Faulkner's Acceptance Speech & "That Evening Sun"

Faulkner’s principles stated in his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech are clearly shown in his short story “That Evening Sun”. According to Faulkner, honest writing is writing about something that comes directly from the heart. He believes that a writer is to write about courage, honor, hope, pride, compassion, pity, and sacrifice.

Nancy, a prostitute in the story, represents courage, pride, and sacrifice in the story when she stands up for herself to a client and demands to be paid for her sexual services. “When you going to pay me, white man? When you going to pay me, white man. It’s been three times now since you paid me a cent.” She gets beaten up in the process of standing up for herself, but still continues asking for her payment.

In “That Evening Sun”, Nancy misrepresents Faulkner’s quality of hope. Nancy feels that her husband, Jesus, was going to kill her. She refuses to walk home by herself at night and she uses the children to keep company so she wouldn’t be alone bathing in the fear of death. The family knew about it but did nothing to stop the murder from happening. In this way, Nancy was the family sacrifice. The children, in allowing Nancy to be murdered, do not show pity or compassion. They know all along that Jesus will kill Nancy, but they do not seem to care.

Tip of the Iceberg

It was another stressful day at the office. A typically reserved employee who does not share what is on her mind, Penny went for a walk in the park to clear her head. From a distance, she saw a seemingly happy couple having a picnic in the park. As she walked closer, she realized the man was Mr. Wellsworth, her more than handsome boss. She watched him as he laughed and flirted with a beautifully plain woman on the grass. They were leaning toward each other, constantly resting their hands on the other’s arm. This was too much. Penny quickly walked back to the office to collect her things and head home for the rest of the afternoon. Mrs. Wellsworth had always been a good friend to her, and what she had seen earlier at the park, while Mr. Wellsworth claimed to be in a meeting, really disturbed her. Packing her things into her forest green Timbuk2 shoulder bag, Penny came across an unfamiliar business card lying face down on her desk.

Lucy Green

Alcoholics Anonymous

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Native Son - 97-156 Part Two

     Throughout the novel, I think that Wright uses communism in Jan and Mary to symbolize part of the American people. Mr. Dalton’s character is placed to represent white corporate America and Jan’s character is placed to represent the more understanding side of America. By bringing up the ideas of communism to a black man in a white society, Wright is trying to show the reader Bigger’s thoughts and fears through his reaction to the white society that surrounds him.

      

     “As long as he and his black folks did not go beyond certain limits, there was no need to fear that white force.” On pages 114-115, Wright tells the reader how Bigger feels towards his black peers and how he wishes it were possible to gather all the blacks together and fight the white force. “As long as they lived here in this prescribed corner of the city, they paid mute tribute to it. There were rare moments when a feeling of longing for solidarity with other black people would take hold of him. He would dream of making a stand against that white force.” Although communism is a reoccurring motif in this novel, I don’t believe that Bigger is a communist in any way. His thoughts about Japanese conquering China, Hitler exterminating the Jews, and Mussolini in Spain show a more rebellious and violent nature rather than an attitude of bringing society together as one, or bringing equality to the blacks and whites.

     Bigger wants violent revenge. He wants to bring the blacks together and to put their differences aside for an important cause. Bigger and the other blacks live in fear and shame. Later in the book, he classifies the feeling of being pushed into a corner with his back against the wall as rape. The actions against the blacks do not promote a feeling of communism in Bigger’s mind, but rather emotions of revenge and rebellion.

Native Son - 97-156

“Now, who on earth would think that he, a black timid Negro boy, would murder and burn a rich white girl and would sit and wait for his breakfast like this?” (Bigger, page 107) Before Bigger received the job as the Dalton’s chauffeur, he was filled with hatred and fear toward the white man for taking away his fair share of opportunities in the world. He resentfully refused to accept the fact that because he was black, he does not have the same stake in the world as the white man does. He hated the idea that no one cared about the blacks and that even the police turned a blind eye on black on black crime. After taking the job, spending time around Mr. Dalton, Mary, and Jan, and then finally killing a very drunk Mary and shoving her into the furnace, Bigger’s feelings and opinion toward the black man’s role in society drastically changes.

