The attendance of Gatsby’s funeral is less then impressive. There is only Nick, his dad and the limousine driver, and then Owl Eyes shows up a few minutes later. Nick and his father are there because they deeply feel for his loss and were close in Gatsby’s life, the driver is there because he has to be and Owl Eyes is there because he feels the need to give his respects to him. Although Gatsby seemed to be a very popular man, the friends he thought he had never came to his funeral. Meyer Wolfsheim tells Nick that he has too much business and can’t attend for he doesn’t want to get wrapped up in that sort of thing and he never hears a word from Daisy. This drastic scene is showing us that even though Gatsby threw the wildest parties and people surrounded him doesn’t mean that he has a lot of friends or any one can for that matter. Although Gatsby was to involved in his work and never really took the time to enjoy his wealth, he flashed it and lived how he thought a young rich bachelor should. It shows us that even though Gatsby was sort of living “the American Dream” and living with all that money, that you aren’t automatically happy and there aren’t going to have all the friends in the world. The luxury that James Gatz saw when he was a young man was the thing that blinded ho for the rest of his life because he did everything just to become rich and impress Daisy.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Ch. 7 & 8
In the event of Gatsby dieing there were a few events that sort of foreshadowed that something shocking or horrific was going to happen. When Nick decided to tell us the skeptical and detailed information about Gatsby’s past it sort of raised a question. I wondered why he was telling this at all and why it just didn’t come out through Gatsby. One event that led to some rising in tension between characters was when Tom confronted Gatsby about everything he does and how he has received his money. Once Tom brings out the truth that Gatsby is in the bootleg business, Daisy is shocked and looks at Gatsby in a different way. Once the truth came out Gatsby knew he could no longer hide under the skin of Jay Gatsby meaning he would therefore have to reveal James Gatz. The other event that indicated that Gatsby might die was when Myrtle was killed. The whole Myrtle thing was a bit sketchy because even though Gatsby tells Nick that it was Daisy who was driving, we don’t ever really know who killed Myrtle. Even though Gatsby doesn’t have a reason to kill her it is still a kind of strange murder. Then once Myrtle was murdered I thought that maybe he would remember the car from earlier that afternoon when they stopped for gas. And once Wilson remembered I figured that he was going to seek vengeance on Gatsby because it was his car. With Gatsby so wrapped up about living his dream and being wealthy he didn’t realize what was happening to him. He trying so hard to be the perfect man for Daisy that he forgot that he needed to go and get her instead of waiting five years to build himself up into a false image of what he has accomplished out of life. His dream blinded him and in the end is what caused him to die in the end. Although if you do look at it, it was Tom’s and Daisy’s fault and Gatsby was just the man in the wrong car at the wrong time.
Truth About Gatsby Ch. 6
Gatsby makes up these lies in order for him to be perceived as a different person then he really is. He doesn’t want people to know that he was once poor and had nothing because then people will judge him for how he lived when he was younger. Gatsby is afraid of people having trouble with him so therefore he makes up lies and then has some sort of support that he isn’t lying. He is trying to keep his real identity away from the surface. The reason Nick doesn’t tell us the truth about James Gatz until now because he didn’t want us to think that Gatsby was a liar. If Nick would have came out and told us that Gatsby was a big fat liar and bent the truth in order to make himself look smarter and better then people wouldn’t like him when we read the book. The reader first to learn about Gatsby before he can be judged and once we know a little bit about Gatsby Nick decides to tell us. In order for us to have our own opinion and why we think Gatsby is lying we need to know about him a little more instead of receiving all the information earlier in the novel. Nick knows the truth about Gatsby while Gatsby is trying to keep his true self from reaching the surface. They way we are suppose to perceive Gatsby has now been changed because of what Nick has told us.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Great Gatsby Ch. 5
When Gatsby starts to talk about the “green light” that burns at the end of Daisy’s dock it is because that is all he has to know that Daisy is somewhere near and close to him. Once he realizes that Daisy is in fact in the same room with him he realizes that the green light is no longer the only thing that can remind him of her because she now knows where he lives and that he is somewhere close to him too. So then once Gatsby realizes that he has Daisy and that Daisy is happy to see him, the green light is no longer needed because of the list of things that are important in life, the green light is now no longer on it. Now that Jay Gatsby has the love of his life in the same room with him he no longer only has to use the light as an excuse to look in the direction of her.