Chapter Eight

Daisy becomes the object of Gatsby's desire: Daisy has become the object of Gatsby's desire for many reasons. It has been so long since Gatsby last saw Daisy that he has been continously imagining Daisy and how perfect she is. In his mind, Daisy has become somewhat of a goddess, an expectation that she will never be able to live up to. She is the first nice girl that he has ever met and probably the first girl to take an interest in him. She is the love of his life. Because many men had already loved Daisy, it made Gatsby feel special. Like he was involved with someone very important. When he left, he felt married to her, but clearly she felt differently. Because he was so in love with her back then, he continued to picture her as something amazing, creating a flawless person in his mind.

Gatsby is commited to a grail: A grail is something that you work hard to get and dont always get it. This is what happened to Gatsby. He tried so hard to get Daisy and in the end, she began to slip away from him. When Nick explains how Gatsby has commited to a grail, he is talking about how he has put himself in a relationship that isnt going to end up working out. Because Daisy needs so much attention, she is unable to wait for Gatsby to return from the war, throwing Gatsby's commitment of love for her out the window.

"She had caught cold and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and perserves, of the freshness of many clothes and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor."This is a very interesting and important. Gatsby is talking about Diasy's voice, a topic that many people she meets notice. But, also he is talking a lot about money. Because he used to be poo, he likes to show Daisy just how wealthy he has become. He talks about the freshness of clothes and Daisy, two things that he is in posession of, although Daisy is slipping away. It seems that he doesn't think about the struggles of the poor because he is so self absorbed with gettng Daisy.

Gatsby's obsession with Daisy: After reading about how they met, my view on the situation is in fact a bit different. Before I read this passage, i thought of the realtionship as a bit stalkerish and creepy. This passage showed me that Gatsby loved Daisy because she was so nice and genuine and took his breathe away, not because she had alot of money. I do think though, that he has made her out to be something that she is not. He has become so attatched to the idea of her that he is unable to do anything without her. I feel simpathy for Gatsby, but at the same time, I think he needs to move on with his life.

Chapter Seven

Why did Daisy choose to stay with Tom?
Daisy chose to stay with Daisy because that is where her heart is. Even though she did love Gatsby once, she has now comminted to Tom. Although Tom has continously been involved with other women, Daisy still feels that she has a responsibility to Tom. She started talking to Gatsby again because she wanted to remember the things that had happened in the past. But, she is grown up now and realizes that she has a relationship that she needs to work on, not just go around having flings. "'I never loved him,' she said, with perceptible relucatance." (132) Even though she loved Gatsby in the past, she tells Tom that she didn't. This is because she wants to work on saving their marriage. If she did in fact want to be with Gatsby, it seems that she would have had no trouble coming out and telling Tom that.

Why does Fitzgerald end the chapter with an image of Tom and Daisy sitting in the kitchen?
The chapter is ended with this image because it gives us a sense of resolution. Up to this point, the reader is unsure about how their marriage is going to work out. Will she stay with Tom? Will she leave and go with Gatsby? There is no way for us to know. After this chapter, we can tell the decision that she has made. She is going to stay and work on her marriage with Tom. The image of them sitting in the kitchen is important because it shows that they have made up and are going to try and work things out. I think that it is significant that they are in the kitchen because normally, a kitchen is a family place, and the two of them sitting in the kitchen shows how their torn relationship has been mended.

Chapter Five and Six

Gatsby's Quest: This quote (101) shows alot about Gatsby's character. Gatsby has been waiting for Daisy for 5 years. Everytime he thinks about her, she becomes more perfect. She is an image that he has created in his mind. She is a person too perfect to actually exhist. Because Gatsby has had so much time to think about how hi life could have been with Daisy, he has painted a false picture that she cannot live up to. Nick can tell that Gatsby was expecing more of Daisy. He can sense that Gatsby wanted things to go back to they way they were when he was with Daisy. Obviously, Gatsby is making it obvious how about the situation because Nick can tell what is going on.

Gatsby "sprang from his Platonic conception of himself" (104) This quote is also talking about Gatsby's expectations for Daisy. He has such a perfect picture in his mind that there is no way she can ever be like that. Because of this, Gatsby is setting himself up for a big dissapointment. He has high ideals for her and she will never live up to his expectations.

