Great Gatsby - Chapter Seven

Chapter seven was a very eventful chapter and cleared up some loose ends for the reader. The chapter begins with Nick noticing that ever since Daisy and Gatsby have been romantic, his parties/social life have stopped. Gatsby even fired all of his staff and hired new staff who are connected to Wolfshiem to insure his secrets were safe.

On a very hot day, Nick goes to East Egg for lunch with the Buchanans, Jordan, and Gatsby. Pammy, the child of Tom and Daisy also makes her first appearance this chapter and stuns Gatsby as he had not accepted her existence until then. The afternoon is filled with apparent moments of romance between Daisy and Gatsby, which begins to upset Tom more and more. Later, to clear some of the awkwardness they all decide to go to New York. When choosing cars, Daisy denies a seat in the car with Tom and says she wants to ride with Gatsby alone. On their way to the city, Tom stops for gas at Wilson's garage and finds out that Wilson is ill after learning of his wife's infidelity and plans to move away with Myrtle.

The five of them decide to stop at the Plaza hotel. Not long after they arrived, Tom begins to commence an argument between Gatsby and him by questioning his education at Oxford. Tom then begins to say that he knows what has been going on between Daisy and Gatsby, to which Gatsby replies that Daisy has never loved him. They continue to argue about the man Daisy loves without letting her get a word in. As the argument began to subside, Daisy saw herself moving closer to Tom instead of Gatsby. Tom tells them both to ride back home together, and Nick realizes it's his 30th birthday.

On Tom, Nick, and Jordan's drive back to East Egg they come across a crowd at Wilson's garage and decide to check it out. After shoving themselves into the crowd they learn that after running into the street during a fight, Myrtle had been instantly killed by a car. Those around them then began to all say that the car that hit her was yellow and did not stop. Nick then comes to the conclusion that it must have been Gatsby's car!

When arriving at Tom's house Nick decides to wait outside for his taxi and says he feels sick after everything that had happened that day. Nick finds Gatsby waiting outside and tells Nick that he is waiting for Daisy to fall asleep to make sure Tom does not harm her. Gatsby also confirms that his car was the one that hit Myrtle, but that Daisy was the one driving. He says that if asked he will cover for her and say he was driving. Before Nick leaves he pops his head into the house to ease Gatsby's fears. Inside he sees Tom and Daisy reconciling their differences in an intimate way, but he does not tell Gatsby.

This chapter cleared up a lot of confusion such as Tom's knowledge of Daisy's affair, Wilson's knowledge of Myrtle's affair, Gatsby's involvement with crime, and more. Tom's hypocrisy about infidelity is very noticeable through his shaming of Daisy. Gatsby's obsession with reliving the past is s also very apparent through his persistent claims that Daisy will start a new life with him, even though Daisy never actually clearly says what she wants. At the end of the chapter, the future of Daisy's and Gatsby's relationship is left unknown.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter Four

Chapter four begins with Nick describing a long list of the people he has met through Gatsby's parties. I can see how going to Gatsby's parties has introduced him into society. Gatsby then comes to Nick's house to take him to lunch. On the way there, Gatsby goes on to tell Nick of his life. Throughout the story he shares, we, like Nick, get the sense that some of what he’s saying isn’t actually true. At the end of the ride, Gatsby mentions a certain “matter” which Ms. Baker was supposed to discuss with him. I don’t know why he couldn’t just tell Nick himself, but he leaves it to Ms. Baker which irritates Nick.

At lunch, we meet Mr. Wolfsheim who has known Gatsby for many years. Wolfsheim mistakenly believes Nick to be a criminal asking if he is looking for a “business gonnegtion” (70). This made me think Gatsby has something shady going on with Wolfsheim. At the end of lunch, when Nick introduces Gatsby and Tom, Gatsby is very uncomfortable and almost embarrassed, although we don’t learn why until the end of the chapter.

Once Nick meets Jordan for tea, we finally learn what Gatsby wants from Nick. We learn that Gatsby and Daisy have known each other for many years, and I got the sense that they were together at many points. Before Daisy got married to Tom, she is holding a letter and crying saying she doesn’t want to marry Tom. I believe the note was from Gatsby. I was surprised to hear that Gatsby and Daisy have known each other and are deeply connected. I am interested and excited to see when they meet up at Nick’s house for the first time in years. Especially since Tom sees other women, I think it will be interesting to see Gatsby and Daisy interact with each other.