Hook and Thesis Statement

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Among others, these are a few ideals that most people strive for to achieve the American dream. Others include: Luxury, wealth, and being sophisticated, which all appear in The Great Gatsby. While some of these examples of the American dream are achieved, some die. In this paper, I will discuss how certain images or symbols from The Great Gatsby reflect the death, or corruption of the American dream.

Chapter 9 Journal

Summary: For the rest of that day, police, photogrophers, and newspaper men were swarming Gatsby's house. Nick wanted to get some friends there for Gatsby, so he called Daisy and Tom, but they were away. He also tried Wolfsheim, but it was too late. The next day Nick sent the butler with a letter to Wolfsheim explaining everything to him, and that he should come out on the next train. Wolfsheim explains that he can't get caught up in Gatsby's drama right now because he is tied up in some very important business. The phone rang that afternoon, and it was one of Gatsby's business partners, and he started talking to Nick about their business thinking it was Gatsby, then Nick informed him that Gatsby was dead. Three days later, he received a telegram from Gatsby's father saying to postpone the funeral until he arrived. His father arrived, and he said that Gatsby could have been a great man. Klipspringer called, and Nick told him about the funeral, and he said he wasn't going to be able to make it, he was just calling for a pair of tennis shoes he left there. The morning of the funeral, Nick went to New York to see Wolfsheim because he couldn't get ahold of him anyother way. Wolfsheim said he wasn't going to go to the funeral, so Nick drove back to West Egg in the drizzling rain. When he got back he visited with Gatsby's father, and he said that the last time he had seen Gatsby was two years ago. Then he showed Nick the picture of his house that Gatsby bought him. He put the picture away, and pulled out a book titled Hopalong Cassidy. It was a book about everything that Gatsby wanted to get accomplished during the day as a little boy. As they arrived at the cemetary, there was a total of three vehicles attending the funeral, one of which was Owl eyes from Gatsby's party a while back. After the funeral, he moved west and went to school. Nick talked to Jordan about what happened between them, and she told him she was engaged. One afternoon in late October, Nick saw Tom Buchanan who turned around and started talking to him. Nick asked him if he told Wilson who owned the yellow car, and Tom said he did tell him. They shook hands and went their seperate ways. Nick spent Saturday nights in New York, until he decided to move.

Characters: Nick, Wolfsheim, Mr. Gatz, Klipspringer, Jordan, Owl Eyes, Butlers, Minister,

Motifs: Owl Eyes- shows up at the funeral, Rain It poured rain when Nick drove back from seeing Wolfsheim, and during the funeral.

Allusions: James J. Hill, who was worth $53 million at the time of his death. Mr. Gatz compared Gatsby to being capable of living up to him if he would have lived a full life. Someone in Meyer Wolfsheim's office was whistling The Rosary, which refers to prayer. Nick said that West Egg reminded him of a night sene by El Greco who was a painter of the Spanish Renaissance.

Chapter 8 Journal

Summary: Gatsby arrived home late, and Nick went over to talk to him. Gatsby said nothing happened, he waited there and she turned her light off, which indicated that they were over. Nick told Gatsby that he should go away now so they don't recognize his car, but Gatsby says he can't because he couldn't leave Daisy until she knew what she was going to do. Gatsby told Nick about his story of how him and Daisy came to be. He explained how they fell in love in just a month, and that he had to go to war. Daisy and Gatsby stayed in touch by writting letters, but Daisy couldn't wait any longer, and she started going to dances, and one spring, she met Tom Buchanan and they decided to get married. She wrote Gatsby telling him that, while he was still at Oxford. After breakfast, Gatsby's servants told him they were going to drain the pool, but Gatsby told them to wait because he wanted to go swimming. Nick skipped his first two trains he was supposed to be on and went swimming with Gatsby instead. Finally it was time for Nick to leave, so he thanked Gatsby for his hospitality and he left. When he got to work, he fell asleep, but was awoke by a phone call from Jordan Baker, who was saying that she wanted to see him, but it ended with them hanging up on each other. He tried calling Gatsby, but his line was busy because he was talking to his business partners from Detroit. Nick went back to the night that Mrs. Wilson got murdered, and explained that Mr. Wilson thought someone murdered her. He went searching for the yellow car that hit her. He was soon in West Egg, and was asking for directions to Gatsby's house. In the mean time, Gatsby was getting ready to get back into the pool, and he told his butler that if anyone called for him, to bring it to him at the pool. The chauffeur heard the shots, but didn't think too much about them. Nick arrived shortly after, and they all rushed out back to the pool and found Gatsby laying in the pool, dead. Off in the distance they saw Mr. Wilson's body a ways off in the grass.