Platonic Love: urge to create a union with the beautiful and higher ideals.

Chapter Four

Character: Daisy Buchanan
Character Quote: Perhaps Daisy never went in for amour at all- and yet theres something in that voice of hers." (77). This quote tells alot about Daisy. It is describing her voice and how it is something that everyone she meets notices about her.
Character Qualities: Daisy is a very happy and friendly person. She seems like she cares about other people thatn herslef, a quality that has not been seen much in this book yet. She is beautiful and has a voice that effects people very strongly. She seems like she can get what she want. Her good qualities are that she is sweet, welcoming and tries to be modest about her money. Her bad qualities are that she seems very needy of attention. We have just found out about her love of Gatsby and i think that she left Gatsby because he wasnt going to be able to give her attention. She doesnt seem very independant.
Character Role: In the book so far, Daisy has been a main female role. She is the wife of Tom and has no been able to break free of him even though it is clear that she doesn't want him anymore. Her role seems to be somewhat of a distraut housewife. Her secrets that she has been keeping from her husband about her previous love are coming out and getting her in trouble. Maybe Daisy isnt as innocent as we all thought she was. It seems like she has a few secrets in the closet that are just waiting to come out.
Significant Quote: "...Those who accepted Gatsby's hospiitality and paid him the subtle triut of knowing nothing about him." (61). I think that this quote is really important in the chapter. Even though it is only about Gatsby, i think that it shows a lot about the way he is viewed and how everyone looks up to him. The mystery about Gatsby is that no one ever sees him or knows anything about him. Because of this, this quote is important. Its crazy that all these people look up to this man so much even though they have never met him. It shows alot about their society.
Sightings: "Where there was a glimpse of red-belted ocean-going ships. (68). The color red in this book is brought up alot. In many cases it is used to describe supiriority. The glisening of the shiny red ships are used to show how nice they look, an upper class experience clearly.

Chapter Three

Character: Jay Gatsby
Character Quote: "It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four of five ties in life." (48). This quote describes the first impressions that we get about Gatsby. He is a rich man who also is modest and what people notice about him is his smile. It is genuine and you can tell that so far, he is probably the happiest person with their life. Not because he has a bunch of money and can buy whatever he wants and throw parties, it's because he can help people and is not self absorbed.
Character qualities: Although we have just been introduced to Jay Gatsby, there are many things that we are able to know about his personality. He has many good qualities from what we have read so far. We can tell that he is a rich man, he seems very happy with his life, he is genuine, he is friendly (throwing all these parties and talking to his guests), he is not self centered (he doesn't throw parties so that he can be the center of the party, in fact he is fairly withdrawn), he is nice to Nick and is taking him on a trip. We don't really know any bad qualities of Gatsby yet. We know that he is somewhat mysterious (being so withdrawn) which could end up leading to something bad in the end. Other than that, we don't know enough about him to negatively judge him. This is interesting because for most of the other characters, our first impressions of them is that they are bad people. With Gatsby, we clearly get a different impression.
Character role: Gatsby has a very large role in the book (it is called the Great Gatsby) but so far, we have only just been introduced to him. He was definitely a main role in chapter three. He is someone that everyone looks up to. He is rich and is able to throw all these parties where people can come and have a great time. He is a nice guy who likes to sit back and watch his guests enjoy themselves. He seems to be like a figure that is higher than everyone else, or at least everyone seems to want to be like him, idealizes him. We can tell that his part is going to increase throughout the book, but from what we know so far, he is just a semi-modest man that people look up to.
Significant quote: "I see I have given the impression that the events from three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs." (56) -Nick. This quote is different from the significant quotes that I chose in other chapters. When I read this quote I thought of the discussion we were having in class about whether or not we could trust Nick. This quote just kind of proved the point that these views might be effected by something that happens later in the book. By Nick saying this, he is saying that the importance of these events in the moment changed over time. This quote makes me think a lot about whether or not I trust that Nick is telling the truth.
Sightings: "...And pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold." (40) This quote has to do with the color gold. Here I believe that Nick is describing roasting animals and the color that they become. This quote is taken from a passage where Nick is describing one of Gatsby's lavish parties.
"Most of the time I worked. In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust." (56) Here, the description is of Nick's job. He is some sort of clerk. I thought this quote was important because it was a clear description of Nicks job, which gives us another view on his life. Obviously he doesn't just attend lavish parties all day/night.

