THE GREAT GATSBY

CHAPTER 5:
● Quotes:
1. *They're such beautiful shirts ... I've never seen such beautiful
shirts.*​ ​Daisy Buchanan​, ​Chapter 5​ : D ​ aisy sobs when she sees the
wealth Gatsby has amassed. She realizes that she could have had it
all—love and money—if she had waited for him as she promised she
would.
2. **He had passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a
third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was
consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea
so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth
set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the
reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock. (5.114)** :
On the one hand, the depth of Gatsby’s feelings for Daisy is romantic.
He’s living the hyperbole of every love sonnet and torch song ever written.
After all, this is the first time we see Gatsby lose control of himself and his
extremely careful self-presentation. But on the other hand, does he
actually know anything about Daisy as a human being? Notice that it’s “the
idea” that he’s consumed with, not so much the reality. The word “wonder”
makes it sound like he’s having a religious experience in Daisy’s
presence. The base that he has put her on is so incredibly high there’s
nothing for her to do but prove disappointing.
3. **Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of
that green light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great
distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near
to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the
moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of
enchanted objects had diminished by one.**(93)​ : After Gatsby's tour of
the house it starts pouring rain and Gatsby points out how he would be able
to see the green light of daisy's dock, although the mist is too thick enabling
them to see it. Nick observes the "colossal significance" of the green light.
The green light symbolizes Gatsby's aspiration of winning back Daisy's love.
Once Gatsby achieved this goal the light "vanished", as if he has achieved his
goal in life.The green light also represents achieving the materialistic
American Dream which is a major theme in this novel, as Gatsby has to face
the reality of Daisy, rather then the fictitious Daisy he has been dreaming of.
4. **He was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full
of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with
his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now,
in reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock." (92)** :
While Gatsby is touring Nick and Daisy through his home, they make it to his
bedroom and Nick describes Gatsby this way. This quote describes the
development of a mood. Gatsby was embarrassed of his deeply rooted love
for Daisy, but he was also overjoyed and filled with wonder. He had wanted
this for so long and he couldn't help but think about the time he lost, which
leads to the next piece of significance. Mr.Gatsby was compared to an
overwound clock, which refers to time. Gatsby strongly refused to accept the
time that had passed. He was desperate to reverse the past events in order to
keep his relationship with Daisy to be as good as it was five years ago. This
 displays imagery because the clock directly correlates with the idea of
passing time.
5. **But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He
literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new weir
being radiated from him and filled the little room." (89)** : ​As Nick
Carraway is attempting to get the attention of Gatsby and Daisy while they
are rekindling their love affair, he notices a huge change in Gatsby's
energy. This quote develops mood as Nick explains that "a new weir [is]
being radiated from [Gatsby] and fills[s] the little room", he also tells us
that the aroma at this point in the novel makes for great happiness, for
both Daisy and Gatsby. This quote also displays foreshadowing. As Nick
explains the amazing chemistry between the two (Gatsby and Daisy), it
makes us question if Daisy will break loyalty with her husband Tom
Buchanan, to be with her long lost love, Mr.Gatsby.
● Themes :
1. Morality and Ethics : ​Nick is tempted by what he later comes to
realize is the moral dilemma of his life. Twice, Gatsby offers to do some
kind of business with him. There are two ethical challenges in this offer:
- First, ​Gatsby is suggesting that Nick needs to be paid for
services performed​ – that asking Daisy to tea and letting
Gatsby see her at Nick’s house is a transaction that needs to be
reimbursed somehow. This casts an oddly pimp-and-prostitute
vibe on what Nick is being asked to do, which would dismiss
some of the fairytale romance that Gatsby is apparently going
for.
- Second, since it comes on the heels of their encounter with Mr.
Wolfshiem, ​Gatsby’s business proposition is most likely
illegal​ (Insider trading? Speculation? Printing fake bonds?
