Sunday 5 December 2010

'The Great Gatsby' reading jorunal, chapter six

At the beginning of this chapter, we are introduced to yet more speculation about Gatsby. a new reporter has arrived at his front door, asking him if he had any comments to make, but Gatsby pushes this away. He did this because, according to Nick, the matter that the reporter was asking about, Gatsby 'wouldn't reveal, or didn't fully understand.' This makes the reader, though, which one of those options is it more likely to be. It is open to interpretation. Nick also details that there was speculation about Gatsby not actually having a house, and that he lived in a boat that 'moved secretly up and down the long island shore.' The imagery created here though, suggests freedom. Just the idea of living somewhere which isn't nailed to the ground, with the possibility to move whenever someone feels like it. It is also revealed that Jay Gatsby didn't always have that name. When he was younger, he was known as James Gatz, and what we learn about him is this: his parents were 'shiftless and unsuccessful farm people'. Gatz changed his name to Gatsby later on in his life, which creates the idea that there is a different personality behind each name. On the other hand, may be he changed his name to escape that personality and find a new one - his family background suggests misery and barely any wealth, so maybe he created Jay Gatsby to escape the truth...

A phrase that I found very interesting then appears - the 'rock of the world was founded on a fairy's wing'. What I think this suggests is that, no matter how difficult life may seem on this limiting land ('rock of the world'), escape is always possible ('fairy's wing') by means of imagination. If that is the case, then young Gatz certainly felt that this applied to him. What is very peculiar about this chapter is that we are actually learning quite a lot about Gatsby's past. Nick has yet to ramble on about something irrelevant - It appears only now that the title of the book is really coming to life. We learn that Gatsby once had a connection with a man named Dan Cody, who had an associate with Montana copper that made him 'many times a millionaire'. Because of this, an 'infinite number of women' were attracted to him, despite the fact that he was 'fifty years old then'. This suggests that during the time in which the novel was set, there were a lot of women like Daisy. They were attracted to his wealth only, and lot his looks or personality in the slightest. However, we also learn that Cody was a heavy alcoholic, and that 'Dan Cody sober knew what lavish doings Dan Cody drunk might soon be about' which caused him to put 'more and more trust in Gatsby' suggesting a long chain of dishonesty - Cody clearly didn't know what he was doing a lot of the time, so it may or may not have been a good idea to trust Gatsby (who possibly created his name to forget his previous identity), and above all, Nick is sharing this with us. Is all of this even true? Something even more questionable, however, is Nick decision to share this information with us now. He reveals that Gatsby told him all of this a certain amount of time later but admits that he is sharing it now 'with the idea of exploding those first wild rumors about his antecedents' - is Nick trying to answer questions that the reader might have? If so, my question is this, why not share this information at the start of the novel, to save us from constantly question Gatsby's character?

Nick then shifts this image of heavy reflection to the present, where Gatsby has invited Tom to his house - a questionable move altogether, as it appears as if Gatsby is setting himself up for trouble. He pushes this boundary even further, saying "I know your wife" to Tom, aggressively. Gatsby appears smug and joyous right now, with the idea of flaunting something that Tom would be bothered about, but doesn't fully know. Gatsby invites him and Daisy to one of his parties that evening, accompanying it with the phrase "I wouldn't be surprised if some other people dropped in from New York" - he knows the nature of his parties, but maybe he is phrasing it this way to subtly be a show off. To show that Daisy is attracted to what he has, more than what Tom has, but it is amusing as Tom doesn't know that his wife is having an affair yet. However, we get the sense that he is suspicious of Gatsby. He says that "women run around too much to suit me these days" meaning that he is curious to discover where Daisy met Gatsby. During the party, it appears as if there has been a role-reversal between Nick and Daisy. Nick comments that he is looking at the world "again, with Daisy's eyes". Because he is aware of the secret that Gatsby and Daisy are hiding from Tom, the world has becoming limiting to him, he senses the 'unpleasantness in the air' caused by Tom presence. Daisy, however, sounds somewhat a lot confident at this moment, even inviting Nick to kiss her anytime during the evening. Has the fact that she is hiding something from her husband excited her?

During the course of the party, Gatsby introduces Tom as 'the polo player' to all that ask. Tom states he does not want to be addressed this way, but Tom remained assigned to this name for the rest of the evening. However 'the sound of it pleased Gatsby' so maybe this intentional, to annoy Tom, it is as if Gatsby is adding insult to injury - he is having an affair with his with, and now, he had everyone effectively verbally bullying him. Nick then mentions that Gatsby dances, displaying a 'conservative fox-trot'. The image that this creates is o something precise and focused, yet gentle - an interesting thought, as this chapter has suggested that Gatsby's personality has been the complete opposite of this for a long time. Elements of foreshadowing creep into the story once more. A women, clearly under the influence of alcohol, startles Nick. A friend then accompanies her and apologises, and they converse afterwards. The friend then reveals that the drunken women "stuck her head in the pool" earlier in the night, and that "they almost drowned me over in New Jersey". Later on in the story, a swimming pool plays a major part in someone's death... Daisy did not enjoy her evening in West Egg, though. Possibly because of her higher status, the text suggests that she felt out of place, much like 'Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village' - so many famous people, why are are attending a party in such a dismal neighborhood?

Tom clearly is suspicious of Gatsby's character, and Nick feels that his presence is like 'an indefinite precision of shadows, who lounged and powdered in an invisible glass' - there is something watching over all the time, creating feelings of unease. Gatsby fears that because Daisy hasn't enjoyed her evening, she won't come back to his home ever again. Her power in a relationship is feared by him. He feels that he has to meet these high standards in order to be with her. Gatsby and Nick then argue weather the past can be repeated or not, and Gatsby is determined to think this and take action. The sentence 'if he could once return to a certain starting place' suggest that Gatsby is attempting to re-trace his steps. Some time during the past, something happened between Gatsby and Daisy, and he is trying to remember what it was. Will this have any benefit in their relationship? Nick, at this moment, is telling us a story between Daisy and Gatsby that occurred 'five years before'. Again, why is he sharing this at this moment in the story? Before kissing her, Gatsby had been waiting 'listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star' as if he was waiting for s sign to indicate that he should kiss her. Why was he waiting, though? Is this the moment in his past that he is trying to re-trace? Nick then recalls that this story sounds familiar to him - it has 'an elusive rhythm'. He is clearly puzzled by this, noting that his lips parted 'like a dumb's man'. It is as if he has remembered something vital yet shocking. However, he also mentions that this memory is 'incommunicable forever' but is it really? or has it already been shared somewhere else in the novel? It clearly means something to Nick's memory...

1 comment:

  1. Excellent thoughts. You raise a really important question about why Nick hasn't shared the information about Dan Cody before. Also, your reflections on freedom and escape are really interesting. Is this, perhaps, what the novel is about i.e. escaping into other worlds as a form of freedom from reality?

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