Although the whole chapter was full of action and drama there was one quote on page 120 that I found that stood out from the rest of the chapter. The quote is where Nick and Gatsby are discussing Daisy’s voice Nick says, “She’s got an indiscreet voice,…it’s full of.” And then he hesitates and then Gatsby says, “Her voice is full of money.” I think this quote expresses why Gatsby is unsatisfied with Daisy. Daisy has changed to live in her life of wealth while he has continued to be the humble soldier who once loved her. And it wasn’t that she wasn’t rich before its just that now money is everything for her. And Gatsby who was once a poor soldier realizes that Daisy is no longer the same girl who he kissed a few years ago.
And this realization that Gatsby has is a thing that many people have, they realize that somebody or something has changed. Because change is a fact of life, and this change can be a good thing or a bad thing you can’t tell. For example kids grow up, they can’t stay small forever its just the way of life. And people die and though it may hurt us we have to realize that death is a part of this cruel life that we are living in. And Gatsby was expecting to find the exact girl who he left in Lousville, but he came back to find a girl obsessed with her money who he no longer knows. And all those dreams that he had about being together with Daisy are fragmented. He can be with her but it will not be the same as it was in the past and it will never return to the way it was in the past.
So finally we learn a bit about who Gatsby is or should I say Mr. Gatz. All of page 98 tells us who James Gatz was and what he did. We learn that he was poor and that his parents were, “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people.” And that he in turn was a poor young boy, and that he basically created Jay Gatsby in his imagination and then he tried to fulfill that role of Mr. Gatsby. We also learn how he got the picture of the yacht and who Dan Cody really was, and how Dan Cody was like a second father.
And reading these few chapters where we learn about Gatsby’s poor roots really makes me think about the American dream and how he achieved it and how much hard work it must have taken him. It didn’t go to college and for the little time he did he also had to be a janitor to go to college. And yet here is Gatsby one of the richest men in all of New York. Gatsby is really the epitome of a person who has achieved the American character. And what a hope he is to all the poor people who see him and think that they too can be like him. And his parents if he has any must be so proud of him. But yet Gatsby is still missing something, a final piece to the puzzle and that piece is Daisy. And in this chapter we see that they really love each other and are having their relationship behind Tom’s back. But I feel like something bad is going to happen to stop Daisy and Gatsby from being happily ever after. I have feeling that this is going to be a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet where both lovers die because they cannot be together.
On page 90 I found an interesting quote that supported my suspicion that Gatsby gained his money through a way that he is ashamed of. On page 90 Gatsby says, “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.” Nick then says, “I thought you inherited your money.” Then Gatsby says, “I did old sport, … but I lost most of it in the big panic-the panic of the war.”Nick then asks Gatsby what business is he in and Gatsby responds that’s his affair, basically he tells Nick to mind his own business. And then Gatsby tells us that he was in the drug business and the oil business. This dialogue shows us that Gatsby is really hiding something. That even though it seems like he is a very nice guy he is hiding something. And his association with Gatsby is also a bit suspicious.
From the situation that Gatsby is hiding something it brings us back to the theme that there is always more than meets the eye. And I think it not only applies to Gatsby it also applies to other characters such as Jordan Baker who seems like she is a decent person besides being reckless, but it also turns out that she is a cheater and a liar. But this can also be taken outside of the book and into the real world for example everybody has a secret. Last week in Spanish class we talked about people’s conscience and how nobody had a clean or clear conscience. We then read a story about a guy who basically blackmailed his way into living at a hotel by telling the hotel owners that he had seen everything. But at the end of the story we learn that he had seen nothing and that it was the owner’s guilty conscience that made them give the guy a room to live in. So you see nobody is exempt from secrets even the richest man has secrets sometimes he has a lot and we can see this in Gatsby.
One quote that I found interesting in chapter four was on page 78 when Nick says “The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths-so that he could “come over” some afternoon to a stranger’s house.” First of all this quote shows us what Gatsby is capable of for his love of daisy. It is his love for Daisy that made him buy that specific house and it is his love for Daisy that made him throw those extravagant parties. This quote shows what love can make a person do. And this love can be applied to anything love of a person, love of a sport, or love of a thing. But this love could also make people do some bad things in this case Gatsby might resort to desperate measures to win the heart of Daisy. Many times people who want things but can’t get it resort to violence or cheating. One example of a method of cheating to achieve a goal is the use of steroids by athletes who seek to enhance their performance in the sport that they love.
This quote also shows us that Gatsby either wants to flaunt his house compared to Nick’s or doesn’t want to show her his house. At first I was puzzled by his request to have tea at Nick’s house. And I still am, if he wanted to show off his house why wouldn’t he just show it off by having the tea at his house?
In this chapter we see what a party hosted by Gatsby is like. And it’s crazy everybody is drunk and incredibly rich and they are partying. Most of the people at the party aren’t even invited many of the people don’t even know what Gatsby looks like because they have never met him. And the party itself is a celebration of Gatsby’s wealth we see how he prepares his house for the party with a caterers who bring food and wines that are older than the people.
But among these festivities we see Gatsby is by himself. He is not part of any group and doesn’t get drunk with everybody else. A quote that shows the solitude that Gatsby is experiencing is on page 50 when Nick says, “But no one swooned backward on Gatsby, and no French bob touched Gatsby’s shoulder, and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby’s head for one link.”From this quote we learn that Gatsby is all by himself despite this being his party, and I find that a bit curious. There also seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding Gatsby the yellow twins say that he killed a man and Gatsby says that he went to Oxford but Jordan Baker doesn’t believe it. And speaking of Jordan Baker we learn that she is a liar who moved the ball during her golf tournament. And that her bad lying habit makes her the way she is. And in that aspect everybody is the same everybody has a bad habit and that bad habit makes us do certain things to try and cover that bad habit. And that Bad habit eventually takes over our lives shaping who we are.
In this chapter we met Tom’s other girl and her name is Myrtle. But I don’t understand why Tom showed Nick his other girl. Its not even as if their best friends, they barely know each other. And if I was Tom I would be afraid that Nick would tell Daisy all about Myrtle. But Tom still has to tell someone, and he chooses Nick. And doesn’t everybody have a secret just like Tom has Myrtle, but mostly everybody shares that secret just like Tom. It is in the nature of human beings to share secrets, we just can’t keep everything bottled up inside of us; its unhealthy.
And I feel that even though Tom may seem strong and powerful he is really weak and needs the approval of others to feel good about himself. That is the reason he was showing off his house to Nick and that is also one of the reasons that Tom introduced Nick to Myrtle. It also seems that Tom is a bit unstable this includes emotionally and physically. He is unstable emotionally because when Myrtle starts saying Daisy’s name he gets frustrated and this frustration eventually leads him to break Myrtle’s nose. From this incident we learn that he is quite violent when he gets in a temper, but we also learn that he still feels something for Daisy. I’m not sure if its love but there is a certain feeling, and he probably doesn’t even know the feeling; he’s just confused and frustrated.
I find Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby a bit awkward. Not the way that it is written but the whole idea of Nick visiting a cousin that he really doesn’t know and a Jock who he also doesn’t know; it just seems unreal. But in Chapter 1 we also get a glimpse of the immense wealth that these people have. For example Nick gets his father to pay for a year of his life. While Tom brought horses to his house from some far off place. This people have money.
And we can also see that because of their immense amount of money that they thought themselves superior than other people. Tom expresses this sentiment when he says, “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” This quote basically tells us that Tom is a racist and maybe it isn’t because of his money, but it definitely plays a role in his racist attitude. And a lot of people at the time that this book was taking place felt like that. They felt superior to all races due to their wealth and the poverty that all other races lived in.
There is also a pretty serious conflict in the relationship between Daisy and Tom. Tom has another woman, but if Daisy knows this then why doesn’t she confront him. I feel that the whole reason that Nick is there is part of a bigger plan, because him being there is just weird. Daisy herself says that Nick doesn’t know her.
As soon as I read this chapter, and about the way the Pequod was going to use Queequeg coffin as a life-buoy I knew this something bad was going to happen. And it somehow struck me as funny, because coffins are usually where dead people are put but here they are going to use it as a life preserver.
I wouldn’t call the use of the coffin as a life-buoy a foreshadow but it is a sort of foreshadow to a lesser degree. Because all though you know is something is going to happen you just don’t know what. And this question is something that actually made me keep on reading. I wanted to find out would it be an actual coffin and sink with the dead of the Pequod or would it save some lives. So this coffin had a double meaning just as things as guns have a double purpose. Guns can save you but they could also kill you. And it these things in life that you have to look out for, because you have the decision and the opportunity to make a change. Just like Captain Ahab can turn the ship around and forget about Moby Dick so can a murderer put down his weapon and forget about his victim.
In this chapter we meet a new character and he is the ships carpenter and we learn that his name is Perth. And then we learn about the reason that he came on this whaling voyage. What I don’t understnad is what happened to his family did they die or did they leave him. Because Melville writes that he had a beautiful young wife that was happy with him, and then all of a sudden she dives into the long church-yard grass. I am assuming that this means that she died, but I am still sort of unclear on that part.
What a found interesting about chapter 112 is how Ishmael writes that thousands of mermaids were calling to Perth to come the ocean so he could forget about death. And as soon as I read about these mermaids I thought about the sirens in The odyssey and how odysseus has to plug his crews ears with bees wax, and how he commands his crew to tie him to the mast of the ship in order to prevent him from going to the island where the sirens live. Because if odysseus was to get on that island he would surely die, and I think this is what’s going to happen to Perth; he fell for the sirens beautiful song and now he is going to surely die.
I feel that the most important and revealing part of these few chapters was the end of chapter 96, where Melville quotes Solomon about the man who wanders from understanding. And then he goes into how we should not give ourselves to fire. And then he writes a beautiful metaphor using the eagle. And I think that the whole chapter is a sort of fore shadow using the fire as a sign of death.
And I agree with the quote that Melville used because those people that do wander from understanding often find themselves lost. And when they are lost they begin to doubt themselves and the world. They feel that they have no purpose in life that they are insignificant, a tiny dot in the world. And it is this realization of their non importance that drives people mad and eventually to death. Granted some people do find their way back like Ishmael, but many people lose themselves in the vast ocean of unknowningness. And they find no escape, and they perish.