There are several possibilities.). It connects Nick to the lawless
criminality that in this novel is associated with the new “Wild
East.”
2. Weather :
- For the first time, ​the novel dwells at length on an extreme
weather event​. The infrequent downpour sometimes limits and
sometimes facilitates Daisy and Gatsby’s afternoon together.
The rain allows for moments of physical comedy. For example,
Gatsby’s plan to “accidentally” drop by Nick’s house during tea
with Daisy falls apart when he makes his appearance soaking
wet (meaning that he obviously wasn’t simply trying to visit Nick
– who would do that in that kind of weather?).
- The rain also creates physical and emotional boundaries,
allowing Daisy and Gatsby to stay in their private world. Literally,
this happens when they can’t tour the mansion’s grounds and
have to stay in his house. But more importantly, this happens
when the rain creates a mist that hides Daisy’s house across the
bay from view. She doesn’t have to think about her marriage or
her daughter – she can exist with Gatsby surrounded by
magical-sounding “pink and golden billow of foamy clouds”
(5.134).
● Symboles :
1. Gatsby's Shirts.​ :
- Gatsby showers Daisy with his collection of admirable shirts in a
display that is ​at the same time self-congratulation and also
a submissive plea​. On the one hand, These shirts are a visual
representation of how far Gatsby has come – he can literally
cover Daisy with his riches. But on the other hand, the
desperate way he shows them off ties into Nick’s observation
that “think he revalued everything in his house according to the
measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes” (5.111).
He wants her approval and is putting all of himself out there for
her to pronounce judgement on
2. Clock / Time​:
- The clock in the novel symbolizes the passage of time that has
passed and the moments Gatsby wants back. He wins the high
living standards to rewind the clock to the times, change what
happened between him and Daisy. In chapter five “the
masterpiece clock” represents that Gatsby is still living in the
past with Daisy, while Daisy has moved on. The end of the novel
also signifies the value of time and the​ ​dilemma​ faced by
humans; the more we try to escape from the past, the more we
get close to it.
 THE GREAT GATSBY
CHAPTER 6:
● summary:
1. Chapter 6 opens with an air of suspicion as a reporter comes to Gatsby,
asking him "if he had anything to say." as the rumours ​about Gatsby continue
to circulate in New York about his early life.
2. Gatsby was born James Gatz on a North Dakota farm, and though he
attended college at St. Olaf’s in Minnesota, he dropped out after two weeks,
feeling disgusted from the humiliating janitorial work by means of which he
paid his tuition.He worked on Lake Superior the next summer fishing for
salmon and digging for clams. One day, he saw a yacht owned by Dan Cody,
a wealthy man, James immediately warned him about an approaching storm.
The grateful Cody took young Gatz, who gave his name as Jay Gatsby, on
board his yacht as his personal assistant. Traveling with Cody to the Barbary
Coast and the West Indies, Gatsby fell in love with wealth and luxury. Cody
was a heavy drinker, and one of Gatsby’s jobs was to look after him during
his drunken binges. This gave Gatsby a healthy respect for the dangers of
alcohol and convinced him not to become a drinker himself. When Cody died,
he left Gatsby $25,000, but Cody’s mistress prevented him from claiming his
inheritance. Gatsby then dedicated himself to becoming a wealthy and
successful man.
3. Nick sees neither Gatsby nor Daisy for several weeks after their reunion at
Nick’s house. Stopping by Gatsby’s house one afternoon, he is alarmed to
find Tom Buchanan there. Tom has stopped for a drink at Gatsby’s house
with Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, with whom he has been out riding. Gatsby seems
nervous and agitated, and tells Tom awkwardly that he knows Daisy. Gatsby
invites Tom and the Sloanes to stay for dinner, but they refuse. To be polite,
they invite Gatsby to dine with them, and he accepts, not realizing the
insincerity of the invitation. Tom criticized Gatsby’s lack of social grace as
being disrespectful and was highly critical of Daisy’s habit of visiting Gatsby’s
house alone. He is suspicious, but he has not yet discovered Gatsby and
Daisy’s love.