Characters: Nick, Jordan, Gatsby, Mr. Wilson, Michealis, Daisy, Catherine, Butler.



Allusions: Beale Street Blues was playing at a dance that Daisy was at. This song alluded to the blues, and Daisy was sad because she wasn't with Gatsby.

Symbol: Daisy's light shut off, just as the green light had.

Motifs: Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, Time, Valley of Ashes

Words of the day- Great Gatsby 2

Frank’s wan expression made him look like death.

His prodigality caused him to go broke.

Sally’s feigned smile mad Tommy feel good about his joke, even though it wasn’t all that funny.

Josh languidly got into the bath after his tough basketball game.

The Colossal painting took up the entire wall.

Jim’s complacency for how well he played, made his team mates not like him.

When the girl got injured on the basketball court, the other team showed levity by laughing, when they should have been quiet and respectful.

Ron stood up in front of the class and was extemporizing a speech about the police force.

Her supercilious tone made the rest of the girls mad.

The infinitesimal remark caused the girl to become mad because the remark dealt with an even larger matter.

After the couples’ heated argument, the girl was left fractiousness.

Chapter 7 Journal

Summary: At the beginning of this chapter, Nick observes that Gatsby wasn't having a party on Saturday. He went over to see if Mr. Gatsby was alright because he hadn't seen him in a while, and he realized that Gatsby had got all new servants. The next day, Gatsby called him on the phone and Nick asked why he replaced all his servants and he told him it was because he wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip because Daisy was coming over quite often. He called to ask Nick if he would go to lunch tomorrow at Daisy's house in Daisy's request. They arrived at Daisy's and Jordan and Daisy were laying on the couch because it was so hot outside. Tom came in, and Daisy sent him away for cold drinks, and she jumped up and went over to Gatsby and kissed him on the mouth and told him she loves him. Then Daisy's daughter, Pammy, came into the room. We see that Daisy treats her like a doll, and that Gatsby didn't ever really believe in her existence, and that she was his first obstacle of his dream. She left the room with the maid as Tom entered with drinks for everyone. Nick, Tom, and Gatsby go outside and Gatsby shows Tom where he lives, and they go back inside. They discuss what they should do, and Daisy suggests they go into town. She tells Gatsby that he looks cool, which means she loves him, and Tom picks up on it and is angry. Tom, Nick, and Jordan ride into town in Gatsby's car, and Gatsby and Daisy ride in Tom's car. Gatsby's car didn't have enough gas, so Tom stopped at Wilson's to fill up. Wilson says his wife and him want to go West because he found out that she had a life apart from him. Tom saw Gatsby go by so he hurried after them, and as the passed the garage, Nick saw Myrtle staring out of the window, her eyes filled with jealous terror thinking that Jordan was Daisy. They met up with Gatsby and the decided to go to the Plaza hotel. They got settled into the room and drank the ice cold mint juleps. They heard the wedding downstairs and Daisy mentions that they got married in the middle of June. Tom blurts out that Gatsby has been making love to his wife. Then Gatsby said, "She's never loved you. She loves me." Tom and Gatsby argue about who Daisy loved/loves. Tom kept trying to ask Daisy questions, but Gatsby answered for her. Gatsby was trying to put words into Daisy's mouth by saying that she never loved Tom, but then Daisy said that even alone she couldn't admit that she never loved him. Daisy was going to leave Tom, but then he told her about Gatsby's business and she didn't want to leave with him anymore. With that, Daisy and Gatsby left in Gatsby's car, and Nick just remembered that it was his 30th birthday. Nick, Tom, and Jordan stopped back at Wilson's on the way back home, and learned that he locked his wife up in the garage. Myrtle escaped, and got hit by a car and died. An officer arrived and started asking everybody what happened and they told him everything that they knew. One of them says that it was a big new yellow car (like Gatsby's). Tom carried Wilson into his office and had people stay with him until the doctor arrived, and in the meantime, they left. On their way home, Tom figured it was Gatsby that had hit her. When they arrived home, they saw that Daisy was in, so Tom and Jordan went inside with her, and Tom called a taxi for Nick. Nick and Gatsby talk about what happened, and Nick learns that Daisy was the one driving when it happened, but Gatsby is going to take the blame for her. Nick's taxi arrives, and Gatsby waits there until Daisy goes to sleep.

Ironies: Tom and Wilson figure out about the same time that they are being cheated on. The wedding is ironic because Gatsby is ready to make his move, and there is a wedding going on beneath them. When Myrtle looks out from the window, she thinks that Jordan is Daisy.

