(1) "James Gatz- that was really, or at least legally his name. He changed it at the age of seventeen..." (Pg.104).
Since the beginning Gatsby has been some what of a mysterious character. Not many people know much about his background. Nick is really hung-up on the mystery of the Great Gatsby, but now it seems as though Fitzgerald has pulled back on Nick's obsession, though not entirely. Nick is still hooked enough to wonder about Gatsby's name. He knows now that it is not Gatsby's real name and that Gatsby changed it when he was seventeen, which is quite peculiar and definitely helps keep up with the mysterious look of Mr. Gatsby.
(Words:92)
(2) "[Gatsby] knew when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited... Then he kissed her" (Pg.117).
Fitzgerald is showing how vulnerable Gatsby is letting himself be for Daisy. Here Gatsby is running the idea of kissing Daisy through his head, telling himself pretty much everything that would go wrong if he kissed her. He almost talks himself out of doing it by saying that if he kisses her he wont be able to be as free as being a bachelor allows him to be. So he has to debate whether or not he is going to follow his heart, or if he is going to not risk the chance of being vulnerable. But he did it which shows that he loves her enough to kiss her and not care how it effects his godhood.
(Words:118)
(3) "[Daisy] had told [Gatsby] 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 someone he knew a long time ago" (Pg.125).
Fitzgerald is arguing what a hypocrite Tom is being. He is getting jealous of the love between Daisy and Gatsby, when he has been cheating on Daisy with a mistress for years. Tom is more freaked out at this point because he is just now witnessing this, and the way she tells Gatsby she loves him reminds him of something. That something was the way that she used to tell Tom that she loved him. This is a pretty big loss that Tom is seeing, and it all just hits him in a really bad spot, which makes him act bitter for the rest of the evening and effects the way he views Gatsby and Daisy, but mostly just Gatsby.
(Words:120)
(4) "'Your wife doesn't love you' said Gatsby quietly. 'She's never loved you. She loves me... She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me'" (Pg.137).
Fitzgerald is showing that Gatsby can really stand up for what he believes and that Daisy was using Tom just as he was using her. Tom cares for his mistress, but she is in the lower class, and he needs to be with with someone from his social class. On the other hand Daisy has always loved Gatsby, but he was poor and she didn't want to wait, so she settled with someone in her own class. Tom is the only one that comes out as the only hypocrite since he is the only one who gets jealous of the others' lover. Gatsby stands up to Tom and explains this whole "I love you" thing, and explains why Daisy married him in the first place,. All the while Gatsby isn't being very considerate to Tom's feelings because he thought that Tom would understand since he is doing the same thing.
(Words:150)
(5) "[Nick]'d be damned if [he]'d go in; [he]'d had enough of all of them for one day..." (Pg.150).
Fitzgerald is showing a side of Nick that we have never really witnessed before. We usually see Nick as being a very judgmental person, but we don't really see him get upset/annoyed, at least until now. After a long day of a love triangle gone wrong, and the horrible accident he just witnessed. Nick is feeling on edge because he realizes at the end of the day that it was his birthday. After that he doesn't even want to go into Buchanan's house because he expects it all to get worse and doesn't think that he can handle any more of the crazy that they are spewing out. We have finally seen Nick hit his limit.
(Words:117)
No comments:
Post a Comment