Chapter 5 - Reader Response

Since Daisy left Gatsby to marry the wealthy Tom Buchanan, Gatsby has led his life making sure that Daisy would accept him when they met again. He prepares for a future reunion with her by becoming rich and buying an extravagant mansion across the lake from her house. Gatsby has had only the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock to fuel his hopes of seeing Daisy once again. When Daisy and Gatsby meet, Gatsby acts like the shy awkward soldier in love who met Daisy 5 years ago. He clumsily knocks over the mantelpiece clock after muttering “’We’ve met before,’” to Daisy, signifying his desire to return to the time when he and Daisy were together and Daisy had not married Tom. During this awkward first encounter, the rain is pouring outside paralleling the nervousness and anxiety that Gatsby experiences. When Gatsby returns to the room to speak to Daisy, the rain stops which parallels the “new well-being [radiating] from” (89) Gatsby. Thus, the rain is a symbol of Gatsby’s feeling and emotions. Then, Gatsby feels the need to show Daisy his splendid mansion. First going through the gardens, then the “Marie Antoinette music-rooms and Restoration salons…[and] the Merton College Library” (91), Gatsby wanted to be sure to show Daisy every aspect of his new extravagant life so that Daisy would accept him. Nick observes that Gatsby “revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (91) which shows that he owned all of the magnificent rooms and wondrous shirts from England for the sole purpose of convincing Daisy that he was wealthy enough to be with her. I didn’t understand the significance of the song that Mr Klipspringer sings so I looked up the rest of the lyrics of The Love Nest: “Every morning, / Every evening, / Ain't we got fun / Not much money / Oh, but honey / Ain't we got fun / The rent's unpaid, dear / We haven't a bus / But smiles were made, dear / For people like us” (link). The lyrics are ironic because the tone of the song is light and cheery which starkly contrasts with the awkward and uncomfortable manner of Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion. The lyrics “Not much money…Ain’t we got fun” also contrasts with Gatsby and Daisy’s situation since Daisy left Gatsby because of his poverty and now returns to him for his wealthy remarkable life.

Chapter 5

So. In this chapter Nick helps Gatsby have a little reunion with Daisy, as they are former lovers. Nick is offended that Gatsby offers him a job in return for his help but has no other issues with assisting him. Gatsby does not like being indebt to anyone (this was also shown when Gatsby bought a new dress for a girl when her other dress was stained at his party) and therefore he is uncomfortable with using Nick. Nick has no problem with potentially ruining Daisy's marriage, whether this is because he respects Gatsby or dislikes Tom, is unclear. It has been depicted throughout the novel that Nick plays the role of the observer and has no strong influence on any of the characters. As for Daisy, when she reunites with Gatsby she seems to be more thrilled by the extent of his wealth and his expensive possessions than in seeing Gatsby himself. I find her to be a shallow character, but Gatsby's youthful love for Daisy blinds him from seeing that she has potentially changed. As Gatsby is exhilarated from meeting Daisy again, he is off his guard and we get a glimpse of his genuinely nervous, awkward self. Gatsby has always been careful of what he says, perhaps this being because he has something to hide, but after spending some time with Daisy he doesn't speak cautiously with Nick. For example he says in reference to his house, "It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it"(90). When Nick replies that he thought he inherited the money, Gatsby quickly says "I did old sport...but I lost most of it in the panic---the panic of the war"(90). Gatsby is usually more conscience of what he says, choosing his words carefully, but as this has been an extremely emotional occasion for him, he speaks with little understanding of what he is saying.

Thoughts on Chapter Four

- I thought it was interesting how Nick just rattled off names in the beginning of the chapter, seemingly without pause, even when he mentions his or her death. I guess the point being made is that after the smug and snobby way these people carry themselves, they end up being just names on a list of people who visited Gatsby that summer, nothing more.

- Nick's attitude towards Gatsby contradicts his opinions at the start of the novel. He doesn't show any admiration or even pity (which Nick foreshadows in the 'prologue') but only the "unaffected scorn' that he feels towards all people of Gatsby's stature. Obviously some tumultuous event will change Nick's opinion, but what it is exactly remains to be seen (or read).

