The Great Gatsby: Chapter 7
There was no need to listen to Myrtle's heart because her mouth was "ripped at the corners" - she was literally run over by a car.
"...there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners, as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long." Why was there "no need to listen for [Myrtle's] heart"?
He is angry that there is something going on between Daisy and Gatsby. We know he is angry because his eyes are "flashing" and his temper "cracked." He suggests they go into "town" (aka NYC) because he feels out of control and wants to regain it.
"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 one moved. "Come on!" His temper cracked a little. "What's the matter, anyhow? If we're going to town, let's start." What does this quote tell us about Tom?
Although Gatsby and Daisy had an affair, now that Tom exposed the truth about Gatsby and Daisy killed Myrtle, Tom and Daisy have returned back to one another. Gatsby is left out in the dark, waiting for Daisy. Nick realizes that Gatsby is "watching over nothing" because Daisy is now done with the affair. Her actions today speak louder than her words earlier in the chapter.
"As I tiptoed from the porch I heard my taxi feeling its way along the dark road toward the house. Gatsby was waiting where I had left him in the drive. "Is it all quiet up there?" he asked anxiously. "Yes, it's all quiet." I hesitated. "You'd better come home and get some sleep." He shook his head. "I want to wait here till Daisy goes to bed. Good night, old sport." He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight — watching over nothing." What does this quote tell us about Gatsby's place in Daisy's life?
She is a fairly hands-off mother. We see her interacting with her daughter briefly, but it seems that the child spends most of her time with the nurse (another word for a nanny).
"Bles-sed pre-cious," she crooned, holding out her arms. "Come to your own mother that loves you." The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress. "The bles-sed pre-cious! Did mother get powder on your old yellowy hair? Stand up now, and say — How-de-do." What does this quote tell us about Daisy's role as a mother?
Daisy is flustered, upset, and confused because Gatsby and Tom are in the same room with her. She is not quite sure how to act.
"But it's so hot," insisted Daisy, on the verge of tears, "and everything's so confused. Let's all go to town!" Her voice struggled on through the heat, beating against it, molding its senselessness into forms. What does this quote tell us about Daisy's state of mind?
They got a fancy room (a suite, which means a room that has a sitting/lounging area in addition to a bedroom and bathroom) at the Plaza Hotel.
"But they didn't. And we all took the less explicable step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the Plaza Hotel." What does this quote tell us about how the group (Tom, Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Gatsby) choose to spend their afternoon?
Daisy purposely tries to embarrass Tom by "mov[ing] out from the circle of his arm" and saying that she will ride with Gatsby in Tom's coupe (a type of car). It shows us that she is "testing" Tom by flaunting her relationship with Gatsby in front of him.
"Come on, Daisy," said Tom, pressing her with his hand toward Gatsby's car. "I'll take you in this circus wagon." He opened the door, but she moved out from the circle of his arm. "You take Nick and Jordan. We'll follow you in the coupe." What does this quote tell us about Daisy's feelings towards Tom?
Although they are not happy together, they are not unhappy together. They are both sitting together at a table while Gatsby is on the outside (literally and figuratively). When things get tough, they confide in one another. Although they have their differences, they share wealth and privilege. Both these things are very powerful, especially in times of trouble.
"Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table, with a plate of cold fried chicken between them, and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her, and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement. They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale — and yet they weren't unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together." What does this quote tell us about Daisy and Tom?
Daisy and Gatsby have been seeing one another quite frequently in the afternoons.
"Daisy comes over quite often — in the afternoons." What does this tell us?
Gatsby says "nothing" to Tom and then has an "unfamiliar yet recognizable look" on his face. This suggests that Gatsby feels defeated. Tom has exposed him as a bootlegger and suddenly he probably feels like James Gatz from a poor family instead of Jay Gatsby, the wealthy man who won back Daisy's heart. =(
"Don't you call me 'old sport'!" cried Tom. Gatsby said nothing. "Walter could have you up on the betting laws too, but Wolfsheim scared him into shutting his mouth." That unfamiliar yet recognizable look was back again in Gatsby's face. What does this quote suggest about what Gatsby is feeling?
