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.