he is
actually talking to Daisy.
- He says that he may go around and make a fool of himself, but he always comes back
because he loves her.
- Daisy picks up on this and says he’s disgusting. When speaking to Gatsby’s about Tom’s
affair in Chicago (that became public and forced them to leave), she is actually talking to
Tom
- Gatsby doesn’t see that she’s having a fight with Tom and it has nothing to do with him
Daisy has trouble bringing herself to say that she never loved Tom
- Tom picks out their tender moments to break her down, and she knows it too
Daisy says that she loved Tom once – but loved Gatsby TOO
- Tom comes first  Gatsby is second
- This Gatsby picks up on and it hurts him
- Daisy throws down the trembling cigarette  she can’t rekindle the past
Tom, knowing Daisy’s got his back, says that he can’t erase the past and the times that Gatsby
was never a part of
- He knows how to hurt Gatsby
Daisy sides with the guy with the upperhand, admitting that even alone with Gatsby she can’t
deny that she loved Tom
- Tom accepts her support, but she tells him that he hasn’t done enough to win her back yet
- He says he’ll take better care of her
Tom seals the decision for Daisy by talking about Gatsby’s connections with Wolfsheim and
criminal activity
- He knows Daisy well – she likes status and is appalled by dishonest money
- Gatsby is on the defense, but he can’t win Daisy back
Tom’s consolation prize is letting Daisy and Tom ride home together. He knows it’s all over, and
reduces Gatsby to a pest.
On the way home, the yellow car that Gatsby and Daisy took back runs over Myrtle and kills her.
Tom, Jordan, and Nick pull up and Tom realizes what happened.
The novel is a coming of age story for Nick
- He is starting to get tired of all of these people
Gatsby waits outside Daisy’s house and says he will take the blame for the car accident. Daisy
was the one who was driving, but Gatsby will say he was.
- Fairytale motif: he’s protecting his love
- Nick admires this
Gatsby keeps a vigil Daisy’s window all night- he is concerned for her
- He can’t read signals still  Gatsby is in love with something that isn’t there
Nick looks in the kitchen window, and sees Tom and Daisy sitting opposite each other at the
table.
- Tom’s hand covers hers  he’s controlling her
- She’s agreeing
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They belong together and are both part of a secret society that shares the same values,
has secret operations, and doesn’t let anybody in
Chapter 8
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As things get worse for Gatsby, he recedes further into the past.
- He reminisces about what Daisy meant to him, what he did for her, etc.
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We find out the story of Gatsby
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He didn’t see himself as the son of farmers
He joins up Dan Cody and experiences an inkling of success
He joins the military and is stationed in Louisville where he met Daisy
In Daisy, he collects his aspirations and dreams and is committed to a vision of her.
But when he comes back, she’s married.
He walks the streets of Louisville, living in the past
He makes money to win her back and Wolfsheim helps him back it illegally
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Daisy becomes his grail:
- This connects to the imagery of fairy tales: the grail was a medieval quest for nights and
guaranteed eternal night if you found it
- She’s his lifelong goal, his quest: gives him purpose and meaning to life and keeps him from
distraction
 Gatsby tries to rationalize why Daisy did what she did and tries to readjust his vision
 When Nick leaves Gatsby’s house, he compliments Gatsby.
- Nick understands that Gatsby has had this committed dream. Even though he disapproves
of the fact that he is a corrupt crook, he knows that the dream was always pure
 Nick and Jordan don’t have much to say to each other
- Nick is detaching himself from the people and the East
 Wilson is dealing with Myrtle’s death badly
- He doesn’t go to church and has no friends – he has nothing to fall back on
*This culture is spiritually dead
 Wilson starts walking around Tom, and then he disappears for 3 hours (when Tom tells him that
it was Gatsby who ran over Myrtle) and then he goes looking and asking around for Gatsby’s
house
 The chaeuffeur hears the shots, but doesn’t want to get involved
 Wilson killed Gatsby, and then shot himself
Chapter 9
 After his death, Gatsby is abandoned by everyone, and only Nick is on his side
- They all desert him
 Catherine remains quiet about Myrtle’s affair
 Nick first calls Daisy after Gatsby’s death, but finds out that she and Tom have left on a trip.
They’re also keeping their distance.
 He calls and writes a letter to Mr. Wolfsheimm and tries desperately to get in contact with him.
- Mr. Wolfsheim’s letter makes it clear that he doesn’t want to be associated with Gatsby
although he’s sorry about the tragedy
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Wolfsheim wants to stay under the radar, and Gatsby becomes a liability to him because
of the press
Nick picks up the phone, and the phone call is about stocks and bonds.
- We get another clue that Gatsby was involved in the infiltration of the financial system
Gatsby’s father arrives: he found out about his son’s death in the Chicago papers
- His name is Mr. Gatz
His father is very proud of who his son was. He said he would’ve lived to be a great man like
James J. Hill
- James J. Hill built railroads to the west that conquered the frontier
- His father says that he would’ve helped built up the country, which is IRONIC because
Gatsby was undermining the country’s financial systems
Klipspringer, known as the boarder, calls the house
- He just wants to get his tennis shoes back
- He makes excuses about not being able to make it to the funeral, like a picnic he must go to
- This is an example of how people use Gatsby and throw him away after
Nick even goes down to Wolfsheim’s store.