Daisy and Tom's daughter is a living, breathing reminder of Daisy and Tom's marriage. Gatsby wants to relive his past with Daisy and forget that Tom ever existed, but the child reminds him that Daisy shares something with Tom.
"Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small, reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before." Why does Gatsby keep "looking at the child [Daisy and Tom's daughter] with surprise"?
This quote tells us that Daisy and Tom have shared memories together over the past five years that cannot be forgotten or ignored.
"I never loved him," she said, with perceptible reluctance. "Not at Kapiolani?" demanded Tom suddenly. "No." From the ballroom beneath, muffled and suffocating chords were drifting up on hot waves of air. "Not that day I carried you down from the Punch Bowl to keep your shoes dry?" There was a husky tenderness in his tone.. .. "Daisy?" "Please don't." What does the quote above tell us about the relationship between Daisy and Tom?
The parallel discovery is that Tom realized that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby, just like George realized that Myrtle is having an affair. The only difference is that Tom knows Daisy is having the affair with Gatsby, but Tom does not know with whom Myrtle is having an affair.
"I stared at him [George Wilson] and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before..." What is the "parallel discovery" that Tom had made "less than an hour before"?
Nick sees how Tom is challenging Gatsby and he has been secretly rooting for Gatsby to prove that he was not lying about Oxford. When Gatsby explains that he DID attend Oxford (because it was an opportunity offered to some of the officers who fought in the war) for five months after the war ended, Nick feels happy and proud that Gatsby has proved Tom wrong.
"I told you I went there," said Gatsby. "I heard you, but I'd like to know when." "It was in nineteen-nineteen, I only stayed five months. That's why I can't really call myself an Oxford man." Tom glanced around to see if we mirrored his unbelief. But we were all looking at Gatsby. "It was an opportunity they gave to some of the officers after the Armistice," he continued. "We could go to any of the universities in England or France." I wanted to get up and slap him on the back. I had one of those renewals of complete faith in him that I'd experienced before. What does this quote tell us about Nick's feelings towards Gatsby?
Gatsby tells Tom that something has been "going on" between he and Daisy for five years, when they only just recently reconnected.
"I told you what's been going on," said Gatsby. "Going on for five years — and you didn't know." Tom turned to Daisy sharply. "You've been seeing this fellow for five years?" "Not seeing," said Gatsby. "No, we couldn't meet. But both of us loved each other all that time, old sport, and you didn't know. I used to laugh sometimes."— but there was no laughter in his eyes ——" to think that you didn't know." What part of this quote helps us to see that Gatsby's perception of his relationship with Daisy might not be completely realistic?
Michaelis is "astonished" because George Wilson has always been a "worn-out" man who let his wife boss him around. When Wilson says that he's got Myrtle locked up in the apartment, it is the most assertive he's ever been before.
"I've got my wife locked in up there," explained Wilson calmly. "She's going to stay there till the day after to-morrow, and then we're going to move away." Michaelis was astonished; they had been neighbors for four years, and Wilson had never seemed faintly capable of such a statement. Generally he was one of these worn-out men: when he wasn't working, he sat on a chair in the doorway and stared at the people and the cars that passed along the road. When any one spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colorless way. He was his wife's man and not his own. Why is George Wilson's neighbor, Michaelis, "astonished" at Wilson's statement that he has Myrtle locked up in the apartment?
She is looking out of the window and sees Tom in Gatsby's yellow car with Nick and with a woman she has never seen before (Jordan Baker). Nick can tell from the jealous look in Myrtle's eye that she thinks Jordan Baker is Daisy (Tom's wife).
"In one of the windows over the garage the curtains had been moved aside a little, and Myrtle Wilson was peering down at the car. So engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being observed, and one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture. Her expression was curiously familiar — it was an expression I had often seen on women's faces, but on Myrtle Wilson's face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife." What does this quote tell us about Myrtle Wilson?
The car that hit and killed Myrtle was Gatsby's car. He and Daisy were driving back from New York together.
"It was a yellow car," he said, "big yellow car. New." What does this quote tell us about the car that hit and killed Myrtle Wilson?
Tom remembers that he told Wilson earlier that the yellow car was his. Now he wants to make sure that Wilson knows he was not the person who was driving the car that killed Myrtle. He wants to protect himself.
