Nick Carraway

Throughout the entire book, we have watched Nick Carraway get walked all over by Ms. Jordan Baker, used by Gatsby to get to Daisy, and used by Daisy to get to Gatsby. In the final chapter of the novel, due to the loss of Gatsby, we finally hear his opinions voiced, and he is not afraid to tell people what he really thinks. "'What's the matter, Nick? Do you object to shaking hands with me?' 'Yes. You know what I think of you.'" (p. 178, conversation between Tom and Nick). And another example of Nick finally voicing his opinions is, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy" (p. 179). Yet another example is when Klipspringer called, and Nick hoped it would be Klipspringer saying he would attend the the funeral. Rather, Klipspringer avoided the request and asked for Nick to mail him his tennis shoes (the original intent of his call). "I didn't hear the rest of the name, because I hung up the receiver." (p.169). The nerve of Klipspringer to not even acknowledge Gatsby's death sent Nick into a tailspin, a never before seen quality of Nick. Before Gatsby's death, Nick was a voiceless entity; he didn't even remember when his birthday was until the actual day, and it wasn't even of importance to him. The juxtaposition between Nick's voicelessness and the voicing of his opinions leads us to wonder why? Why is it now that Nick doesn't care about cushioning the truth, or being blunt? Is it just because of Gatsby's death that Nick suddenly has a spine, or is it something else? What is making Nick act so different?

The Sharp Knife of a Short Life

"Jimmy always liked it better down East." (168) Mr. Gatz imparts this notion after his son Jim "Jay Gatsby" Gatz dies. I think is more than just that Gatsby liked being in the East. It represents Gatsby preferring East Egg a.k.a. Daisy's world, to West Egg. All he wanted was to be near Daisy, but he never could because their worlds were too different. He was never enough for her. In the beginning of their love affair, she was young and willing to marry for love alone. But something changed while he was off at war. "She wanted her life shaped now, immediately - and the decision must be made by some force - of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality - that was close at hand." (151) She meets Tom, and it's as if Gatsby never existed. Daisy goes on with her life, having a child and being a good wife to a man who cheats, but always stays by her side; while Gatsby never stops thinking about her and the life he wanted with her.

It isn't until the last two chapters that Nick Carraway shares his opinions concerning the people he has been associating with all summer. He compliments Gatsby, and later writes these words, which I find most eloquent: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they made..." (179) Tom Daisy ruined lives, case in point: Mr. Wilson, Myrtle, and of course Gatsby. The "poor" (I say poor because while Wilson and his wife are poor, Gatsby technically isn't; but he might as well be as far as Tom is concerned) Westerners die because of Tom and Daisy. However, the couple never have to take responsibility for their actions. Is this only because of their wealth? Or because they are so heartless that they don't care who loses, just as long as they win?

Calm (Tim)

The 8th chapter uses many calming imagery. This serves to contrast with the events of the night before, where the temperature was sweltering. As the sun comes up the next day :

[they open] the windows down-stairs, filling the house with gray-turning, gold-turning light. The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. There was a slow, pleasant movement in the air, scarcely a wind, promising a cool, lovely day.

It is also a bit ironic, in that it leads the readers to believe that the majority of the conflict is over (while in fact, it is certainly not). Another image of calm: Gatsby was relaxing in his pool, on a float when he was killed. The world is calm:

A small gust of wind that scarcely corrugated the surface was enough to disturb its accidental course with its accidental burden. The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of compass, a thin red circle in the water.

It seems to add to the tragedy that all this conflict has happened, and the world seems to be indifferent. Gatsby dies prepared, not fearing death, but calm and ready.

Daisy, the Accidental Burden (Sandra Ackert – Smith)

           In chapter eight of The Great Gatsby, Nick suggests that Gatsby’s big error was falling in love with Daisy. Gatsby wasted many years of his life idolizing, dreaming about, and fixating over an entity that was incessantly out of reach. “… He must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (161). The “price” that Nick references is Gatsby’s life. To Gatsby, Daisy had divine wealth and beauty – these qualities became his preoccupation. Due to the lack of perspective on his situation, Gatsby never realized that he could live happily without his love. Nick summarizes Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship when he says, “A small gust of wind that scarcely corrugated the surface was enough to disturb its accidental course with its accidental burden” (161). Daisy, the “small gust of wind,” transformed the course of Gatsby’s life and her presence (or lack thereof) became a burden to him. Although Gatsby’s time with Daisy “scarcely corrugated the surface” of his life, she impacted him long after her presence faded.

Was Daisy ever aware of the amount of leverage she had over Gatsby? Was Gatsby’s affection towards Daisy within the boarders of healthy, or did it borderline psychosis?  

