Please feel free to respond to any of the questions I posted on the portal regarding chapters five and six. However, if you have other ideas or questions-let's use this forum in order to discuss them.
I hope that we utilize this resource and opportunity to keep moving in the direction of success--in order to make sure that the road we are currently on leads to somewhere.
Best,
AK
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4 comments:
-What is the symbolic importance of Gatsby knocking the clock of the mantle when he sees Daisy again? Also, why is it important that this meeting happens on West Egg and not East Egg? Do you think that Gatsby will ever be welcomed on East Egg-why or why not?
Fitzgerald weaves the idea of time and past and present through out the first five chapters of the book in a way that one can not miss it. By having Gatsby catch the clock with his "trembling fingers" it is showing his kind of mortality and nervousness that is presented when he is dealing with Daisy. Fitzgerald describes the clock as an old one, which could mean that it is Gatsby's and Daisy's past relationship. When Nick says "we all believed for a moment that it had smashed to pieces on the floor" (87) the clock is symbolizing Daisy's and Gatsby's relationship, in that it may have been close to broken, or people may have thought it was broken, but it really only needed to be dusted off for it hadnt been used in a while.
The meeting could happen in West Egg for many reasons, it could be that they are trying to avoid Tom because they know he would not approve of what Daisy is doing or it could just literally be because that is where Nick lives. But I think an answer could be that West Egg has been associated with the "newer money" and it could be a sign that Daisy is going for newer things in her life, even though they all know that she can't have them.
I believe that Gatsby will not ever be accepted into East Egg because in chapters 5 and 6 he is exposed for who he really is, and that is a young man who isn't as he projects himself to be. He does not have the social education that the Sloane's or Tom has, and they notice that.
This is a strong response due to the fact that it is anchored in such finely chosen pieces of textual support. I agree whole heartily with your assertion that the clock might be a symbolic representation of Gatsby and Daisy's relationship. However, I wonder if the clock that is defunct and not working--also speaks to the fact that Gatsby is not holding onto time but rather just the past. And perhaps, the past is the one thing you can't control, no matter how much money you may possess.
The last paragraph of your response brings up some interesting ideas; however, I wonder why Tom would not Gatsby travel into East Egg--currently, I hear you saying that the reason behind it is because Gatsby is dishonest, he lies about who he is. However, in my eyes this seems to be a 'minor' sin when compared to the lack of morality and the supreme dishonesty that defines Tom.
But there is much to work with here--and I applaud your efforts, I hope one of your classmates picks up on this strand and continues to run with it. Most importantly thank you for sharing these rich thoughts.
Best,
AK
How is Gatsby a character defined by both his internal and external personality? Think about his bedroom--why is it so bare but why does he spend so much time showing Daisy his shirts?
Gatsby is a man defined by his wealth. Through being defined by his wealth he is looked at through a window lit up inside with artificial light. He is rarely seen in true daylight, but only in darkness within his artificial surroundings. We don’t know much about Gatsby’s internal being; only the things that he seems to express externally are ones we know. We see him through Nick’s descriptions and through the things we here from the party goers, but even then we cannot truly see who he is. Gatsby is an extremely external character. He has a huge house and lots of possessions that advertise his wealth, but we never know the true wealth or lack thereof that is inside of him. The possessions he has and the house that he lives in is not for his pleasure, but merely for Daisy’s pleasure. Gatsby’s intention is to get Daisy back. Knowing that this will be a challenging feat he lives within a world designed for her and what she wants out of life. “He was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity” (92). Gatsby lives his life for Daisy and within competition with the things she has already. He needs and wants to be what she wants him to be, it is not enough for him to be good to her, he must have the possessions and the money to go along with it. Gatsby has lived his life for her and abandoned the things he wanted out of life for her. His room is bare because it is all his, it is all he has. Gatsby has nothing that holds true meaning to him without Daisy. His room describes the person he is without her. He has no substance to him and no possession when she is not with him. The only reality that lives within his house is his bedroom, the one place that can be all his and no one else’s, the only room that is waiting for Daisy. There seems to be something missing within his bedroom, some sort of vacant spot, and it will be the spot that Daisy will fill if Gatsby ever gets what he truly wants.
Gatsby shows Daisy his shirts to flaunt some of the few possessions that he does have in his bedroom. The way Gatsby dresses is important because it’s how the outside world will see him, it is how Daisy will see him. Daisy is shocked by the shirts and becomes very emotional when she sees them. “Suddenly, with a stained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. ‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds” (92). Gatsby is able to hide his true self, his true wants and needs, by being who and what Daisy wants him to be. If Gatsby can be rich and wealthy on the outside then Daisy is satisfied. By having and wearing these expensive shirts he is showing, the people that look at him, that he is rich and wealthy. His shirts are merely just another possession that he doesn’t need, but by having them he is gaining points with Daisy and doing exactly what he wanted to do, which is drag her into his world and try to convince her to be with him. Gatsby’s life is about Daisy and he is willing to do just about anything to get her back.
Gatsby is actually from North Dakota, his parents being “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (98). Originally named James Gatz, he rejected this origin and reinvented himself, for “Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (98). Dan Cody was a man who owns a yacht. He hired Gatsby to work for him, and Gatsby did so for five years. Cody often drank, and he trusted Gatsby to watch over him while he was drunk. After witnessing Cody’s behavior, Gatsby rarely drinks. When Cody died, he left $25,000 to Gatsby.
This chapter contains the story of Gatsby as a “self-made man”, a central factor in the American dream. Gatsby shunned his past by creating a new name for himself. He spent a year “beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and bed” (98). He had to work as a janitor to pay for schooling at a small college. Once he had been reborn into the new version of himself, Gatsby was forced to work for his survival. He spent this time period aimlessly, with “his heart in a constant, turbulent riot… still searching for something to do” (99). He always imagined “future glory” (99). The Gatsby that we know of up until this point in the book is the epitome of the glory that he imagined. He did not always have the wealth that is associated with him, but he had to forge his own way to acquire it. Nick also says that “to young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world” (100). In the scene he is describing, Gatz is in a small boat next to Cody’s large yacht. When he stares at the yacht in admiration from a detached vessel, Gatsby is named “Gatz”, the version of himself that is separated from the world of luxury. He considers the yacht, a visual representation of wealth, to be depicting the greatest beauty in the world. Therefore if Gatz at this moment represents a typical American, the American dream is to reach a point of having visible wealth.
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