"Listen," said Tom, shaking him a little. "I just got here a minute ago, from New York. I was bringing you that coupe we've been talking about. That yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn't mine — do you hear? I haven't seen it all afternoon." What does this quote tell us about Tom?
Gatsby not only loves Daisy, but he wants to erase the past five years so that he is the only man she loves - and the only man she has ever loved. This also tells us that Gatsby's feelings are somewhat unrealistic because the past can not be erased.
"Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now — isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once — but I loved you too." Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. "You loved me too?" he repeated. What does this quote tell us about Gatsby's feelings towards Daisy?
Tom insults Gatsby by calling him "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere." This is insulting because people who are from old money are always known by their last name and by where they are from. People who are new money basically come from nowhere, and they have names that are not recognizable.
"Self-control!" Repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out..." How does Tom insult Gatsby in the above quote?
Gatsby wants to be "in the driver's seat" - he wants to be in control. He and Tom are both trying to take control of the situation.
"Shall we all go in my car?" suggested Gatsby. He felt the hot, green leather of the seat. "I ought to have left it in the shade." "Is it standard shift?" demanded Tom. "Yes." Why does Gatsby suggest that everyone ride in his car to go to NYC?
It seems like Tom knows how to manipulate Daisy into forgiving him every time he cheats on her with a new person. He says that he makes a "fool" of himself but he tells her that in his heart he loves her "all the time."
"She [Daisy] does [love Tom], though. The trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know what she's doing." He nodded sagely. "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." What does this quote tell us about Tom and his relationship with Daisy?
Tom has not realized that Daisy is in love with Gatsby until now. He knows that she loves Gatsby because of the way she speaks to him and because of how she looks at him.
"She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago." What does this quote tell us about Tom?
Daisy has locked herself into her room. Gatsby is concerned that Tom might try to hurt her. He tells Nick that Daisy will turn the light on and off to signal him if Tom tries anything. This tells us that Daisy has isolated herself from Gatsby.
"She'll be all right to-morrow," he said presently. "I'm just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. She's locked herself into her room, and if he tries any brutality she's going to turn the light out and on again." What does this quote tell us about Daisy's reaction to the events of the day?
The fact that he says he "just got wised up to something funny" suggests that he has just realized something that is making him want to "get away" with Myrtle.
"She's been talking about it for ten years." He rested for a moment against the pump, shading his eyes. "And now she's going whether she wants to or not. I'm going to get her away...I just got wised up to something funny the last two days," remarked Wilson. "That's why I want to get away. That's why I been bothering you about the car." What does this quote tell us about George Wilson?
When Gatsby says that Daisy's voice is "full of money" it tells the reader that Daisy represents wealth and privilege to Gatsby. He loves her, but he also loves what she represents to him - old money. She is "the golden girl."
"She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. "It's full of ——" I hesitated. "Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money — that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . high in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . What does this quote tell us about Gatsby's feelings about Daisy?
The weather in this chapter is described as being especially hot, which may symbolize how things are "heating up" between the characters, especially Gatsby and Daisy.
"The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer...The straw seats of the car hovered on the edge of combustion; the woman next to me perspired delicately for a while into her white shirtwaist, and then, as her newspaper dampened under her fingers, lapsed despairingly into deep heat with a desolate cry. " What does this tell us / what does this symbolize?
In this quote, Nick tells us that George Wilson has suspicions that Myrtle is having an affair, but he doesn't know that Myrtle is having the affair with Tom. When George realized that Myrtle may be having an affair, it made him physically sick, so this tells us that he is a pretty sensitive man.
"The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me [Nick] and I had a bad moment there before I realized that so far his suspicions hadn't alighted on Tom. He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick." What does this quote tell us about George Wilson?
Nick says that Gatsby looked like he had "killed a man." This may mean that the idea of Jay Gatsby is now "dead" since Tom exposed the truth to everyone.
"Then I turned back to Gatsby — and was startled at his expression. He looked — and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden — as if he had "killed a man." For a moment the set of his face could be described in just that fantastic way." What does this quote tell us about Gatsby?
