Gatsby Ch. 7-9

*Pervading -

spread or diffuse

*Deranged -

mad; insane

*Transitory -

not permanent

*Complacent -

showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements

*Precipitately -

to hasten the occurrence of; bring about prematurely, hastily, or suddenly: to precipitate an international crisis.

*Caravansery large inn -

usually in Middle East to accommodate caravans

*Redolent -

with a strong, pleasant, or particular scent; suggestive or reminiscent of something.

*Garrulous -

full of trivial conversation

*Adventitious -

happening or carried on according to chance rather than design or inherent nature

Ch 9 Summary

Writing from a perspective that narration indicates is two months after the event, Nick says the newspapers covered Gatsby's death with a tendency towards sensationalism, that Mrs. Wilson's sister Catherine testified at the inquest that her sister had never been unfaithful, and that Tom and Daisy disappeared. Also, while at Gatsby's house, Nick takes a phone call in which the caller speaks about some kind of bond scheme set up in a small town that seems to be in trouble, but hangs up when Nick reveals that he isn't Gatsby. Meanwhile, Gatsby's father (Mr. Henry Gatz) arrives, having read of his son's death in the paper and immediately traveling out. Over the next few days, it seems to Nick that Mr. Gatz's pride in his son's success and achievements is greater than his grief. As Mr. Gatz and Nick are making funeral arrangements, Nick makes a few selective phone calls to people who he thinks might attend the funeral. Very few respond, with one of them (Mr. Klipspringer, the piano player) proving to be more interested in the return of his missing tennis shoes. Nick hangs up on him. Nick also meets with Mr. Wolfsheim, who expresses his regret that he is unable to attend the funeral but insists that that's his way. "Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive..." he suggests. "After that, my own rule is to let everything else alone". It rains on the day of the funeral, which is attended only by Nick, Gatz, the funeral director, some of Gatsby's servants, and the drunken man from the library (see Chapter 3), who marvels at how few people are there when there used to be hundreds at the house. Nick's narration then shifts focus once again as he recalls the pleasures of returning home to the Midwest on his Christmas breaks from school, suggesting that even while he knew the East was superior in so many ways, he felt its truths were distorted. Ultimately, he says, he decided to go home. As he's tying up loose ends, he has a conversation with Jordan, who listens to his explanations of why he doesn't want to see her with no reaction, except for saying she's engaged. She also recalls an earlier conversation (Chapter 3), in which she said she liked him for being honest, and accuses him of actually not being honest and of letting her down. "I'm thirty," he says. "I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor." Finally, he also has an encounter with Tom Buchanan, demanding to know what happened in the hours after Gatsby's death - specifically, when Wilson came to the house looking for the yellow car. Tom insists that Wilson was crazy with grief and that he had his revolver in his hand, and that even if Tom did say who owned the yellow car, Gatsby got what he deserved. "He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy's, but ... he ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car." Nick comments that there's nothing he could say, "except the one unutterable fact that it wasn't true." He then writes in narration of seeing clearly that Tom believed everything he did was justified, but also the truth of who he and Daisy really were. On his final night on Long Island, Nick visits Gatsby's house one last time, then goes out to the beach, where he looks at the same view Gatsby must have had (see the end of Chapter 1) and contemplates the journey, emotional and physical, that Gatsby made in pursuit of his dream. "He did not know," Nick comments in narration, "that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." Nick stares at the green light on what used to be Tom and Daisy's dock, remembering.

*Commensurate -

corresponding in size or degree; in proportion

Dan Cody

Cody was the industrialist who James Gatz took as his role model for transforming himself into Jay Gatsby, wealthy, powerful, and indulgent. A physical and moral apprentice to Cody, Gatsby was excluded from Cody's will by the actions of the industrialist's sister, leaving Gatsby on his own, searching for the economic means to have the lifestyle he came to believe he deserved.

Daisy Buchanan

Daisy is Nick's second cousin and the beloved of Jay Gatsby, a beautiful woman with an enchanting voice, a self-indulgent and irresponsible attitude to life and relationships, and an almost arrogant sense of self-entitlement. For Daisy, the world revolves around her - her wants, her feelings, her needs, and her resentments - and has, the narrative clearly suggests, ever since she was a girl. Nick's narrative comment about how she speaks seems to reinforce this idea, in that she seems to be deliberately pitching her voice at a place where people need to pay even closer attention to her. She is frustrated when her husband Tom seems to be moving out of what she clearly thinks should be his perpetual orbit around her, she barely mothers her daughter, and after some initial surprise, she clearly revels in being the center of Gatsby's renewed attention. Her response to the one party of his that he attends is very telling - she is not the center of attention and therefore does not have a good time. She, like Gatsby, is selfish in her love of others and in her self-love. Therefore, and also like Gatsby, she and her attitudes are important triggers for Nick's transformation, vivid jolts of the self-indulgent truths at work in the society to which he wants to belong and which, as the result of experiencing those truths, he eventually turns from.