“There was in everyone a great hunger to believe that made him blind, and if he could see while others were blind, then he could get what he wanted and never be caught at it.” Scared that he will be caught and killed for murdering Mary Dalton, Bigger realizes that he must act like everything is normal because no one would suspect a black man of stepping out of line and meddling in the white man’s world. Instead of being upset with his lack of opportunity and success in the world, he embraces the cage his life was put into by being born a black man and celebrates his newfound ability to hide from his insane crime.

Because of the set role of the black man in society, the other people, or the white people, are blind to what the blacks are capable of when they break the ‘rules’. Due to his crime and his mindset while trying to find a solution, Bigger realizes that he can hide behind what people expect of him.

Native Son - 62-93

Mary is not careless, but instead, she’s rather careful. She is not stupid, but she is misguided, immature, and naïve. She tries to rid the world of racism, but instead, she makes Bigger feel increasingly uncomfortable in the car and at lunch with Jan. Mary tries to understand Bigger’s life but she just comes off as annoying, rude, and too confrontational to be comforting. When Bigger first meets Mary on page 51, the first words out of her mouth are, “Bigger, do you belong to a union?” Bigger is upset by this and many other comments of hers.

Mary is misguided and naïve because she doesn’t put Bigger’s feelings and emotions into consideration when she tries to ‘fix’ his lifestyle, which means changing everything he’s ever known. Mary’s goal is to become a part of the Communist Party and help her boyfriend Jan defeat racism by becoming a part of Bigger’s world and blurring the lines between the whites and the blacks. When Mary says, “We want one of those places where colored people eat, not one of those show places.” I felt bad for Bigger because Mary makes it seem like a game for the rich white people to help the less fortunate and unheard become a group who others begin to notice and care about. Bigger doesn’t understand at all because he has no idea what Mary and Jan could possibly want with him. He realizes that the way society is now is the way it will remain – divided.

Mary is immature and misguided because, although she acts with the best intentions, her privileged mindset leads her to believe that because she treats Bigger with a respect he’s never been shown before, he’ll automatically appreciate it and like her when in fact, he hates her and Jan for the way they’re acting. “But he did not understand them; he distrusted them, really hated them.”

Native Son - 34-62

On page 59 of Native Son, Bigger finally shows how happy and relieved he is about his job as a chauffeur for the Dalton family. Earlier in the book, it was clear that he resented, hated, and feared the whites through his interactions with his group of friends and his family. When Bigger is alone in his new room at the Dalton’s, he is pleased with what will become of his new life. He finally has “a room all to himself!” and no longer has to sleep next to his kicking brother. “And he would buy himself another watch, too. A dollar watch was not good enough for a job like this; he would buy a gold one. There were a lot of new things he would get. Oh, boy! This would be an easy life.”

Bigger is not “selling out” by taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him. He understands that it is a good way to make money and to be at peace with the white people, the people who limit what his people can do, in order to create a better life for himself and his family. He is given great working hours, a beautiful place to stay, and the people he works for, although white, are wonderful people that contribute to the closing of the gap between the colored and the whites in society. Although he feels as though he can’t completely be himself around the Daltons, we can already see a difference in his interactions with Mary than with the whites he criticized with his friends.

Journal Entry #9

Chapter 9: Pages 163-180

Chapter Summary:

In Chapter 9, written two years after Gatsby’s death, Nick tells of all the rumors and gossip surrounding the death and his relationship to the Wilsons. Nick tries to organize a large funeral gathering for Gatsby, figuring that he wouldn’t want to be alone, but has trouble finding friends of Gatsby’s to attend. One night, Klipspringer calls up and Nick invites him to Gatsby’s funeral. Blowing him off, Klipspringer tells Nick of his new social arrangements and instead of accepting the invite, he merely asks Nick if he’s seen his tennis shoes. The only people that end up attending the funeral are Nick, Owl Eyes, a few servants, and Gatsby’s father, Henry C. Gatz, visiting all the way from Minnesota. Nick decides he wants to move to the Midwest and breaks up with Jordan, who informs his of her engagement to another man. Chapter 8 ends as Nick realizes how immoral Tom and Daisy are. Finally, he returns to Gatsby’s mansion for his last goodbye and lays on the lawn looking at the stars, thinking about the American Dream.