Tom is panicking because for once in his life he feels like he is no longer in control of the women in his life. His wife is having an affair with another man, and his mistress's husband is going to move away with her to prevent her from continuing her affair with him.
"There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control." Why does Tom feel "the hot whips of panic" according to this quote?
Tom is not afraid to confront Gatsby about his affair with Daisy. He asks Gatsby directly about what kind of trouble he is trying to stir up with Tom and Daisy's marriage. This is interesting, because Daisy has never directly questioned Tom about his affair with Myrtle even though she calls the house to talk to him quite frequently.
"Wait a minute," snapped Tom, "I want to ask Mr. Gatsby one more question." "Go on," Gatsby said politely. "What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow?" They were out in the open at last and Gatsby was content. "He isn't causing a row." Daisy looked desperately from one to the other. "You're causing a row. Please have a little self-control." What does this quote tell us about Tom?
Daisy was driving the car that killed Myrtle, but Gatsby is willing to lie and tell everyone that he was driving to protect Daisy.
"Was she killed?" "Yes." "I thought so; I told Daisy I thought so. It's better that the shock should all come at once. She stood it pretty well." He spoke as if Daisy's reaction was the only thing that mattered. "I got to West Egg by a side road," he went on, "and left the car in my garage. I don't think anybody saw us, but of course I can't be sure." I disliked him so much by this time that I didn't find it necessary to tell him he was wrong. "Who was the woman?" he inquired. "Her name was Wilson. Her husband owns the garage. How the devil did it happen?" "Well, I tried to swing the wheel ——" He broke off, and suddenly I guessed at the truth. "Was Daisy driving?" "Yes," he said after a moment, "but of course I'll say I was." What does this quote tell us about WHO was driving the car that killed Myrtle?
Tom takes control of the situation by basically TELLING Gatsby to take his car and by saying that he will drive Gatsby's car to NYC.
"Well, you take my coupe and let me drive your car to town." The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby. "I don't think there's much gas," he objected. "Plenty of gas," said Tom boisterously. He looked at the gauge. "And if it runs out I can stop at a drug-store. You can buy anything at a drug-store nowadays." What does this quote tell us about Tom and Gatsby's battle for control?
Gatsby mentions to Tom that one of his old money friends, Walter Chase, was also in on Gatsby's bootlegging scheme. This tells us that Gatsby's business was something that involved old money people as well as people like Gatsby and Wolfsheim.
"What about it?" said Gatsby politely. "I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn't too proud to come in on it." "And you left him in the lurch, didn't you? You let him go to jail for a month over in New Jersey. God! You ought to hear Walter on the subject of you." What does this quote tell us about Gatsby's "business" connections?
Myrtle "ran out ina road" and the car that hit her didn't stop. The car that hit Myrtle was coming from New York and was going about 30-40 MPH.
"What happened? — that's what I want to know." "Auto hit her. Ins'antly killed." "Instantly killed," repeated Tom, staring. "She ran out ina road. Son-of-a-bitch didn't even stopus car." "There was two cars," said Michaelis, "one comin', one goin', see?" "Going where?" asked the policeman keenly. "One goin' each way. Well, she."— his hand rose toward the blankets but stopped half way and fell to his side ——" she ran out there an' the one comin' from N'york knock right into her, goin' thirty or forty miles an hour." What does this quote tell us about the details of Myrtle Wilson's death?
George and Myrtle got into an argument, most likely because he had locked her up in the apartment. Somehow she managed to get out because the quote tells us that "a moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting" so it seems she was hoping her boyfriend Tom would be outside to rescue her.
"When he [Michaelis] came outside again, a little after seven, he was reminded of the conversation because he heard Mrs. Wilson's voice, loud and scolding, down-stairs in the garage. "Beat me!" he heard her cry. "Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!" A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting — before he could move from his door the business was over. What does this quote tell us about what happened between George and Myrtle Wilson?
Tom has investigated Gatsby and has learned that Gatsby owned "drug stores" so that he could sell alcohol illegally.
"Who are you, anyhow?" broke out Tom. "You're one of that bunch that hangs around with Meyer Wolfsheim — that much I happen to know. I've made a little investigation into your affairs — and I'll carry it further to-morrow." "You can suit yourself about that, old sport," said Gatsby steadily. "I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong." What does the quote above tell us about how Gatsby got all of his money?