Henry Gatz

Gatz is Gatsby's well-meaning father, who arrives at Gatsby's home just in time for his son's funeral. Bewildered of his son's life but loving, supportive, and proud, he seems more emotional about Gatsby's success than he does about his son's death. Again in this character, the author seems to be commenting on how the perversion of the American Dream into worship of evident material success overwhelms other, arguably less superficial and more meaningful, aspects of existence.

Myrtle and George Wilson

George is a used car dealer, lacking in drive, personality and charisma. Myrtle is his wife, sensual and ambitious. Myrtle is the mistress of Tom Buchanan, indulged by him and allowed to live the life she believes she deserves. She is still, however, loved by her husband - or, at least, viewed as his wife. His efforts to resume control over her result in her death which, in turn, triggers in him an obsession with her killer that leads to Gatsby's death. In the portrayals of the Wilsons, as in the portrayals of so many of the other secondary characters, self-indulgence in feeling and desire is the dominant, and ultimately destructive, trait.

Michaelis

Greek immigrant Michaelis operates a coffee shop near the garage/car dealership run by the Wilsons. He provides most of the details of what happened the night Myrtle Wilson was run over and killed, most importantly information about the car involved. His information leads George Wilson eventually to Gatsby, and both men end up dead.

*Portentous -

done in a pompous or overly solemn manner so as to impress.

*Truculent -

eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.

Jay Gatsby

It could be easily and fairly argued that Gatsby is the novel's protagonist - he is, after all, the character driving the action and defining the narrative. Everyone talks about him, everyone reacts to him, everyone places him in the forefront of their consciousness and activities. For himself, he is driven and defined by a single objective (i.e., to claim Daisy Buchanan for himself), again as many traditionally viewed protagonists would be. It could also be argued, however, that he is more of a powerfully effective antagonist than a protagonist, if the term "antagonist" is taken as referring to a character who, by action and/or by attitude, triggers transformation in a protagonist. In Gatsby's case, both his actions and his attitude cause clear, and profound, transformation in the life and perspectives of Nick Carraway. In other words, although he is simultaneously, and perhaps paradoxically, both a vividly portrayed character and an enigma (truths about how he made his money, for example, are never fully revealed), and although his is undeniably the dominant presence in the narrative, he is still the measuring stick by which the transformation in the central character is measured. He is, in short, a catalytic antagonist

Jordan Baker

Jordan, a renowned athlete and childhood friend of Daisy's, is another of the work's four principal antagonists, triggering transformation in protagonist Nick. Where Daisy's self-indulgence is emotionally volatile, where Gatsby's is obsessive and where Tom's is violent, Jordan's is judgmental and cutting. She views and measures everyone around her according to standards of "honest" behavior that have very little to do with objective honesty and more to do with how people react to her views of honesty. In other words, if people believe and act the way she believes and acts, she holds them to be honest. If they believe and act differently from how Jordan acts, or would act, but from a place of their interpretation of honesty, to Jordan they are liars, careless and not worth her time. She can be charming and charismatic, and exercises a sensual charm over the eager-to-be-accepted Nick. But once he becomes aware of her self-absorption, he begins to distance himself from her, thereby triggering both her resentment and her anger.

Mr. Klipspringer, the Man in the Library

Klipspringer and the Man in the Library are two of the hundreds of guests at Gatsby's many parties. Klipspringer becomes known as "the boarder" as the result of his habit of simply staying with Gatsby during the week between parties. The Man in the Library, who comments on his amazement that all Gatsby's books are real, is initially encountered by Nick and Jordan as they search, during one of the parties, for their host (see Chapter 2). The relative importance of these two characters becomes apparent in the final chapter, as Nick plans Gatsby's funeral. Klipspringer reveals himself to be as superficial in his friendship as so many of Gatsby's other party guests - in spite of everything Gatsby did for him, he is not interested in his death, only in a missing pair of shoes. In terms of the Man in the Library, however, it's interesting to note that of all those party guests, he is the only one to show up at Gatsby's funeral. There is a suggestion here of a link between his perception of and his comment on at least an element of "reality" in Gatsby's life and his acknowledgement of the "reality" associated with his death - that his life was, in fact, less real than his books.

Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway is the novel's central character and narrator, an observer of and commentator on events rather than an active participant. It could be argued that his essentially reactive nature makes him something other than a protagonist, a valid point if the term "protagonist" is taken to suggest a character who drives the action, who makes things happen, who defines the story and themes through choices and intention. If, on the other hand, the term "protagonist" is taken to mean a character who undergoes the most significant journey of transformation over the course of a narrative, Nick definitely qualifies.

Ch Summary 7

Nick describes how, shortly after the party attended by Daisy and Tom, all Gatsby's servants were dismissed and the parties stopped. A week or so later, Gatsby telephones and explains that he needs servants who could be counted on to be discreet - Daisy, he says, often comes by to visit, and the servants (who he says once worked for Wolfsheim) would be exactly that. He also says that Daisy plans to invite Nick for lunch, and shortly afterwards Daisy does just that. The next day, exceedingly hot, Nick goes to Tom and Daisy's, where he finds that Jordan and Gatsby have already arrived. Narration describes a similar set of circumstances to those of Nick's first visit (Chapter 1), including a shouted conversation between Tom and someone on the other end of the phone. Jordan whispers to Nick that he's talking with his girlfriend, but when Tom argues about the sale price of the car, it becomes clear that the conversation is, in fact, with his girlfriend's husband (i.e., George Wilson). The gathering is briefly interrupted by a visit from Tom and Daisy's daughter (in the company of her nurse), but after effusively expressing her love, Daisy sends the girl and the nurse back out, and the party sits down to lunch. As they eat, and in spite of Jordan's efforts to calm her down, Daisy's conversation makes it clear to the hitherto unsuspecting Tom that she and Gatsby are in love. The astonished Tom agrees to go into town, and he, Daisy, and Jordan go out to make preparations. Alone with Nick, Gatsby reveals his surprise at how much Tom has come to understand. Nick says it's because of Daisy's expressive voice, and Gatsby interrupts, saying it's full of money. When the others return, Daisy decides that she and Gatsby are going to drive in Tom's car, while the others will drive in Gatsby's. As they drive in, Tom comments that he's done some digging into Gatsby's past, and has discovered he's not what he says he is. Before the conversation can go any further, and as they pass the billboard with the eyes (see Chapter 1), they realize they need gas, and stop at the Wilson's station. There, Tom and Wilson discuss the sale of Tom's car, with Wilson revealing that he is planning to take his wife out west. Meanwhile, Nick becomes aware that Myrtle is watching them from an upstairs window and seems to be paying particular attention to Jordan. Nick realizes that she thinks Jordan is Tom's wife. As they leave, Nick also realizes that Tom has become even more upset after hearing Wilson's news, and the rest of the drive is tense. When the group arrives in New York, an argument about what to do next results in the rental of a hotel room, a place where they can drink in the cool. As the sounds of a wedding filter up from a room below and as the heat becomes more oppressive, Tom confronts Gatsby about his feelings for Daisy, and the two men quickly get into an argument. Daisy tries to mediate, eventually confessing that while Gatsby insists she never loved Tom, she actually did. Meanwhile, Tom accuses Gatsby of involvement in Wolfsheim's bootlegging business and hints that he is also involved in even shadier activities. Gatsby attempts to defend himself to Daisy, but Nick comments that Daisy pleaded with both Gatsby and Tom to stop. Tom sends her home with Gatsby in Gatsby's car. Nick writes that after they left, he suddenly remembered he was thirty, and felt a wave of despair. Narration shifts focus at this point, interjecting commentary on the point of view of Michaelis, "the principal witness at the inquest". Nick's narration comments that Michaelis became perturbed when he went to the Wilson's garage and learned, from Mr. Wilson, that he had locked his wife in her room and was planning to leave with her in a couple of days. He later, according to narration, heard an argument between the two, after which Mrs. Wilson rushed out into the night, was hit and killed by a speeding car that fled the scene. A few moments later, the car driven by Tom and carrying Nick and Jordan arrives at the scene. After they glimpse Mrs. Wilson's body and learn what happened, Tom confronts Wilson, insisting that although the car that hit Mrs. Wilson was the same car he had been driving that afternoon (i.e., Gatsby's car), it was not his car and that Tom was now driving his own car. As the police continue the investigation, Tom, Nick and Jordan slip away to continue the journey home, the weeping Tom muttering to himself angrily about how Gatsby "didn't even stop his car". When Tom, Nick and Jordan arrive at the Buchanans, Jordan goes immediately to bed and Tom goes in to Daisy. As Nick waits outside for a taxi, he is visited by Gatsby, who asks about Mrs. Wilson and, when he hears that she's dead, confesses that it was Daisy driving (she thought, Gatsby says, that driving would help her calm down) and that he Gatsby has every intention of saying it was him. He says he's waiting to make sure Tom doesn't harm her, leading Nick to go inside and find out what's happening. He discovers Tom and Daisy talking together calmly in the kitchen, and reports back to Gatsby, who repeats his intention to stay. Nick's taxi arrives and he goes, leaving Gatsby still staring at the house, "watching over nothing".