Character:

a) Henry C. Gatz

Most Defining Quote:

b) “It was a photograph of the house, cracked in the corners and dirty with many hands. He pointed out every detail to me eagerly. ‘Look there!’ and then sought admiration from my eyes. He had shown it so often that I think it was more real to him now than the house itself.” (Nick 172)

Characteristics:

c) Henry Gatz, Gatsby’s father, is a ‘solemn old man, very helpless and dismayed, bundled up in a long cheap ulster against the warm September day. His eyes leaked continuously with excitement.” (Nick 167)

Role in the Book:

d) Although Henry, Gatsby’s father, only comes up in the last chapter, he is a significant addition to the cast of this book because he gives us insight to who Gatsby was as a child and how he’s changed as he’s gotten older. Henry seems to be stuck on the allusion of who is son is instead of grasping the man Gatsby really became.

Quote:

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Nick 179)

This quote is the most important quote from the whole book. It clearly exposes a regular routine in Tom and Daisy’s life; a routine of doing terrible things to the people around them, then packing up and moving to a new place to do the same. This quote is also significant because it shows the way Nick feels about Daisy. Instead of admiring her like he does throughout the beginning of the book, he notices who she really is and exposes her true personality.

Journal Entry #8

Chapter 8: Pages 147-162

Chapter Summary:

After a long night of no sleep, Nick visits Gatsby at his house and finds that Gatsby had waited at the Buchanan’s all night, but nothing had happened. Nick warns Gatsby that he should leave town, but Gatsby can’t imagine leaving Daisy behind, so he refuses. Nick tells us about how Gatsby had originally been with Daisy only for the sex but had ended up falling in love with her and finding out just how good of a girl she was. Daisy told Gatsby she would wait for him to return when he left for war, but when Gatsby returned, he was notified that she was married to a Tom Buchanan. As Nick leaves Gatsby’s, the gardener tells Gatsby that he would like to drain the pool because he doesn’t want any trouble with the newly falling leaves in the filters. Gatsby tells him that he doesn’t want it to be drained today because he’s never gone for a swim in it before. Nick leaves Gatsby’s and goes to work but can’t concentrate. He falls asleep as is woken up by a phone call from Jordan Baker, whom he refuses to see for a date later in the afternoon. Then, Nick’s narrative switches to tell us what happened at the garage the night before. Michaelis had stayed up with George Wilson all night talking about Myrtle and comes to the conclusion that whoever was driving the car that murdered Myrtle was her lover. Wilson rules out Tom then arrives at Gatsby’s a little later. Chapter 8 ends when he finds Gatsby on an air mattress in his pool. First, he shoots Gatsby, and then he shoots himself.

Character:

a) George Wilson

Most Defining Quote:

b) “I’m one of these trusting fellas and I don’t think any harm to nobody, but when I get to know a thing I know it. It was the man in that car.” (George Wilson 159)

Characteristics:

c) George Wilson is a tender and trusting man who is stomped all over by his cheating wife, Myrtle.

Role in the Book:

d) George Wilson symbolizes a major transitional character in the novel. Going from a man who didn’t care about living like the wealthy, by the end of the book he has changed from a nice, lower class married man, to a crazy and angry lower class man trying to live up all because of the death of his wife.

Quote:

“They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (Nick 154)

This quote is a significant part of the book because it shows a change in Nick, the narrator. In the beginning of The Great Gatsby, Nick told us that he reserves his judgments of people because that’s what his father had taught him. In Chapter 8, with this quote, we see the first look into Nick’s view of the wealthy people he has been hanging around so far.

Journal Entry #7

Chapter 7: Pages 113-145

Chapter Summary:

So into Daisy, Gatsby cancels his parties, which were a means of attracting Daisy, and hires new ‘servants’, people connected to Meyer Wolfsheim, as a way of preventing gossip around Daisy’s constant visits. On the hottest day of the summer, Nick goes to lunch at Daisy and Tom’s and finds Jordan Baker and Gatsby there as well. As Tom greets Gatsby, Daisy interrupts and orders Tom to make them cold drinks, and then as soon as he is out of sight, she openly kisses Gatsby on the lips and expresses her love for him in front on everyone. Then, Daisy’s daughter, “Pammy”, comes into the room with the nurse and, through her interactions with her mother, it is evident that Daisy has no real connection with her daughter other than that she’s an item to be flaunted. Tom and Gatsby get into an argument and the group decides to go into town to break the tension. On the way, Tom stops at Wilson’s to get gas and George tells him that he and Myrtle are moving West. The group ends up at the Plaza Hotel because it is too hot outside. Tom and Gatsby start arguing again and Gatsby blurts out that Daisy never loved Tom. Daisy agrees with Gatsby and tells Tom that she never loved him, but after he gets upset, she admits she loved him once, but not now. In response, Tom outs Gatsby’s shady business with Wolfsheim, making Daisy upset. Nick remembers that today is his thirtieth birthday. Daisy begs to go home and rides with Gatsby, while the rest of the Group rides with Tom. On the way, Tom, Nick, and Jordan stop at Wilson’s and realize that an accident had taken place. Michaelis, Wilson’s neighbor, tells everyone that Myrtle ran into the street and was hit by a big yellow car. It is obvious that the car that hit Myrtle was Gatsby’s car and Michaelis tells the group that the car didn’t even stop, but hit Myrtle and kept going. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving to “steady her nerves” but that he is prepared to take the blame for her accident.

Character:

a) “Pammy” Buchanan

Most Defining Quote:

b) “That’s because your mother wanted to show you off. You dream, you. You absolute little dream.” (Daisy 117)

Characteristics:

c) Tom and Daisy’s little daughter mainly taken care of by the nurse, not by her parents. She has small hands and looks like Daisy with her yellow hair.

Role in the Book:

d) The daughter’s role in this book is to show the readers exactly what kind of person Daisy is. Because of her daughter, we can tell that Daisy only cares about the act and about appearances instead of focusing on the key things in life that make us better people, like developing relationships with our families. Daisy’s daughter really proves that Daisy isn’t too interested in her marriage with Tom because of her lack of interest in their daughter.

Quote:

“She never loved you, do you hear? She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me!” (Gatsby 130)

This quote is significant because, although he tells Tom of the affair out of anger, it shows Gatsby exploding in the hottest chapter of the book. After waiting five years in the shadows for Daisy, the woman he loves more than his life itself, he can’t take the silence anymore and his emotions explode as he tells Tom what has been going on between him and Daisy. This quote and the way Gatsby feels at this moment in Chapter 7 stuck out to me because I feel like I can relate to Gatsby’s feelings as he waits for the one person he thinks will make him happy. Gatsby and I both have loved the same person for a long time with no satisfaction, Gatsby more intensely and creepily than I, obviously, whether we like it or not. It can’t be helped even if we know this person isn’t worth it in the end. Gatsby loves a shallow married woman with a child and I love someone that can never know or return my feelings. I think I might be Gatsby… minus the criminal status and stalker qualities, which is sad, because I’d much rather spend my time thinking about other things than dead-end love.

Journal Entry #6

Chapter 6: Pages 97-111

Chapter Summary:

Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby begins with a news reporter arriving at Gatsby’s door trying to interview him. Nick chooses this moment to tell the readers the truth about Gatsby’s early life. He tells us that Gatsby’s real name is James Gatz, from North Dakota, and how had lived a simple life until the day he had rowed out to warn Dan Cody and his yacht of the approaching winds on Lake Superior and introduced himself to the wealthy man as Jay Gatsby. Gatsby worked on Dan’s boat as his steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor, for five years up until Dan Cody’s death. After Nick tells of Gatsby’s past, he continues by saying that he hasn’t seen Gatsby for several weeks because he’s been in New York with Jordan and her aunt. One day, he finally goes over to his house and sees Tom Buchanan arrive on horseback with Mr. and Mrs. Sloane and she invites Gatsby and Nick over for a dinner party. They don’t attend but see the company at Gatsby’s next party where Gatsby and Daisy sneak off to the front porch so they can speak privately. At dinnertime, Tom asks Daisy if he can go sit at another table to eat because ‘a fellow’s getting off some funny stuff’. After the party, Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy doesn’t understand him like she used to and that the dance they shared was unimportant. He tells Nick that he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and tell him she never loved him. Nick remembers something he had heard a long time ago, but it doesn’t come to words.