- It’s called the “Swastika Holding Company”  suggests that Wolfsheim is a traitor, and
betrays his own people (the Jews)
- Wolfsheim is not sincere at all
- Gatsby was just an accessory to Wolfsheim’s operations
- Wolfsheim says that he “made” him
- Wolfsheim even tries to recruit Nick
Mr. Gatz is proud of his son, and is most proud of Gatsby’s house
As a child, Gatsby used to read Hopalong Cassidy, which was about fictional cowboy adventures.
- His imagination was filled with stories about the frontier.
- This also suggests that the frontier is now fiction: it’s long gone, long in the past
As a young boy, Gatsby also wrote a plan for how to improve himself
- Just like Franklin!
- Gatsby believed in the American dream of success and the self-made man. He believed in
the American narrative of working hard and self-educating to achieve success. He wasn’t
focused on the money, but instead on the hard work, self-discipline, and self-education
- He believed in the American myth:
1. Myth can have fairy tale connotations
2. Myth can also mean a narrative by which you live by  the “American myth/narrative”
 Gatsby was a young boy whose imagination had been filled with stores of the West. He
lived by the American dream of opportunity: if you’re willing to work hard and selfeducate, you will achieve success. He believed in this American narrative of reinvesting
yourself
Owl Eyes:
- He comes to the funeral. He apologizes for not being able to get to the house, and Nick tells
him that nobody else came either.
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Owl Eyes is shocked and comments on how they used to go by the hundreds.
Owl Eyes can see everything clearly: Gatsby tried so hard to impress and be well liked, bu iit
all came to bothing
SHIFT: Nick’s past
Nick reminisces on the times when he could go back home during Christmas
- Fond, happy memories and wonderful, nostalgic scenes
- Nick envisions going back to the past too, to the old way of doing things, to no change
Tom, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and Nick all look back to the past and would rather go back to
another life. They haven’t adopted well to modern life.
- Nick says things were distorted for him in the East, and looked like one of El Greco’s
paintings.
The people are really impersonal
Nick goes to see Jordan Baker
- She tells him that she is engaged after he breaks things off
- He’s tempted but he can’t forgive her dishonesty
- She tries to seem casual
- Jordan tells him that she misjudged him and that he’s just as judgmental as her
Nick runs into Tom on 5th Avenue.
- Tom uses Wilson to get rid of Gatsby and get caught
- Tom says that Gatsby threw “dust’ on their eyes – like fairy dust – and he made Nick and
Daisy see him as a good persona and not a crook
- His emotional response is over the top and superficial; he is also selfish
- He said when he saw dog biscuits on the sidewalk, he started cryingMyrtle was his dog
- Nick realizes that to himself, Tom is very justified in what he’s done. They are careless
people that smash things and creatures in their carelessness.
- They both belong to the same secret society
Nick says Tom was going to buy Daisy a pearl necklace
1. Showing off that he has won her again
2. Contrasts with the dog leash he gave myrtle
Nick says that Tom may have been buying cuff buttons  connects him to Wolfsheim
- Both use and manipulate others, destroying them in the process. Both have the power and
the money to do this.
Gatsby’s house has been abandoned and Nick can’t stand the memories, so he goes out in to the
city a lot.
Nick says that most people had moved out of the houses because summer was over.
Nick pictures New York as the Dutch sailors (=the first to come to New York) must’ve seen it
when the first arrived
- “the fresh GREEN breast of the new world” – the land was as big as you could imagine; it
was beyond anyone’s dreams
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Connects with the green light on the end of Daisy’s dock, which represented the dream for
Gatsby, the dream that he loyally pursued his whole life. He didn’t realize that it was already
gone.
- The dream is of the past and it is useless and wasteless to try to recover it
We keep trying to beat back the current of time, and are born back into the past
Main Themes
 As a young boy, Gatsby believed in the American dream of success from hard work.
 Gatsby failed to understand that the dream was behind him, in the past.
 He mistakes Daisy (who stands for money and power) for the real dream, the one
people had fought for back in the republic (such as freedom)
- This dream had become cheap and vulgar. Dan Cody transformed it for Gatsby
- American is unable to reconcile the material with the ideal. We confuse the dream
with the materialistic wealth
 Green = unexplored America
- This green land gives way to the valley of ashes.
- The uncorrupted frontier gives way to the commercial corruption.
- The dream of idealized love gives way to adultery and death
 The frontier spirit = an iron resolve to push oneself to improve
Words
 GREEN = life and hope
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End of daisy’s dock
Unexplored America
 YELLOW/GOLD = wealth
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Gatsby’s rolls Royce
Gatsby’s clothes
 WHITE = purity innocence; used negatively in terms of race
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Daisy’s childhood and past
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