There is something strong between them that makes them forget the rest of the world when they are together because "they stared together at each other, alone in space."
"Who wants to go to town?" demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby's eyes floated toward her. "Ah," she cried, "you look so cool." Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table. "You always look so cool," she repeated. What does this exchange between Daisy and Gatsby tell the reader about their relationship?
Tom has basically "won" the power struggle. He tells Gatsby and Daisy to drive home together (and he even tells them which car to use - Gatsby's) and he also knows that Gatsby has essentially lost his credibility since Tom has exposed the illegal ways in which Gatsby earned his money.
"You two start on home, Daisy," said Tom. "In Mr. Gatsby's car." She looked at Tom, alarmed now, but he insisted with magnanimous scorn. "Go on. He won't annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over." They were gone, without a word, snapped out, made accidental, isolated, like ghosts, even from our pity. What does this quote tell us about the power struggle between Gatsby and Tom?
Tom clearly sees Gatsby as someone who is lower than he is because he thinks that Gatsby would never have been able to get near Daisy unless he was a servant delivering groceries to the back door. This is another jab that Tom takes at Gatsby because he knows Gatsby is not from old money.
"You're crazy!" he exploded. "I can't speak about what happened five years ago, because I didn't know Daisy then — and I'll be d*mned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that's a ********ed lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now." What does this quote tell us about Tom's perception of Gatsby?
Gatsby wants to have Daisy to himself. He wants to ignore the five years that he and Daisy were apart and wants to hurt Tom by telling him that why Daisy really married him - because Gatsby was poor and because Daisy didn't wait for him to come back from the war.
"Your wife doesn't love you," said Gatsby. "She's never loved you. She loves me." "You must be crazy!" exclaimed Tom automatically. Gatsby sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement. "She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!" What does this quote tell us about Gatsby's feelings towards Daisy and towards the past?
When does Tom first realize that Daisy loves Gatsby?
By the time Tom clues in, Daisy and Gatsby are trying to hold back on the public affection. Gatsby, Jordan, Nick, Tom, and Daisy are lunching at Tom and Daisy's mansion. They discuss going into town and Tom notices the passionate gaze Gatsby gives towards his wife. Things really fall apart when Tom receives confirmation of his suspicions. Later that day in a hotel room, in front of pretty much everyone, Gatsby declares to Tom that he and Daisy are in fact in love and that Daisy never really loved him in the first place. Ouch!
Why does Gatsby lose Daisy during the confirmation at the Plaza? Could he have done anything to win her, do you think? If he could have, why doesn't he?
For all Gatsby's romantic illusions about Daisy, she is pretty superficial. Tom fills Daisy in about how Gatsby got his money through shady crime deals. Daisy seems to lose interest in Gatsby. Perhaps Gatsby might have pointed out that Tom is an abusive sod with no conscience but really Daisy isn't much different.
How does Gatsby characterize Daisy's voice? What do you think he means by this?
Gatsby says that Daisy's voice is full of money because Daisy has always lived a life of privilege, and always will. To Gatsby, Daisy represents what he has aspired for since his youth.
Because Daisy hesitates when Gatsby is prompting her to say she never loved Tom, we can see that perhaps she has (and maybe still does?) love Tom. Nick says that when Daisy looks at Jordan, she "realized at last what she was doing" which suggests that Daisy realizes that she could lose Tom (and his money, and his status) if she says that she never loved him.
Gatsby walked over and stood beside her. "Daisy, that's all over now," he said earnestly. "It doesn't matter any more. Just tell him the truth — that you never loved him — and it's all wiped out forever." She looked at him blindly. "Why — how could I love him — possibly?" "You never loved him." She hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing — and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all. But it was done now. It was too late. What does Daisy's hesitation in the above quote tell us about her feelings?
Why does Gatsby stop giving parties?
Gatsby wants to be alone with Daisy. This is what he has always wanted. The parties were only so Gatsby could get nearer to her. Gatsby even replaces his servants so they will be more discreet.