Character:

a) Dan Cody

Most Defining Quote:

b) “.. for Dan Cody sober knew what lavish doings Dan Cody drunk might soon be about, and he provided for such contingencies by reposing more and more trust in Gatsby.” (Nick 100)

Characteristics:

c) “Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for metal since seventy-five. The transactions in the Montana copper that made him many times a millionaire found him physically robust but in the verge of soft-mindedness, and, suspecting this an infinite number of women tried to separate him for his money.” (Nick 99)

Role in the Book:

d) In Chapter 6, Dan Cody is shown as Gatsby’s mentor. This is evident because during the five years that Gatsby spent with Dan Cody, he learned a lot; especially not to drink. He saw the world by travelling on the yacht and he became the person he is because of all the extravagances he encountered with Dan Cody.

Quote:

“Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” (Gatsby 110)

This quote really stood out to me as if it were the only piece of writing on the page because it completely sums up who Gatsby is in the book so far. All his efforts have been put into making sure Daisy would be impressed with him; from his house and car, to his clothing and to the parties he holds. All he wants is to be with Daisy again, just like it was in the past and this quote really shows that he believes it is possible and that everything will be the same as it was five years ago.

Journal Entry #5

Chapter 5: Pages 81-96


Chapter Summary:
After his date with Jordan, Nick returns home to find Gatsby’s mansion extremely lit up with no one inside. Gatsby approaches him eagerly and offers to take Nick out to Coney Island or to go swimming in his pool, hoping that Nick will invite Daisy over for tea. When Nick tells Gatsby that he will ask her, Gatsby offers him a job in one of his side businesses, not including Wolfsheim. On the day that Daisy is expected at Nick’s, Gatsby shows up in the rain extremely nervous and when Daisy arrives, Nick finds that Gatsby has left and gone for a walk around the house in the rain. At first, Daisy and Gatsby are awkward around each other, but after a while of being left alone, Nick returns to find Daisy in turns and Gatsby glowing. Gatsby takes Nick and Daisy to his house for a tour and Gatsby calls in Klipspringer, the boarder, to play the piano for them. As he watches Gatsby and Daisy talk to each other, Nick feels as if their relationship is back to the way it was in Louisville, and then he decides to leave them alone because it seems as if they have forgotten he was in the same room.


Character:
Mr. Klipspringer


Most Defining Quote:
“I was asleep. That is, I’d been asleep. Then I got up…” (Klipspringer 94)


Characteristics:
Mr. Klipspringer, the boarder, is a disheveled lazy man who lives at Gatsby’s house. He has nowhere to go and spends his time doing liver stretches on Gatsby’s bathroom floor.


Role in the Book:
As seen in Chapter 4, Klipspringer only comes up when the reader is meant to see Gatsby darker qualities. When Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick over for a tour of his house, Gatsby commands Klipspringer to play to piano for Gatsby’s company despite Klipspringer’s pleas that he is no good at playing. (94)


Quote:
“Don’t talk so much, old sport, play!”


This quote is significant because I feel like it shook up my view of Gatsby as I read it. Throughout chapters 1-4, Gatsby seems to be a quiet man in love, with too much money and free time. In chapter 5, the reader sees that he is quite bossy, ostentatious, and more like the other unpleasant characters than previously thought. This quote, in which he is ordering Klipspringer to play the piano for his guests, really rounded out my opinion on the kind of man Gatsby is.

Journal Entry #4

Chapter 4: Pages 61-80

Chapter Summary:

Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby begins with Nick’s list of all the people who have attended Gatsby’s parties over the summer. One day. Gatsby shows up to Nick’s house in a beautiful car and insists that they go to lunch together. In the car, Gatsby asks Nick what his opinion is of him and then continues on with information about who he is, where he went to school, how he got his money, and where he is from, and even includes that he wished he could have ended his life during the war. At lunch, Gatsby introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfsheim, the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919, and they all have lunch together. Later that night, Nick plans to have tea with Jordan to talk about what Mr. Gatsby told her. Jordan tells Nick that before Daisy was married, she was dating Gatsby but then he got shipped off to war and when he came back she was married to Tom. Jordan informs Nick that Mr. Gatsby wants Nick to invite to his house for tea and allow Gatsby to come over as a surprise to see her.