Chapter Two

Character: Myrtle Wilson
Character quote: "'Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!' shouted Mrs. Wilson. 'I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-'" (37) This quote clearly shows the personality of myrtle. Although in the beginning Tom thinks that she is attractive, when she gets drunk, her true colors come out. She rudely insists on mentioning Tom's wife, Daisy. When he tells her that she should never mention his wife's name, she makes a mockery of him and begins to tease him with the name. She seems to be self centered and likes the attention but at the same time, she is a bit rude to others and clearly can't control herself when she gets drunk.
Character qualities: Myrtle really doesn't have many good qualities. I suppose you could argue that she is honest (by continuously talking about Daisy she is reminding Tom what he is doing) but I don't really think that that is the reason for her obnoxiousness. She does, on the otherhand, have many bad qualities. She seems very self centered and wants the attention that Tom is giving her, but then turns around and is rude to him. She is also a very bad drunk. She seems obnoxious and loud, very social, yet not someone that I would necessarily want to associate with.
Characters role: In chapter 2, I think that Myrtle's main purpose is to cause disturbance and to demonstrate first hand about how real the affairs that these men are having are. She is a loud, needy person and I think Tom begins to realize that. I think that the reason that she is such a big part in this chapter is that this is the first time when we see that maybe Tom has a little bit of regret for what he is doing. Because he gets so defensive about his wife's name being mentioned, this may mean that he actually realizes that what he is doing is wrong and Myrtle's presence in constantly reminding him of that guilt he may be feeling.
Significant quote: "'I married him because I thought he was a gentlemen,' she said finally. 'I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe.'" -Myrtle (34) I think that this quote is important because to me, it seems to stand for how everyone is feeling about their lives right now. Many of them have entered into commitments and now are no longer happy with their choices. This is a main theme in this book because it seems that no one is actually happy with their lives and with what they have, even though they may pretend that they are. Because this quote brings of one of the main themes so far in this book, I think that this is one of the most important quotes.
Sightings: "The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene," (24). This talks about the ash heap and how it represents someone foul and is associated with death which is most commonly linked to sadness and unhappiness.
"One lavender-colored with gray upholstery." (27) This is being used to describe a taxi cab. The gray in this chapter is referring to something in between, sort of indecisive and kind of out of place. It is a dismal color and pretty bland and boring. Gray was the main color theme that I found was mentioned in this chapter.

Chapter One

Character name: Tom Buchanan
Character quote: "'I hate the word hulking,' objected Tom crossly, 'even in kidding'. 'Hulking,' insisted Daisy." Page 12.
Character qualities: Tom is a very strong man who holds a lot of power over his wife who he is cheating on. In general, he is very dishonest and unreliable. He seems to be unhappy with where his life is going. He is very physical and strong with his actions. He may not realize how influential he can be on people but he is. By pushing Nick around so much in a friendly way, he has created a rocky relationship between himself and Nick. In general, Tom is powerful and very dishonest.
Character Role: In chapter one, we get the sense that Tom is a fatherly figure
that is continuously influencing Nick. He thinks that he is helping Nick because Nick needs him, which is not necessarily true. He seems to be a bit mysterious, seeing as he is involved in affairs outside of his marriage. He seems very powerful and is someone that I would be intimidated by if I knew him.
Significant Quote: "'You see I think everything is terrible anyhow,' she went on in a convinced way. 'everybody thinks so-the most advanced people. And I knew. I've been everywhere and seen everything.'" I think that this is one of the most important quotes in chapter one. This quote describes the general view of most of the people we have been introduced to. Although they are rich and may look happy with their parties, you can tell that inside everyone is unhappy and thinks that life is not good. This is demonstrated by the way they talk (such as in this paragraph) and the way that everyone is cheating on each other (clearly showing some unhappiness that they are experiencing at home. This is why I believe that this quote is so significant.
Sightings: "...Regarding the silver pepper of the stars." (20) When I think of this picture that has been described for us, I think of a big silver star with many little black dots resembling pepper. "...And a distinguished nothing except a single green light," (21). When I think about the green light that is used to describe Gatsby, I think of a careful and mysterious man who may be a bit distant and suspicious. It will be interesting to see if these predictions turn out to be true.