4. The following Saturday night, Tom and Daisy go to a party at Gatsby’s house.
Though Tom has no interest in the party, his dislike for Gatsby causes him to
want to keep an eye on Daisy. Daisy has a bad time at the party. Tom upsets
her by telling her that Gatsby’s fortune comes from bootlegging. She angrily
replies that Gatsby’s wealth comes from a chain of drugstores that he owns.
5. Gatsby seeks out Nick after Tom and Daisy leave the party; he is unhappy
because Daisy has had such an unpleasant time. Gatsby wants things to be
exactly the same as they were before he left Louisville: he wants Daisy to
leave Tom so that he can be with her. Nick reminds Gatsby that he cannot
re-create the past. Gatsby protests that he can. He believes that his money
can accomplish anything as far as Daisy is concerned. Nick thinks about the
first time Gatsby kissed Daisy, the moment when his dream of Daisy became
the dominant force in his life. Now that he has her, Nick reflects, his dream is
effectively over.
● Analysis:
1. ​Chapter 6 further explores the topic of social class as it relates to
Gatsby. Nick’s description of Gatsby’s early life reveals the sensitivity
to status that triggers Gatsby. His humiliation at having to work as a
janitor in college contrasts with the promise that he experiences when
he meets Dan Cody, who represents the embodiment of everything
that Gatsby wants. the young Gatsby develops a powerful obsession
with accumulating wealth and status. Gatsby’s act of renaming himself
symbolizes his desire to abandon his lower-class identity and to
introduce himself as the wealthy man he envisions.
2. It is easy to see how a man who has gone to such great lengths to
achieve wealth and luxury would find Daisy so captivating: for her, the
aura of wealth and luxury comes effortlessly. She is able to take her
position for granted, and she becomes, for Gatsby, the perfect example
of everything that he invented “Jay Gatsby” to achieve. As is true
throughout the book, Gatsby’s power to make his dreams real is what
makes him “great.” In this chapter, it becomes clear that his most
powerfully realized dream is his own identity, his sense of self. It is
important to realize, in addition, that Gatsby’s conception of Daisy is
itself a dream. He thinks of her as the sweet girl who loved him in
Louisville, blinding himself to the reality that she would never desert her
own class and background to be with him.
3. Fitzgerald continues to explore the theme of social class by illustrating
the contempt with which the aristocratic East Eggers, Tom and the
Sloanes, regard Gatsby. Even though Gatsby seems to have as much
money as they do, he lacks their sense of social nuance and easy,
aristocratic grace. As a result, they mock and despise him for being
“new money.” As the division between East Egg and West Egg shows,
even among the very rich there are class distinctions.
4. It is worth noting that Fitzgerald never shows the reader a single scene
from Gatsby’s affair with Daisy. The narrative is Nick’s story, and, aside
from when they remake each other’s acquaintance, Nick never sees
Gatsby and Daisy alone together. Perhaps Nick’s friendship with
Gatsby allows him to empathize with his pain at not having Daisy, and
that Nick avoids depicting their affair out of a desire not to insult him.
Whatever the reason, Fitzgerald leaves the details of their affair to the
reader’s imagination, and instead exposes the intimidating suspicion
and mistrust on Tom’s part that will eventually lead to a confrontation.
● Quotes:
1. ** The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island,
sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of
God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and
he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast,
 vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of
Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to
invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.**​ : In
Chapter 6, when Nick finally describes Gatsby’s early history, he uses
this striking comparison between Gatsby and Jesus Christ to illuminate
Gatsby’s creation of his own identity. Fitzgerald was probably
influenced in drawing this parallel by a nineteenth-century book by
Ernest Renan entitled ​The Life of Jesus. T​ his book presents Jesus as a
figure who essentially decided to make himself the son of God, then
brought himself to ruin by refusing to recognize the reality that denied
his self-conception. Renan describes a Jesus who is “faithful to his
self-created dream but scornful of the factual truth that finally crushes
him and his dream”—a very appropriate description of Gatsby.