Character:

Meyer Wolfsheim

Most Defining Quote:

“ I can’t forget so long as I live the night they shot Rosy Rosenthal there. It was six of us at the table, and Rosy had eat and drunk a lot all evening. When it was almost morning the waiter came up to him with a funny look and says somebody wants to speak to him outside.” “Let the bastards come in here if they want you, Rosy, but don’t you, so help me, move outside this room.”

Characteristics:

Wolfsheim is “a small flat-nosed Jew with a large head and two fine growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril.” (Nick 69) He has tiny eyes and speaks with a nasally accent.

Role in the Book:

Wolfsheim’s role in the book is as Gatsby’s friend who participates in illegal acts. Because of Wolfsheim, the reader is forced to question whether or not Gatsby is like him and also does dirty deeds to earn money.

Quote:

“Miss Baker’s a great sportswoman, you know, and she’d never do anything that wasn’t alright.” (Gatsby 71)

This quote stood out to me because it is surprising to me that Gatsby would tell such a lie about Jordan. Jordan has no redeeming qualities and I find it strange that Gatsby would say she is a good person that would never do anything wrong. In the book thus far, Gatsby is portrayed as a character the reader can trust, but with chapter 4, the reader is given many circumstances that question how good he actually is.

Journal Entry #3

Chapter 3: Pages 39-59

Chapter Summary:

In Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby, Nick describes Gatsby’s parties in full detail; analyzing the money Gatsby must spend on his maintenance crew and party decorations and performers. Nick receives an invitation from Gatsby’s chauffeur for a party at the mansion where Nick attends and runs into Jordan Baker. They spend the evening together and, while talking to members of her party, hears of rumors about their host, Gatsby. Searching for Gatsby, Nick and Jordan come across Owl Eyes in the library; a drunken man stuck marveling at the unread books. At midnight, Jordan and Nick sit at a table with a handsome man who thinks Nick looks familiar and they later realize they served in the same division in the war. After saying goodbye, Nick returns home and later confesses that he likes Jordan Baker and is seeing her despite her dishonesty. He tells of his life other than attending large parties and considers himself the most honest person he’s ever met.

Character Name:

a) Jay Gatsby

Most Defining Quote:

b) “I thought you knew, old sport. I’m afraid I’m not a very good host.” (Gatsby 48)

Characteristics:

c) Jay Gatsby is a man about Nick’s age with a rare smile that holds a “quality of eternal reassurance in it”. “His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed every day. I could see nothing sinister about him.” (50) Gatsby seems to be always standing alone as if deep in thought.

Role in the Book:

d) In the book, Gatsby looks like a man with overloaded with money that he would have a snobbish personality, constantly showing off his material possessions for others to drool over like Tom Buchanan, but in contrast, he is the most polite character thus far. The way Nick talks about the people at the party, or of Gatsby’s house, suggests that many of the people of East Egg and West Egg show their wealth and material possessions on the outside to cover up their corrupted and messed up lives, but Gatsby seems to use his outer wealth to cover up something else, something possibly more important, that enhances Nick’s curiosity in him. Gatsby’s role in the book will be to eventually allow the reader to understand the deeper outlook on life as the characters’ lives progress and change.

Quote:

“She was incurably dishonest.” “It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply – I was casually sorry, and then I forgot.” (Nick 58)

This quote really struck me as the most significant throughout a chapter of important lines because it proves that Nick does not judge people like he said he did not in the beginning of Chapter 1. I find it unimaginable to associate with someone known for being dishonest, as I believe dishonesty is not a trait I would look for in a companion, let alone in a relationship. Coming from Nick, who dubs himself as “one of the few honest people he has ever known” (59), it seems impossible that Jordan can still be attractive to Nick despite this god-awful trait she possesses.