 

Diminutive Lecture

Through out chapter 8, there were two things happening. One was describing Gatsby and what he has been thinking about since Myrtles death, with the other being the people around Myrtles home dealing with Myrtles death. I noticed as I was reading that during the sections that were focusing on Gatsby, there was little to no dialogue. This is interesting because it is such a fasted paced part of the story. Fitzgerald mostly focuses on the way Gatsby is thinking about Daisy, (how much he loves her.) Its almost like Nick is inside Gatsby’s head and has faded away as a character. The words used are soft and loving and seem to move slowly along through the story. “He sat with daisy in his arms for a long, silent time…” pg150. Fitzgerald’s writing style drastically changes when he starts to focus on the life around the late Mrs. Myrtle. When Fitzgerald is talking about the people around myrtles home, IE her husband, there is lots of dialogue, and lots of harsh words being used. “Your Morbid George!” pg 158. Also note that pg 158 is entirely dialogue.

Negativity - Lex Jackson

In the third paragraph on page 161 of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates a sad and depressing mood. He does this, first, by taking beautiful objects and, using negative diction, making them seem terrible. This juxtaposition enforces Gatsby's misery by making the reader feel depressed as well. Fitzgerald describes the sky as "unfamiliar," the leaves as "frightening," a rose as "grotesque," the sunlight as "raw," and the grass as "scarcely created." Generally, these living, abundant things are described as lush, beautiful, warm, and colorful, but in this paragraph they are just the opposite. Fitzgerald explains this morbid imagery by stating that Gatsby "no longer cared." It seems that Gatsby has given up hope, and not even the sun and sky can be beautiful any longer. The second way that Fitzgerald creates this gloomy atmosphere is with fearful images, specifically those of ghosts. The end of the paragraph has a direct reference to ghosts, followed by a lengthy description with ghastly diction such as "drifted," "ashen," and "gliding." Furthermore, Fitzgerald continues these images of transparency and fright when he stops illustrating the ghosts, as seen when he describes trees as "amorphous," and mentions that Gatsby "shivered." This paragraph is depressing as well as scary, and the repetition of such negativity has an emotional effect on the reader. However, do you thing that it is meant to reflect on previous deathly happenings, or to preface future occurrences? If it is neither, is this paragraph a reflection of Gatsby's feelings since he is without Daisy, and is waiting expectantly for her to call?

Finally able to log in again! (really long compilation of everything I couldn't post before)

Eliot Crawford

Does Gatsby’s money count as old or new money? In chapter five the following exchange occurs, “His eyes went over it, every arched door and square tower. ‘It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.’

‘I thought you inherited your money.’

‘I did, old sport,’ he said automatically, ‘but I lost most of it in the big panic—the panic of the war.”

One of the themes we have been told to look for is old money vs new money. This exchange begs the question, What Does Gatsby’s money Qualify as? My Current theory is that it is supposed to be representative of Gatsby not entirely belonging in his current egg. While his money was in herrited he had to build up his fortune placing him neither in the west or east eggs.

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The Style of the book is What I refer to as a Perspective novel. By this I mean that it focuses less on a plot and more on The Narrator’s opinion and Perspective on ongoing matters. Because of this we get an extremely restricted view of the world in which the book is set.This style is very easily noticeable and easily distinguished from other nore direct styles of writing. Ex. If a book talks about walking up a hill in a non-perspective novel format it might read something like this: “I walked up the hill I did not like walking up the hill. I saw a rabbit. I thought that the rabbit was fast. I reached the summit. The hike was over.” Now if the same ‘plot’ when conveyed in a ‘perspective’ format might read something like: “ walking up the hill I suddenly found myself remembering mountaineering with my cousin four years ago, now my cousin had never been one for hiking but he still would go on occasion. Seeing a rabbit move throughout the forest brought back images of my cousin’s desperate attempt to catch the mole that had wandered across the path that day. Reaching the summit I fallback in triumph overjoyed to have completed the long trek.

My question Is this: What does Fitzgerald gain from using a perspective format? After all because of the length of perspective style writing compared to direct, and taking into account the size of the Great Gatsby, it stands to reason that he sacrificed activity in the story for the ability to make Nick free associate about the plot.

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The Main difference between the east and west egg is old money vs. new money. This brings up the question of who is better? The east egg where money has been in families for generations has the argument of hereditary superiority. The west has the argument that they are better for building themselves up to their wealth. Gatsby essentially inherited his money however he was not allowed to collect this ‘inheritance’. Gatsby built himself up but Really where does he belong? He deserved the ‘free ride’ that comes with inheritance and so should live in the east egg but he never received it and had to build himself up and therefore lives in the west.