Fitzgerald is known to have admired Renan’s work and seems to have
drawn upon it in devising this metaphor. Though the parallel between
Gatsby and Jesus is not an important motif in ​The Great Gatsby,​ it is
nonetheless a suggestive comparison, as Gatsby transforms himself
into the ideal that he envisioned for himself (a “Platonic conception of
himself”) as a youngster and remains committed to that ideal, despite
the obstacles that society presents to the fulfillment of his dream.
In pursuing his version of the American dream, Gatsby remakes
himself into what he believes, on a superficial level, to be the ideal
man: a wealthy socialite moving upward on the social scale.
2. **He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom
and say: "I never loved you.** :​This really indicates Gatsby's
absolutist feelings towards Daisy​. It’s not enough for her to leave Tom.
Instead, ​Gatsby expects Daisy to abandon her entire relationship
with Tom​ in order to show that she has always been just as
monomaniacally obsessed with him as he has been with her. The
problem is that this robs her of her humanity and personhood – she is
not exactly like him, and it’s unhealthy that he demands for her to be an
identical reflection of his mindset.
● Themes:
1. Degradation of Society:
- Following World War I, the population's postwar emotional relief,
accessibility of consumer goods, and affluence (in some levels of
society) soon led to an unrestrained pursuit of wealth, pleasure,
and material goods. The destructive nature of materialism and the
society's crumbling moral values are vividly portrayed in the novel's
characters.
- Gatsby's simplistic view of life—his abiding belief that Daisy will
leave ​Tom Buchanan​ and marry him—is evidenced regularly in his
attempts to buy people's loyalty, friendship, and love. He tries to
 pay Nick for setting up the meeting with Daisy, gives Nick the gift of
a car, and holds elaborate parties for social hangers-on—many of
whom don't even know him.
- Nick feels the pull of his Midwestern moral values, but is swayed by
the allure of the East's excitement and easy pleasures.
- Although Daisy loved Gatsby when they first met, she decides not
to wait for him when tempted by Tom's offer of marriage. After all,
Tom comes from an elite family and showers her with expensive
presents. Later, despite her renewed feelings for Gatsby, she
remains with the safe choice of old money and social status.
2. Motifs: Alcohol​.
- Despite his idolizing of Dan Cody, Gatsby learns from his mentor’s
alcoholism to stay away from drinking – this is why, to this day, he
doesn’t participate in his own parties. For him, ​alcohol is a tool for
making money and displaying his wealth​ and standing
3. Society and Class​:​ ​A very awkward encounter between a couple of
West Egg, Tom, and Gatsby highlights the disparity between West Egg
money and East Egg money. To Nick, the East Eggers are fundamentally
different and mostly terrible:
- For fun, they ride horses, while Gatsby’s main vehicle is a car.
- They issue invitations that they hope will get declined, while Gatsby
not only welcomes them into his home, but allows people to crash
his parties and stay in his house indefinitely.
- They accept hospitality without so much as a thank you, while
Gatsby feels such a sense of gratitude that his thanks are
overwhelming (for example, when he offers to go into business with
Nick when Nick agreed to ask Daisy to tea).
4. Love, Desire, Relationships​:
- ​No real life relationship could ever live up to Gatsby’s
unrealistic, stylized, ultra-romantic, and absolutist conception
of love​ in general, and his love of Daisy, in particular. Not only that,
but he demands nothing less of Daisy as well. His condition for her
to be with him is to entirely disavow Tom and any feelings she may
have ever had for him. It’s this aspect of their affair that is used to
defend Daisy​ from the generally negative attitude most readers
have towards her​ character.