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The characters in the Great Gatsby are fueled by the American dream but it’s unreachable. Tom, who inherited the dream (wealth, status and looks) and never had to work for it, is discontent and angry anyway. He’s still dissatisfied and trying to find something as we can see by his affairs.
Daisy sacrifices love for the dream of the life of a wealthy wife  of a Tom, who’s at the top of the social status.
But Gatsby is the character who has really put in the effort going for it. His family didn’t have a lot to offer him so he set off to make a success of himself. He reinvented himself, including a bolder personality. When he met Daisy, the first good girl he knew, his whole life became about going after the dream to win her over. He attained a lot. But he couldn’t quite get into the top social set that Tomand Daisy were in. No matter what he wasn’t able to attain it. At the end of the book, after his death, Nick describes his how Gatsby’s couldn’t attain his dream because, “he did not know that it was already behind him” (Fitzgerald 138). Nick is referring to Gatsby hoping to hold onto something from the past that was gone: his relationship with Daisy.

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For pretty much the whole book I thought Gatsby was a shallow, lying, criminal waiting his money trying to impress people with his parties. Sure, he was dealing in shady business— bootlegging. But he wasn’t lying about his past but trying to reinvent himself. No one had the whole picture.  He wanted a better life for himself than the life his parents had. He had to take it upon himself to have a bigger life, so the first rich person he met, Dan Cody, he presented himself as someone else.Which is different than having a false self to trick people.  He was hoping for more than what his parents could give.

By the end of the book, he’s really only guilty of a unrealistic love for Daisy. But he gets the blame for killing Myrtle (and killed for it).

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Well I wasn’t expecting that. Mr. Wilson shoots Gatsby and kills himself out of his grief over his wife who he thought was having an affair with him. Mr. Wilson was portrayed as a weak man who was pushed around by Tom so I didn’t think he would be the type to seek revenge. Of course he got the wrong man.
Gatsby was set up by Tom to be blamed. And Tom gets off free and clear to continue his filthy rich life. I wonder how Daisy will live with herself because she knows the truth (that she killed Myrtle). She’ll probably just brush it off and continue her miserable marriage as a very rich woman.
In any case, the party’s over.

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The first thing you notice about the cover of The Great Gatsby are the large eyes. The eyes are sad and there’s a tear coming out of the left eye. The eyes are Daisy’s because they are the eyes of a woman. The tear represents her sadness and the general sadness of all the characters of the book. The tear is also green, the color associated in the book with hope. Since it’s a tear, it shows hope is lost. The eyes’ reflection contains a small naked woman, showing Daisy’s knowledge of her husband’s affair, and her true feelings about that.

The huge, sad eyes overlook a city with bright lights. The eyes are much larger, showing that the sadness is much larger than the glitz. In the book, there’s a billboard of the eyes of a doctor in the Valley of Ashes, which is pretty much a wasteland. Therefore the eyes on the cover might be suggesting that the city is also a wasteland.

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Tom doesn’t get the concept of “ you get what you give”. In chapter 7, Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Nickand Jordan are bored and hot and decide to go to town. Before they do Tom sees Daisy give Gatsby a look. He rides with Nick and fires questions to him about what’s going on. As if he didn’t have his own girlfriend. That’s “rich” Tom. 🙄
Going to town, Tom stops to get gas at his girlfriend’s husband’s gas station. The guy looks like crap because he found out his wife Myrtle is having an affair but he doesn’t know  who the man is. He tells Tom he’s taking her and moving away in a few days. Tom’s bothered by this. That’s “rich”, Tom. 🙄

In town it all comes out. Daisy, Gatsby etc etc. Now Tom might lose his wife AND girlfriend. He doesn’t like THAT at all. Something bad might happen to HIM. He’s outraged. That’s “rich”, Tom. 🙄

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Gatsby has loved Daisy since they first met. It has driven him to be a rich man with businesses and property so that he felt like he could offer her the life he thought she deserved. But in that time he became obsessed with the idea he had of her. They didn’t know each other very well so he wasn’t basing his love on an actual relationship. He did protect her, though, when she ran over Myrtle. And he was concerned about how she was afterwards when she was back home. Even though he was obsessed, I believe he loved her.

She says she loves him but doesn’t show it in a believable way. Sure, she’s happy to see him, and they start an affair but she seems unsure. When Gatsby asks her if she ever loved Tom, she says no to make him happy, but then right after admits she did love him.

Daisy and Tom are more alike than her and Gatsby. I think she loves her rich life and position that she has by being married to Tom. So he’s part of that. Fitzgerald describes how when Daisy and Tom first got married she was very attached to him.

I think Tom only loves himself really. He hates the idea of losing Daisy to Gatsby so he starts to focus on their marriage again. He cried when his girlfriend Myrtle died, but maybe it was because he had a guilty conscience.

Nick and Jordan are dating and they like each other but it doesn’t seem like they’re in love.

Fitzgerald is saying that love is complicated and made up of more than two people.

