In this chapter, the readers learn of Gatsby's past. Gatsby started as a lower-class male, both economically and socially diverse from the people in both of the eggs (although mostly the East Egg). Upon meeting Dan Cody, who is a powerful and rich man, Gatsby strove to become great. He never grew up in wealth, and therefore, when he became rich, did not fit into the culture. He may be economically equivalent to the people of the East Egg, but he is not socially the same as them.
The idea of dreams plays a huge part of why Gatsby acts the way he does, and demonstrates how the world continues to move in the way that it does. Gatsby's dreams not only haunted him, but continued to push him to try. "Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious embrace. For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality; a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wings" (99). Although Gatsby's dreams gave him hope for the future; at the same time, the dreams gave him false hope. By using "unreality of reality," Fitzgerald is suggesting that Gatsby saw the world with new heights, but they were unrealistic and caused Gatsby to try so hard for nothing. Gatsby thinks that enchanting occurrences and hope can change the world, hence "the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wings," but once again, the use of reality breaks that depiction of amazement and magic towards not only Gatsby's dream, but the American (and possibly all-human) dream in itself.
In the end, as shown through the dinner party at the end of the chapter, although Gatsby seems to fit into the high-class world, he does not. His dreams led him to fight for his social stance, but once again, Gatsby truly cannot compare to the naturally rich. Mr. Sloane and the lady are smug and rich, and Gatsby seems to want to be them, but at heart, he is still the same man as he was before the party.
Finally, as reiterated in class, Daisy is Gatsby's "American Dream." Although there were hopes for their love when they were alone- and at the party when the two were alone, the hopes are gone. Daisy had to bring her husband Tom to the dinner. At the party, Daisy says, "Or present a green card. I'm giving out green-" The use of the color green by Daisy relates back to the green light from across the bay from chapter 5. Before, the green light disappeared, showing that Gatsby was one step closer to his dream, but now, the green has returned, illustrating that Gatsby returns to where he started with Daisy. Reality will always triumph, and Gatsby's dream seems like it will never truly be accomplished because he is always set back (almost like the clock? hm... but that's for another post entirely).
-Brittany Bishop
I think the green light symbolizes Gatsby's hopes and dreams of meeting the idealistic Daisy that he remembers falling in love with 5 years ago. However, the green light disappears when Gatsby begins to realize that she is not the perfect woman that he met before. In Chapter 6, Gatsby says “’And she doesn’t understand. She used to be able to understand. We’d sit for hours—‘“ which signifies that Gatsby admits that Daisy has fallen behind the faultless woman that Gatsby had imagined or remembered. The green light could also stand for the money and riches that Daisy has and Gatsby strives for. In Chapter 1, the green light is on Daisy’s dock while Gatsby is reaching out towards the green light.
ReplyDeleteyeha i excatly diagree to agree
ReplyDelete