Tom said previously in the chapter that he had done some investigating about Gatsby. At this point in the chapter, Tom is trying to catch Gatsby in a lie by asking him about the fact that he went to Oxford. Tom thinks that Gatsby has made up the fact that he went to Oxford.
Gatsby's foot beat a short, restless tattoo and Tom eyed him suddenly. "By the way, Mr. Gatsby, I understand you're an Oxford man." "Not exactly." "Oh, yes, I understand you went to Oxford." "Yes — I went there." What does this quote tell us about what is happening between Tom and Gatsby?
Gatsby was standing in the bushes. We know this because Nick says that he was walking when he heard his name and "Gatsby stepped from between two bushes into the path."
I hadn't gone twenty yards when I heard my name and Gatsby stepped from between two bushes into the path. I must have felt pretty weird by that time, because I could think of nothing except the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon. "What are you doing?" I inquired. "Just standing here, old sport." What does this quote tell us about what Gatsby was doing when Nick got back to the Buchanan house?
Gatsby has fired all his servants because he doesn't want any buzz (gossip) about Daisy and him.
Nick: "I hear you fired all your servants." Gatsby: "I wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip. Daisy comes over quite often..." What does this tell us about the reason that Gatsby has fired all of his servants?
The car is referred to as a "death car" because it seems to come out of nowhere and hit and KILLED Myrtle Wilson, whose "thick dark blood" was mingled with the dust after her life was "violently extinguished."
The "death car," as the newspapers called it, didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared around the next bend. Michaelis wasn't even sure of its color — he told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust. Why did the newspapers refer to a "death car"?
What indications are there at the end of the chapter that Tom and Daisy are going to stay together despite his philandering and her love for Gatsby?
The filthy rich didn't get divorces, they just cheated a lot. Daisy is a very sad character. She is used to the bullying from Tom and expects it in her life. She doesn't know how to handle a loving relationship. Gatsby is also rather desperate for Daisy the illusion. The real Daisy is much to vapid to end up with Gatsby.
Why does Tom insist that Daisy go home with Gatsby? What do you think this tells us about Tom's character and his relationship with Daisy?
There has just been a huge argument after Gatsby attempts to get Daisy to deny her love for Tom. Daisy backs away and Gatsby is defatted. As to rub both their noses in this humiliation, Tom tells Daisy to return with Gatsby. This is Tom's style. Having humiliated both Daisy and Gatsby he "lets" them return together in their platonic relationship.
Tom does not like Gatsby, but he is able to conceal (hide) his dislike of Gatsby when he shakes his hand.
Tom flung open the door, blocked out its space for a moment with his thick body, and hurried into the room. "Mr. Gatsby!" He put out his broad, flat hand with well-concealed dislike. What does this quote tell us about Tom's feelings towards Gatsby?
They are behaving as if they are a couple. Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth and tells him she loves him as soon as Tom leaves the room to make drinks"
Tom flung open the door, blocked out its space for a moment with his thick body, and hurried into the room. "Mr. Gatsby!" He put out his broad, flat hand with well-concealed dislike. "I'm glad to see you, sir. . . . Nick . . . ." "Make us a cold drink," cried Daisy. As he left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby and pulled his face down, kissing him on the mouth. "You know I love you," she murmured. What does this quote tell us about Daisy's relationship with Gatsby?
Why is Myrtle Wilson upset when she sees Tom and Jordan?
While Jordan and Tom stop for gas at the Wilson's gas store, Myrtle mistakes Jordan for Daisy. Myrtle was notoriously jealous of Daisy.
Why does George Wilson lock Myrtle in the bedroom?
Wilson has clued into the fact that his Myrtle is having an fair. This is why he locks her in the room. George plans on letting her out in a few days and leaving with her.
This quote tells us that Tom is not honest. He tells George Wilson that he bought Gatsby's car "last week" and then asks Wilson if he wants to buy it from him. The car is Gatsby's, and it is not Tom's to sell.
With an effort Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway and, breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the tank. In the sunlight his face was green. "I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch," he said. "But I need money pretty bad, and I was wondering what you were going to do with your old car." "How do you like this one?" inquired Tom. "I bought it last week." "It's a nice yellow one," said Wilson, as he strained at the handle. "Like to buy it?" What does this quote tell us about Tom's honesty?