- Like what Liesl said in her post, colors once again play an important part in this chapter. When Jordan is describing Daisy and Gatsby's encounter, she notes that Daisy was 'dressed in white, and had a little white roadster'. The fact that she is in all white could symbolize her purity and maybe angelical-ness, if one were to assume that this event happened before she became so cynical and unhappy. While Daisy's car is white, Gatsby's is cream, which is close to white, but not close enough. A symbol for his nearly perfect life, but one that is missing the key element of love, perhaps?

- Lastly, I was somewhat confused as to the role Wolfstein played in this chapter. I wasn't sure if he was another "fallen American Dream" symbol, or something less depressing. I figure we will discuss it in class, but if someone wanted to leave a comment, that would be good for both of us!

Encouragement & reminder to read Chap. 4 tonight

Bravo to the first three posters.

Anyone else care to comment tonight on the significance of Owl Eyes and what he notices?

Also, please include the chapter title in the "Title" of your post.

The Most Insightful Comment Thusfar. Period.

Chapter 3:

Hey everybody,

I’m just getting my first sixteen words out of the way before I begin. It seems, as has been noted in class, that many of the characters, rich and poor, try to be what they are not. Daisy and Tom each lie to Nick about their situation. We learn in the third chapter that Miss Baker simply lies about everything. Myrtle and the Mckees seem to seize the chance they have to live out of their class through Tom. To me, Nick seems unsure of what he wants. Indeed, he is as he described himself in the opening passage: he is an undecided observer. Gatsby is the one exception. Gatsby does not have to pretend to be something because he is all everyone else wants to be and more. Other characters are even surprised by Gatsby’s genuine qualities. For instance, Owl Eyes is surprised that Gatsby has real books in his library; the expectation for this social group is that he would have fake books so as to only appear as one that reads. Moreover, Gatsby is the only one at the party we know not to be drunk (although Nick once again is an undecided slight drunk). This illustrates how he does not need to live in a fantasy world. He has all he wants in the real world. Gatsby does, however, live a lie in the most permeating way of all. Nobody knows who he really is. If this were a real paper, I’d somehow explain this, but it’s not and I’m out of space. I hope you’ve enjoyed two hundred sixty-nine words of wisdom.

Chapter 2 Reader Response

I think I'm going to ignore the whole rich vs poor theme going on in this chapter and focus more on the colors. Colors make a frequent appearance in this chapter, and each seems to have its own special meaning.

Gray: Gray is the first color to appear in chapter two. First, it describes a "certain desolate area of land", which happens to be "a valley of ashes". The valley isn't exactly Disney World. The houses, landscape, and people are obscured by a cloud of gray ash. People move dimly and are already crumbling, almost as if they aren't people but ghosts of people. In a way, they appear to be. Nick never gives them another thought and these dismal people disappear in the story. People are also described as gray. "A gray, scrawny Italian child," and a "gray old man," who sells Tom a puppy are both mentioned once, and then never again. The upholstery of the cab is also gray. When something is gray, it is insignificant, and has almost given up on standing up or fighting the world. It goes through the motions of a dismal life, working as well as it can, but in the end, doesn't even get a second glance from Nick. This bleak color has an equally bleak meaning.

Blue: Blue immediately contrasts with the gray in the valley in the form of the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, a weather-beaten pair of eyes left in the valley by an oculist who was trying to open a new business there but, for reasons Nick doesn't know, had to leave, leaving the eyes behind. The eyes of Mr. Wilson, an inhabitant of the gray valley, are also blue. He lives a hard life, verbally abused by Tom, hated by his wife, and running a slow business. Wilson's wife, when first introduced, is wearing a blue dress, although it is spotted. She, like her husband, lives a hard life in the gray valley. Blue is the sign of being beaten by a hard life. Unlike gray, what is blue is significant. It struggles, but has a sense of life and importance, not displayed by gray.