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Daisy and Tom go to Gatsby’s party and… don’t like it. Why? . Because they’re SNOBS. They are from the classy EAST Egg, and Gatsby’s from “apalling” WEST Egg.  All Gatsby’s money can’t make him classy to them. Daisy acts like she’s having a good time but she describes the famous actress as pretty but common. This shows she thinks she’s better than this crowd. I guess that makes her and Tom uncommon and “better” than everyone? I wonder what she thinks of Gatsby then? Tom is practically sneering at everyone and the second Gatsby leaves he asks Nick if he’s a bootlegger or something. Clearly Daisy and Tom think they’re better than these people. Which is ironic especially for Tom, considering his “classy” girlfriend.

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Chapter 6: teacher’s choice: characterization Gatsby or…Gatz???

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Chapter 6: teacher’s choice: characterization Gatsby or…Gatz???

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Gatsby has the pictures to prove he went to Oxford. He’s rich and he said he got his money through a large inheritance. He said he went around Europe like a young Prince. That’s what he told Nick.

But Gatz, aka Gatsby, was the son of “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (Fitzgerald 74). He was not satisfied with his family situation so he made up a new version of himself. When he met a yacht owner , Dan Cody on chance, he introduced himself as Jay Gatsby. This person was hired by this yacht owner who was actually a brothel and saloon owner and working for him was Gatsby’s actual education. From then on he became Gatsby, a person he made out his own imagination.

You could say he was delusional and that seems true when you think about his obsession with Daisy. He became this fake upper-class guy all for this idea he had about what she wanted. At the end of chapter 6 he admits to Nick that he wanted Daisy to tell Tom she didn’t love him. He starting to realize that things aren’t working out the way he had dreamed about them.
You have to give him credit for his ability to let a dream drive him to his huge mansions and extravagant lifestyle even if that’s not the reason he ever pursued them.

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The mystery around Gatsby’s huge elaborate open parties is revealed. He’s obsessed with Daisy Buchanan and was hoping she would stop by.

In chapter 5 Gatsby asks Nick to invite Daisy over. Nick doesn’t know why but it comes clear that Gatsby wants to meet with her alone. Nick lives next door to a Gatsby. When he meets Daisy again after 5 years, the two of them definitely act like they were in love at one point.

Is anyone creeped out by how far Gatsby went? I am. He stood looking at her house every night, regularly threw huge parties hoping she would just “show up”. For 5 years. Everything seems manipulative and a little disturbing.

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Teacher’s choice: symbol. The green light

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Teacher’s choice: symbol. The green light

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Like Homer said…hmmm. What does that green light mean to Gatsby? In chapter one, Nick sees Gatsby with his arms out toward a green light. Now in chapter 5 it is revealed that he was looking at the  Buchanan’s house across the water. They had a green light on the dock. Another thing that’s revealed is that Gatsby was doing everything from buying a huge house, throwing parties and looking very classy all in the hope that he would meet Daisy again. Apparently he was in love with her.

His hope for her what the green light symbolizes. He would look out over the water to her house hoping she would come to one of his huge parties. When she never did he got the idea to have Nick help him ask her over. When they’re all standing on the dock he admits to Daisy that he stares at her house every night. He can tell it’s her house by the green light.  This shows his obsession with her. It’s a little creepy in my opinion.

Green lights in our culture represents “go” and can mean hope and nature and money. It’s a color with mostly positive associations. Now that Gatsby has met Daisy and fulfilled his hope I wonder what it will mean to him in the future.

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Chapter 4 student choice: Don’t do it Daisy

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Chapter 4 student choice: Don’t do it Daisy

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Daisy, the most popular girl who has it all, gets engaged to Tom, the guy who has it all. This should be the perfect beginning for two people like them. But. Daisy is extremely sad the day before her wedding. It’s not just the jitters. She’s so sad she gets drunk which she never does. She crumples up some note she got which I’m guessing is making her sad. This is not a good sign.

There’s something going on under the surface of this perfect picture.

Daisy decides to ignore it all and go forward marrying Tom. I think it’s because she’s caving to pressure from her social class to just “have a good image” no matter what. Something tells me it’s going to come around again to bite her.

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Gatsby seems to try to have a certain image. He has huge parties for the rich people of the area and takes care of all their needs. He’s a great host.  He’s got all the right things like money, cars, boats, college degree from Oxford, a library full of books.

But he has business with Wolfsheim . Wolfsheim is a classic gangster. He says his cuff links are made of human molars. Gatsby tells Nick that Wolfscheim is a gambler. As a matter of fact he’s the guy who threw the 1919 World Series. That information shows that he is big-time criminal who should probably be in jail. Since he isn’t, it shows he has the power to protect himself.

Gatsby having business with a crook like Wolfsheim shows he’s probably also into some illegal business which contradicts the “perfect rich society man” image he’s trying to present.

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Chapter 3: students choice: Gatsby’s parties

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Chapter 3: students choice: Gatsby’s parties

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Gatsby has huge parties regularly. Like every weekend. Huge parties with everything catered, whole bands playing, and gardens lit up like Christmas trees. And it’s totally open to whoever his guests want to bring. Guests get so drunk they run their cars in ditches and no one cares. They know someone will fix everything good as new. Every need and desire these people have are taken care of. The party continues the next day with fresh orange juice and rides on yachts. These peoples lives seem to be a huge party. But they just seem to bicker anyway. They argue about what time they need to go home. It’s like they have everything but still have some little thing to be dissatisfied about!