Symbols: Biloxi is a symbol in the sense that he comes from nowhere and there are a lot of rumors about him, yet no one knows exactly who he is.

Characters: Jordan, Nick, Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Myrtle, Wilson, Officer, Biloxi, Michaelis who was a Greek who ran the coffee joint beside the ashheaps and was at Wilson's when the accident happened, and a negro

Chapter 6 Journal

Summary: A young reporter from New York came to Mr. Gatsby's house and tried to get some information out of him. Nick tells the story of Gatsby's real name, James Gatz, that at age seventeen he changed to Jay Gatsby. At that time, Gatsby was on Dan Cody's boat with him, sailing around the continent three times. After Nick was done telling the story, he said that he hadn't seen or talked to Gatsby for several weeks because he was trotting around New York with Jordan. He went to Gatsby's house one Sunday afternoon and to his surprise, Tom Buchanan and two other people by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Sloane were there riding horses and having a drink. Mr. Gatsby tried offering a drink or cigar to everyone but Mr. Slaone declined his offer to everything. They all left for lunch on the horses, and Gatsby met up with them in his car. The following Saturday, Daisy and Tom came to Gatsby's party. Gatsby introduced Tom as a Polo player, and Tom didn't like that too much. Daisy and Gatsby dance, and afterward, Tom asks if he can eat dinner with some other gentleman, and Daisy tells him to grab a pen and paper to write down the addresses of the women. Later Tom asks Nick some questions about who Gatsby is. Tom and Daisy both left the party unsatisfied, and Gatsby realized that, and all he wanted Daisy to do is tell Tom she never loved him. Gatsby decides to have no more parties.

Characters: Gatsby, Dan Cody, who was the guy who owned the yacht, Ella Kaye, who was the news paper woman, Tom, Mr. and Mrs. Sloane who came with Tom to Gatsby's house and rode horses and sat down for a 'drink', Daisy, Nick.

Allusion: Gatsby's creation of James Gatz, a no body, to Jay Gatsby is an allusion to Abraham Lincoln, who was also no body who's father didn't want him to get an education, but he made himself, and became the president of the United States.

Motif: Time- When Gatsby is on the boat in his bed, time comes and haunts him and ticks very slowly. It was three O'Clock in the morning when Daisy left the party, and she is only 22 years old now, and is in the period of her life that lots of changes are happening to her as a person. Gatsby says that if Daisy told Tom she doesn't love him, then they could go away to Louisville and live like it were five years ago. He also says that you can't repeat the past.

Chapter 5 Journal

Summary: When Nick was arriving home, he thought his house was on fire, but when he got closer he realized that it was just Mr. Gatsby's lights of his house shining brightly. Nick went over and talked with Gatsby and he said that he was going to invite Daisy over so they could see each other. Gatsby offered for Nick to work for him, but Nick declined the offer. Gatsby's servants cut Nick's grass, and Nick and Gatsby visited to make sure that everything was ready for Daisy's arrival. As they sat down for tea they heard a car pulling up, and it was Daisy. Gatsby dashed outside, and Daisy and Nick came inside and got settled just for a moment, then Gatsby knocked on the door and Nick let him in. They sat in the living room and talked, well sort of talked, there was a lot of silence between them, but Daisy was happy to see Gatsby. Shortly after, Nick went outside and it was just Gatsby and Daisy in the living room. Nick came back, and they all went over to Gatsby's house and he showed them (Daisy) around. He showed Daisy his shirts, and she began to cry, and they later went out to the gardens, but it began to rain, so they came back inside. Gatsby got Mr. Klipspringer to come down and play music for them. A few minutes later, Nick left them there alone sitting together to visit.

Characters: Klipspringer he is a boarder that basically lives at Gatsby's because he is there so often. Gatsby and Daisy are reunited after five years. Nick is the glue that brought them together.

Foreshadows: The illusion of Daisy that Gatsby has created for her, the man in Detroit, and Dan Cody, who was an elderly man in a photograph that was dressed in a yachting costume.

Symbols: Time—clock five years next November—he has newspaper clippings of her, knows the exact date since they had seen each other last, bought a mansion across from her house. Green Light-- It used to be a symbol that Daisy was still waiting for him, but now the significance of that light has vanished forever for Gatsby. Rain-- It stopped raining after Gatsby and Daisy met again. Gatsby's shirts symbolize that Gatsby is real.

Allusion: Daisy's maiden name, Fay, aludes to fairies, because to Gatsby, she is a fairy.