The Great Gatsby Chapter 4 Pg. 60 - 78

Gatsby tells us about himself… “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West – all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.” “He looked at me sideways – and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford’, or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before… I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all.” “My family all died and I came into a good deal of money.” “For a moment I suspected that he was pulling my leg, but a glance at him convinced me otherwise.”

Gatsby tells us about himself… “After that I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe – Paris, Venice, Rome – collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only, and trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago.” “Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life. I accepted a commission as first lieutenant when it began.” Seeing Nick’s skepticism, Gatsby produces a medal from Montenegro and a picture of himself playing cricket at Oxford.

Meyer Wolfshiem In the city, Gatsby takes Nick to lunch and introduces him to Meyer Wolfshiem, who, he claims, was responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series. Wolfshiem is a shady character with underground business connections. He gives Nick the impression that the source of Gatsby’s wealth might be unsavory, and that Gatsby may even have ties to the sort of organized crime with which Wolfshiem is associated. https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=QxL3vcwO L8E Nick spots Tom at the restaurant and walks Gatsby over to introduce him. As they were introduced an “unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby’s face” and then he disappeared. (72)

Jordan lets Nick in on Gatsby’s secret… Nick sees Jordan Baker, who finally tells him the details of her mysterious conversation with Gatsby at the party. Jordan’s story paints Gatsby as a lovesick, innocent young soldier, desperately trying to win the woman of his dreams. Gatsby told her that he is in love with Daisy Buchanan.

Jordan lets Nick in on Gatsby’s secret… Gatsby bought his mansion in West Egg solely to be near Daisy. “I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night… but she never did. Then he began asking people casually if they knew her, and I was the first one he found.” “He’s read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name.”

Jordan lets Nick in on Gatsby’s secret… Gatsby has asked her to convince Nick to arrange a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy. Because he is terrified that Daisy will refuse to see him, Gatsby wants Nick to invite Daisy to tea. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=SZfrqm RV2H8

So… Chapter 4 illuminates a matter of great personal meaning for Gatsby: the object of his hope, the green light toward which he reaches. Gatsby’s love for Daisy is the source of his romantic hopefulness and the meaning of his yearning for the green light in Chapter 1. That light, so mysterious in the first chapter, becomes the symbol of Gatsby’s dream, his love for Daisy, and his attempt to make that love real Many critics suggest that the green light represents Gatsby’s American Dream

The Great Gatsby Chapter 5 Pg. 79 - 93

Gatsby, The Enigma “Why, I thought – why, look here, old sport, you don’t much money, do you?” ”I thought you didn’t, if you’ll pardon my – you see, I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of side line, you understand. And I thought that if you don’t make very much – You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?” ”Well, this would interest you. It wouldn’t take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing.” “You wouldn’t have to do any business with Wolfshiem.”

Daisy comes for tea… https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=H7yBQIGyunI “Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-coloured tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes.” Daisy arrives, but when Nick brings her into the house, he finds that Gatsby has suddenly disappeared. There is a knock at the door. Gatsby enters, having returned from a walk around the house in the rain. Gatsby’s acting like a “little boy” as he is nervous and thinks that this meeting was a “terrible mistake” (84 – 84).

The Weather: Rain & Shine Define the term “pathetic fallacy” and explain how this scene is using this literary device. Nick uses the weather as a metaphor for Gatsby and Daisy’s meeting; how does he do this?

So what does Gatsby do for living? GATSBY: “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.” NICK: “I thought you inherited your money.” GATSBY: “I did, old sport…but I lost most of it in the big panic – the panic of the war.” NICK’S NARRATION: “I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he replied: ‘That’s my affair,’ before he realied that it wasn’t an appropriate reply.” GATSBY: “I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I’m not in either one now.”

Time for Daisy to see Gatsby’s mansion… https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=pYs0gZTq3q4&list=PL B8ECBF3E515DEE8B&index=6 (3:10 – 7:06) “Recovering himself in a minute he opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing-gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high.” “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them…”

The Green Light “Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that 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.”

The Past’s Significance in the Future As the novel explores ideas of love, excess, and the American dream, it becomes clearer and clearer to the reader that Gatsby’s emotional frame is out of sync with the passage of time. His nervousness about the present and about how Daisy’s attitude toward him may have changed causes him to knock over Nick’s clock, symbolizing the clumsiness of his attempt to stop time and retrieve the past.

Appearance vs. Reality Gatsby: Gatsby’s character throughout his meeting with Daisy is at its purest and most revealing. The theatrical quality that he often projects falls away, and for once all of his responses seem genuine. He forgets to play the role of the Oxford-educated socialite and shows himself to be a love-struck, awkward young man. Daisy: Daisy is moved to sincerity when her emotions get the better of her. Before the meeting, Daisy displays her usual satirical humour; when Nick invites her to tea and asks her not to bring Tom, she responds, “Who is ‘Tom’?” Yet, seeing Gatsby strips her of her superficial appearance. When she goes to Gatsby’s house, she is overwhelmed by honest tears of joy at his success and sobs upon seeing his piles of expensive English shirts.

Nick Carraway’s Character Development Honesty and tolerance He tolerantly observes Tom’s merrymaking with Myrtle, so he facilitates the commencement of an extramarital affair for Daisy, potentially helping to wreck her marriage