Journal Entry #2

Chapter 2: Pages 23-38

Chapter Summary:

In Chapter 2 of the Great Gatsby, Nick and Tom are on the commuter train passing through the valley of ash, the sprawling plains between New York and West Egg. Tom forces Nick to get off at the same stop on the edge of the valley and takes him to George Wilson’s garage. There, Nick meets Myrtle, George’s wife and Tom’s mistress, and Tom takes them into New York City to the apartment he uses for his affair. Myrtle decides to throw a party and invites her sister, Catherine, and the McKees. Later in the night, after Myrtle’s nose is broken by Tom because she started chanting Daisy’s name, Nick leaves, drunkenly, with Mr. Mckee and ends up at the Pennsylvania Station waiting for the 4 am train back to Long Island.

Character Name:

a) Myrtle Wilson

Most Defining Quote:

b) “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman. I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoes.” (Myrtle 34)

Characteristics:

c) “She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering.” (25)

Role in the Book:

d) In the book, Myrtle is Tom’s mistress. Through his commentary of her and the way she acts with her husband and with Tom, it is evident that she is a spoiled gold digger with no redeeming qualities. At the party, when Catherine tells Nick that Tom and Myrtle should get divorced and marry each other, it seems like a perfect idea because they seem in love until the end of the chapter when Tom slugs her in the nose for disgracing Daisy’s name. Although he is a good for nothing jerk, when Tom gets upset with Myrtle for chanting Daisy’s name it seems as though he still loves Daisy, if not more than Myrtle.

Quote:

“You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.” (Myrtle 36)

This is a significant quote because it allows the reader to question whether or not the affair between Myrtle and Tom is acceptable. This quote bothers me because when something like cheating is so morally wrong, how is it that people believe it can be justified and not see it as something they should not be doing? What else are people doing that they think is ‘ok’ because they ‘only live once’? Coming from Myrtle, this quote makes her seem even more of a spoiled brat. She did not begin her affair with Tom because she thought he was a nice person through all the conversation on the train, but rather because she thought he looked wealthy in his suit and patent leather shoes.

Journal Entry #1

Chapter 1: Pages 1-21

Chapter Summary:

In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby, the reader is introduced to Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story who begins with a few words of wisdom from his father, followed by a brief description of himself and of his neighbor, Gatsby, who represents everything he scorns, yet still possesses a ‘gorgeous’ personality within. After graduating New Haven in 1915 and coming back from the Great War restless, Nick moves East in the ‘spring of twenty-two’ to West Egg, a ‘less fashionable’ East Egg. Nick describes his own house, an 'eyesore', compared to his Gatsby’s next-door mansion. Nick attends a dinner party at his college friend Tom Buchanan and cousin Daisy’s house in East Egg where he meets and describes the characteristics of Tom, Daisy, and their friend, Jordan Baker. After leaving, Nick returns home and sees Mr. Gatsby for the first time.

Character Name:

a) Jordan Baker

Most Defining Quote:

b) “Don’t talk. I want to hear what happens.” (Baker 14)

Characteristics:

c) Jordan Baker is a dedicated golfer. She is extremely nosy when it comes to gossip. She is a slender, small-breasted girl, who is always standing up straight as if she were a cadet. She carries her chin high and she has a ‘charming’, yet ‘discontented’, face. (11)

Role in the Book:

d) Throughout the dinner party, Jordan Baker appears arrogant and unlikable. “Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she nodded at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back again.” (9) When Nick had arrived at the house and entered the living room where Daisy and Jordan were sitting, Jordan did not even acknowledge his presence as if she were the only one in the world that mattered. “If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it. I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in.” (8) Because Jordan is different than Daisy with her male role thus far, I feel that there will be character conflict between the ‘new woman’ of the 1920’s and Daisy, the social standard of American feminism.

Quote:

“We’ve got to beat them down.” (Daisy 13)

In all of Chapter 1, this is the most significant quote because it really shows the lack of role women played in the 1920’s. I am nearly offended every time Daisy opens her mouth pretending to be a docile and subservient woman only present because of her beauty. She really gives women a bad name and this quote is significant because it shows the immediate contrast between her and Jordan which foreshadows a possible change in women’s roles in society. This quote really stood out because it was one of the only non-passive quotes from Daisy so far.