1. Chapter 7 Analysis

2. Summary Gatsby, absorbed by his love for Daisy, stops throwing parties which initially were held to earn her affection. On the hottest day of the summer, Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan all go to Tom and Daisy’s house. While they are there, the nurse brings in Daisy’s daughter leaving Gatsby stunned at the realization that the child does exist and things will never truly be the way they were five years ago. Throughout the entire chapter, Gatsby and Daisy cannot hide their love for each other and Tom picks up on their obvious affection for the first time. They all decide to go into town and on their way Tom, Nick, and Jordan stop at George Wilson’s auto-shop to discover that Wilson has learned of Myrtle’s affair, although he has not found out with whom she was involved with, and planned to move with her to the west. The group decides to take a room at the Plaza hotel. Once in the suite, Tom carries out his planned confrontation towards Gatsby. Gatsby tells Tom that him and Daisy love each other and demands that she confesses her love for Gatsby and tells Tom, “I never loved you.”

3. Summary cont. Daisy tries, but she cannot say it with true meaning because she admits to loving them both at the same time. Tom begins accusing Gatsby of unpleasant acts such as bootlegging and Daisy, repulsed, begins to withdraw from Gatsby. After believing he has “won” the argument, Tom sends Daisy back to Long Island with Gatsby to signify his triumph and the fact that Gatsby can no longer hurt him. During the drive back, Tom, Nick, and Jordan come across the gruesome scene of Myrtle Wilson’s death. After talking to a witness, Tom jumps to the assumption that Gatsby is the person who killed her. Back at Tom’s house, Nick finds Gatsby hiding in the bushes, claiming he is there to insure Tom does not hurt Daisy. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving when they hit Myrtle, but he would take the blame. After asking Nick to check on Daisy and he finds her and Tom reconciling their differences. Nick leaves Gatsby alone in the driveway.

4. Syntax 1 One of the syntactical features Fitzgerald uses in Chapter 7 is hyphens. Fitzgerald mainly uses hyphens to elaborate on a specific action or thought of a character or to provide other information. He also uses hyphens to jump from one thought to another almost instantly. “It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night-- and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over.” “Wondering if he were sick I went over to find out--an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door.”

5. Syntax 2 Fitzgerald uses very sharp and very short sentences to show excitement or anger. In the middle of Chapter 7 when Tom finds out about Daisy and Gatsby and the they get in an argument, Fitzgerald uses very short sentences to help the reader imagine how heated the atmosphere in the book was at this point. “‘All right,’ broke in Tom quickly, ‘I’m perfectly willing to go to town. Come on--we’re all going to town.’ He got up, his eyes still flashing between Gatsby and his wife. No none moved. ‘Come on!’ His temper cracked a little. ‘What’s the matter, anyhow? If we’re going to town, let’s start.’”

6. Syntax 3 In chapter 7, Fitzgerald uses long complex sentences to elaborate the thoughts that Nick had towards the end of the chapter. The intense conflict between Gatsby and Tom and all the characters are still uneasy. Nick has just realized that his 30th birthday is that very day and he has a very melancholy outlook on it so Fitzgerald uses complex sentences with many clauses to illustrate the slow and uninterested response to his birthday. “Human sympathy has its limits, and we were content to let all their tragic arguments fade with the city lights behind. Thirty--the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair. But there was Jordan beside me, who, unlike daisy, was too wise ever to caryy well-forgotten dreams from age to age.”

7. Diction “At first I couldn’t find the source of the high, groaning words that echoed clamorously through the bare garage---then I saw Wilson standing on the raised threshold of his office, swaying back and forth and holding to the doorsteps with both hands. Some man was talking to him in a low voice and attempting, from time to time, to lay a hand on his shoulder, but Wilson neither heard nor saw. His eyes would drop slowly from the swinging light to the laden table by the wall, and then jerk back to the light again, and he gave out incessantly his high, horrible call…” (page 138). In this paragraph the author is using the significance of Myrtle Wilson's death and the act of betrayal to show depression, misery, and grief. By using these words and phrases to describe Wilson’s reaction to his wife's death, Fitzgerald is conveying an overall sense of despair over the entire town, The Valley of Ashes. This type of diction is not present at the beginning of this chapter and it only comes into context after Myrtle’s death. For the rest of the chapter (8 pages) this type of gloomy writing is continued all the way until Gatsby is left looking over nothing waiting for Daisy.

8. Figurative Language 1 “So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes.” (Page 114) This is an example of a simile. Gatsby put so much time into pleasing Daisy that when she disapproved, his whole life fell apart as quickly and easily as a card house. By using this simile, we get a better picture of exactly how obsessed Gatsby is with Daisy.

9. Figurative Language 2 “‘Shall we go in my car?’ suggested Gatsby. He felt the hot, green leather of the seat. ‘I ought to have left it in the shade.’” (Page 120) This is an example of symbolism. Gatsby’s car featuring green interior is another reference to wealth and money, something Gatsby has a lot of in the book. It isn’t simply a color. The author used symbolism at this point in the book in order to connect Gatsby’s car with a major theme in the novel.

10. Figurative Language 3 “‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly.” (Page 120) This is an example of a metaphor. Daisy’s voice isn’t literally full of money; Gatsby is simply comparing her voice to money. When he says this, it evokes positive feelings and connotations, which is how Daisy makes people feel when she speaks. In the novel, money is part of the unattainable American Dream, just as Daisy is an unattainable dream for Gatsby.

11. Figurative Language 4 “So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.” (Page 136) This is an example of a metaphor, as well as foreshadowing. This sentence follows a conversation about growing older, so the author is referring to the characters approaching death with their ages-- time moving forward. However, we learn a few pages later that the characters were literally driving towards death as well. Myrtle has just been killed, and Tom, Nick and Jordan will come upon this.

12. Figurative Language 5 “but when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners…” (Page 137) This is an example of imagery. Fitzgerald uses such gruesome language in this excerpt that is impossible to not develop some sort of picture in your mind. Without imagery, we wouldn’t be able to fully comprehend how terrible Myrtle’s death was.