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Chapter 3: teacher’s choice Jordan Baker

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Chapter 3: teacher’s choice Jordan Baker

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Jordan Baker doesn’t care! She doesn’t care about being careful. She’s “above” caring about the rules of driving. When Nick calls her out and tells her she’s a terrible driver she says let the other people be careful. That it takes 2 to be in an accident.

This is classic entitlement attitude that a lot of the very rich have. It’s probably because they can have everything their way because of their money and power and eventually think the rules don’t apply to them. Jordan seems to have it. She spends so much time just golfing and going to parties she isn’t concerned with safety. It’s like she thinks she can’t actually be hurt. Nick says she’s incapable of being honest. Apparently she cheated in golf too. Jordan has an attitude of ‘these rules aren’t for me’ .

The party at Gatsbys shows how extremely rich he is. I doubt the servers could pass in that class, and I doubt the rich guests would have anything to do with ‘lower’ classes unless they wanted something from them.

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Chapter 2 student choice: Myrtle Myrtle Myrtle

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Chapter 2 student choice: Myrtle Myrtle Myrtle

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Just when I thought Tom was the most unlikeable character we meet Myrtle, aka MRS. Wilson. She immediately says “sure, I’ll drop everything and go to NYC with you Tom, even though you just popped in without notice. Let me just lie to my husband real quick.” Then she hops on a train, whines to get a puppy then proceeds to get drunk and act better than people in the apartment in NYC. Of course Tom is MR Buchanan, the husband of Daisy. He’s still arrogant and obviously cheating but is so offended when Myrtle says Daisy’s name. He gets violent and…breaks her nose. Personally I think that’s horrible. But their  cheating ways and arrogance are a perfect match.

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So far in The Great Gatsby we have been introduced to the 4 main settings: East Egg, West Egg, Valley of Ashes and New York City.

East Egg is the most upscale. It is described as “fashionable”, “ “ “glittering” and filled with “white palaces” (Fitzgerald 7). It is where Tom and Daisy Buchanan live.

West Egg is less fashionable but still filled with summer homes. It’s where Nick is spending his summer. Gatsby has a mansion there, right next door to Nick. It sounds a little more tacky than East Egg with huge mansions imitating European castles. Nicks house is a small beach house that he calls “a small eyesore”.

On the way to NYC there’s a “town” called Valley of Ashes. It’s more like a depressing train stop. Fitzgerald calls it “dismal”, a “wasteland”. Everything there is gray and dusty. There’s a mechanic shop there owned by Mr Wilson. Sadly he’s married to Mrs. Wilson who is cheating on him with Tom. Tom stops by to tell Mrs Wilson to go to NYC because he wants to see her. She immediately lies to her husband and goes. It seems significant that Mrs. Wilson comes from here.

They go to NYC where Tom keeps an apartment for her. At the apartment Tom, Myrtle (mrs Wilson), Nick and other guests hang out and get drunk. Myrtle changes and starts to act with “hauteur” which means snobby and fake and better than people. Tom is still arrogant and gets violent, I think because he’s not in East Egg where he has to act his role as this society rich guy.

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Chapter 1, May 4, 2021
Meet Tom Buchanan. He’s got it all.  He is “enormously wealthy”, a sports legend who has reached “an acute limited excellence,” (meaning he peaked at his sport). He lives a life of leisure. He’s the type of man who can take a year to wander around Paris without a plan. He lives in a big mansion on the ocean. And he’s got the body of an athlete, “you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat.”

It doesn’t seem to be enough for Tom. For some reason, he’s “drifting…unrestfully” (meaning he’s dissatisfied). He’s “fractious” (irritable like a child). He’s got a “supercilious (arrogant) manner” too. And his powerful body is described as “a cruel body” which hints at rage.

Fitzgerald uses the colors white, gold and red in the passage describing Tom. The colors feel like royal colors and in a way the Buchanans are royalty of that island. White is clean, fresh, pristine but impractical and only the very rich with all their help could be surrounded by it. Gold symbolizes wealth and red has the feel of power and royalty.

Still , Tom is not a satisfied man. Poor, rich man.

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Nick, the narrator, is from the less-rich but still rich side of the island. At this point in the book I wonder how he’s less privileged than the aristocratic East-Eggers other than being slightly less rich. He’s clearly rich being able to take a house on the beach for the summer.

I also wonder about Gatsby who was just introduced at the end of the chapter. He seems mysterious but is also obviously rich, and good looking. He lives in a mansion even if it’s not on the east side. Is Fitzgerald noticing a difference between the very rich and the less rich?

At the Buchanan’s, there’s a feeling of slight disgust and boredom which is weird considering all their advantages. Jordan is so bored. Tom with all the privileges is restless and apparently has a girlfriend as well as wife, Daisy. Daisy can’t be happy knowing her husband and father to her daughter is having an affair. Or is she?

Stay tuned for the troubling lives of the rich.

Chapter 1 May 4, 2021