Brown: The second dress Wilson's wife wears is brown. She wears this dress on the train and to the apartment, trying to transition from living in the gray valley to being Tom's mistress. The dog Tom buys, the one the gray man claims is an Airedale but to Nick is clearly a mutt, is also brown. Brown means trying to pass off as better than you are, plain and simple.

White: White made an appearance in Chapter one in Daisy and Jordan's dresses. Now, white comes in full force. The feet of the dog are white, and two of the guests have white on them. Catherine has a milky white complexion, and Mr. McKee has a white spot on his face from shaving lather. Wilson's wife makes her third change into a cream (off-white) dress. White here means being upper class, or at least trying to be. The dog now belongs to Tom, and will live a privileged little doggie life in Tom's apartment. Catherine and Mr. McKee both act well to do, although Catherine passes it off better. She has been to parties and gone on trips, while Mr. McKee only has a few pictures framed where people can see them, and even then, no one really knows where they are. Nick ends up wiping the white off Mr. McKee in the end. Wilson's wife's dress is pointedly cream, because she is clearly know as Tom's mistress from the gray valley, and thus decidedly not exactly upper class, although she tries to act like she is.

Yellow: Yellow rarely appears in the chapter, and all mentions of it are dispersed. First, there are the yellow glasses that frame the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The building where Wilson's car business is happens to be yellow, and Nick describes the windows in Tom's apartment as yellow. Here, yellow means different from its surroundings. The yellow frames surround the blue eyes, which are different from the gray valley, both in color and meaning. The yellow building, also different from the gray valley, contains the Wilsons who have a relationship not common in most couples (I hope). Finally, the apartment also contains a couple different from most (A man and his mistress).

Clearly, the colors and their meanings play an important role in Nicks observations, and portray important information.

Chapter 1 Reader Response

The first chapter of The Great Gatsby completely denounces the rich as transparent and aloof, dressing themselves up in clothes of sophistication to hide their lack of redeemable qualities and corruption. Nick's dinner with the Buchanans shows this reflected in the personalities of Daisy and Tom. Both characters, who live on the “more-fashionable” East Egg, own a large, luxurious mansion, which Nick describes in detail (“A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as the wind does on the sea”(8).) and with liberal use of metaphor and simile. Nick's extended usage of these conventions not only serves to illustrate the apparent majesty and grandeur of the Buchanan mansion, but also to show that, in actuality, it is nothing special. Beneath the grand description, all Fitzgerald is describing are fluttering curtains, a white ceiling, and a purple rug.

This juxtaposition of a majestic-seeming scene with an actually bland reality also appears in Tom and Daisy's personality. Tom is a hulking, arrogant, and remarkably unattractive man. Fitzgerald describes him by saying “Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.[...]It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body.[...] There was a touch of paternal contempt in it [Tom's voice], even toward people he liked”(7). Nick is large, arrogant, and intimidating, obviously capable of cruel actions, but all he does, as Daisy says, is “reads deep books with long words in them”(13). Nick's attempt at sophistication clashes with his stolid nature, making him a contradiction in terms.

Daisy, on the other hand, is Tom's opposite. She is frail and transparent, and laughs at almost any opportunity she gets. Instead of attempting to sound sophisticated by reading, as her husband does, Daisy merely agrees with whatever he says. When Tom speaks about the book he was reading, and how the white man, as the “superior race”, needs to subdue the other races, Daisy immediately responds with “We've got to beat them down”(13). Daisy believes that, in agreeing with her husband on this supposedly “deep” topic, she will seem more sophisticated and more stereotypically “rich”. Instead, she comes off as unintelligent and unthinking, following unconditionally what her husband says. In addition, she also styles herself as a cynic (“We'll, I've had a very bad time, Nick, and I'm pretty cynical about everything”(16)), which clashes with her agreeing unconditionally with her husband. Daisy's comparing of Nick to a rose, in one of the more humorous moments of the chapter, also serves to show her lack of intelligence (14).

Fitzgerald's attack on the rich in the first chapter of his novel paints them in a negative light – the rich are unintelligent and base, but determined to be sophisticated. To show this, Fitzgerald has them put on airs of sophistication, while in reality being brutal, or shallow, in the cases of Tom and Daisy Buchanan.