Mr. Wolfsheim

This enigmatic Jewish businessman is a colleague of Gatsby's in New York. While the narrative never makes it explicitly what enterprises Wolfsheim, and through him Gatsby, are involved in, there are strong hints that they are illegal - the illicit trade in alcohol, shady stock dealings, etc. Wolfsheim's reluctance to attend Gatsby's funeral in the book's final chapter, and even his reluctance to meet with Nick, suggest a strong instinct for self-preservation combined with an edgy pragmatism. His comment that, after death, friendship with a man should essentially be abandoned, suggests that for him, loyalty is a fleeting concept, as transitory and as temporary and as exploitative as the friendships of the hundreds of partiers at Gatsby's house.

Tom Buchanan

Tom is Daisy's husband, in his own way as self-indulgent and self-righteous as Daisy. He is physically and emotionally violent, unable and/or unwilling to see how his actions and attitudes are harmful to himself and to those around him. Several times, particularly at the novel's conclusion, Nick refers to Tom's attitude of both entitlement and almost delusional self-justification. He is controlling and destructive and as such, he is, like the other main antagonists (Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan) embodiments of a dominant societal attitude in the upper classes of the time in which the novel is set, attitudes which the author seems thematically intent upon condemning. Indeed, the self-serving attitudes of all these characters can ultimately be seen as the core of his (the author's) contemplation on the perversion of the so-called American Dream.

Ch Summary 8

When he gets home and is unable to sleep, Nick goes to Gatsby's, where he finds the latter also still awake. They settle down and talk, "because 'Jay Gatsby' had broken up like glass against Tom's hard malice". It's at this point, Nick comments, that Gatsby told the story of his involvement with Dan Cody (see Chapter 6), and then went on to talk about how Gatsby had been drawn to first Daisy's beauty (just like so many other soldiers of the time) and then to her way of living. Gatsby also describes how he "took her", how afterwards they became even closer and more intimate, how they continued their relationship while Gatsby was at war, how Daisy became increasingly desperate to make a decision about her life, and how the appearance of Tom Buchanan eased that decision. Gatsby concludes his story by saying that as far as he was concerned, "it was just personal". At this point, day is breaking. After having breakfast, the poolman appears and suggests that because fall is coming, it's time to drain the pool, Gatsby says he wants it left, that he'll take one more swim. Meanwhile, Nick prepares to go to the city for work, but lingers for a couple of hours out of concern for Gatsby. Eventually he does leave, crying out as he goes that Gatsby is worth more than anyone who ever attended his parties put together. "It was the only compliment I ever gave him," he comments in narration, "because I disapproved of him from beginning to end." As he drives off, he remembers seeing Gatsby at his parties, and thanks him for his hospitality, as he and the others had always done. An unproductive day at work is interrupted by Jordan, whose self-centered conversation results in an argument, and in Nick realizing he no longer cares for her. He then shifts the narration to events at Wilson's garage following the accident. While spending the night being comforted by Michaelis, Wilson reveals that a while ago his wife came back from the city with her face battered, that he found a dog's leash in her drawer, that he realized she was having an affair, and that he told her God would punish her. As he's telling the story, he comes to the conclusion that the affair was with the driver of the car that hit her and deliberately killed her. The whole while, Nick comments, Wilson was looking out at the oculist's billboard. Narration them sums up Wilson's search, through the night, for the owner of the yellow car and how the search led him to Gatsby who, after ordering that his car not be disturbed and asking that he be called if a particular phone call came, went to the pool. Nick wonders in narration whether he actually believed the phone call would come and then describes how, just as he was arriving, he and the servants heard shots coming from the pool. The chapter concludes with Nick's description of carrying Gatsby's body to the house, and of, while doing so, spotting Wilson's body nearby.

*Prig -

a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others.

*Meretricious -

apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity