The Great Gatsby: chapter 7

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Goals for today 

We will consider Gatsby's characterisation in chapter 7 

We will consider a recurring motif in the novel 

We will consider the characterisation of Daisy and Tom 

Play quote bingo for chpt 7

What is the significance of these images to your reading of chapter 7? 

Gatsby characterisation 

"His career as Trimalchio was over" pg 108

Trimalchio is a character in fiction from the 1st-century AD Roman work by Petronius. He is a nouveau-riche host who throws a lavish party. This is described in the section titled "Dinner with Trimalchio".  Trimalchio is an arrogant former slave who has become extremely wealthy as a wine merchant. He flaunts his wealth and is considered by his guests to be a vulgar social upstart. 

1. Why is the description of a "vulgar upstart" appropriate for Gatsby. Explain 

Gatsby's characterisation 

It is in this chapter that Gatsby’s fortune is revealed as illegally acquired - ​

 

  “I found out what your drug stores were.  He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter...I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him.”​ p. 127 

Gatsby's characterisation 

“He spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered”​ p. 136

Again, this conveys another negative aspect to Gatsby’s characterisation. He is only worried about Daisy and completely ignores the fact that Myrtle was killed​

“but of course I’ll say I was” p. 137 – shows how much he is in love with Daisy. He is prepared to take the blame for Myrtle’s death​ although Daisy was driving, "The second my hand reached the wheel I felt the shock"p. 137

Nick's reliability 

Again this chapter calls into question Nick’s reliability as a narrator.​ Look at this quote: 

   “ I had one of those renewals of complete faith in him that I’d experienced before”​ p. 123 

2. How is this quote significant in arousing the reader’s suspicions regarding Nick's reliability? 

Daisy. Consider these quotes:

 “The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother’s dress”​ pg 111

“That’s because your mother wanted to show you off”​ p. 112 "

"' She doesn't look like her father', explained Daisy.  'She looks like me. She's got my hair and shape of the face.'" 

“Daisy sat back upon the couch. The nurse took a step forward and held out her hand....”Good-bye, sweetheart!” ​

3. What kind of mother is Daisy?  Why did Fitzgerald characterise her in this way? 

“(I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.)” p.14 ​

" I looked back at my cousin … in her low, thrilling voice. It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again” p. 14 ​

"a singing compulsion, a whispered 'listen', a promise" pg 15 

"She was only extemporizing, but stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words.” p. 19 ​

"Her voice sang" 'It's romantic, isn't it, Tom?'" pg 20 

“I heard a sort of choking murmur and part of a laugh, followed by Daisy’s voice on a clear artificial note.” p. 83 ​

“ ‘I’m glad, Jay.’ Her throat, full of aching, grieving beauty told only of her unexpected joy.” p. 87​

“ I think that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, feverish warmth because it couldn’t be over-dreamed – that voice was a deathless song.” p. 93 ​

​

Daisy's voice = recurring motif

“ She’s got an indiscreet voice,’ I remarked. ‘It’s full of –’ I hesitated. ​

'Her voice is full of money', he said suddenly.​

That was it. I‘d never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it...high in the white palace the king‘s daughter, the golden girl... "P.115 ​

​

Consider bringing this to the screen

Baz Luhrman explains why this line was never kept in the film version of The Great Gatsby. 

4. How is the message of the novel changed through the choices that need to be made to create entertaining cinema? 

Daisy's characterisation 

In the novel and particularly in chapter 7, Daisy is characterised as a non-maternal, materialistic, shallow , egocentric and self-serving character. 

The recurrent motif of Daisy's voice is finally given negative connotations to money, greed and materialism. 

Daisy and Gatsby 

"With every word she was drawing further and further into herself" p. 128

"I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight - watching over nothing." p, 139 

5. Make a list of the reasons why Daisy has decided to stay with Tom. 

6. What impression does this decision have on you as the reader?

Tom 

“I’ll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door”​ p. 125 

“' Do you know why we left Chicago? I'm surprised that they didn't treat you to the story of that little spree.'" p. 125 

“And what’s more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time”​ p. 125

7. How do we feel about Tom at the end of this chapter? 

Pathetic fallacy = symbolism 

“In this heat every extra gesture was an affront to the common store of life”​

"The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer." p. 109 

The oppressive heat adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere and contributes to what happens in the chapter – not just Myrtle’s accident, but also the confrontation between Tom and Gatsby​

The fiery and intense sun symbolises Tom’s fiery confrontation with Gatsby​

Chapter 7 - the climax of the novel 

The climax of the novel occurs with the line, “But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself”​ p. 128 

This is the climax, the most critical part of the novel as it is now clear that Gatsby has lost Daisy for good​.

This is reinforced by Tom’s words “I think he realises that his presumptuous little flirtation is over”​p. 129 

Here, Tom feels secure enough to send Daisy back to East Egg with Gatsby. This confirms Nick’s observation that Gatsby’s dream is dead.​

Quote bingo chapter 7 

Draw a bingo square on your paper 

4 rows and 4 columns 

Making a total of 16 squares 

In each square write the name of a character.

Cross off the characters if you think they spoke the quote. 

One square per quote 

Bingo if you have a row or column completely crossed out. 

Quote 

“It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night . . .Wondering if he were sick I went over to find out – an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door” (108).  

Nick 

Quote 

"' I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away. There's something very sensuous about it - overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands.'" 

Jordan 

Quote 

“Over the ash heaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away” (118). 

Nick 

Quote 

 ‘An Oxford man!’ He was incredulous.  ‘Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit’ (116).

Tom

Quote 

Her voice is full of money’ . . . It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it . . .” (115). 

Gatsby

Quote 

“What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow? They were out in the open at last and Gatsby was content” (123). 

Tom 

Quote 

“’Your wife doesn’t love you. She’s never loved you. She loves me’ ‘She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me” (124). 

Gatsby

Quote 

“’Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time’” (125). 

Tom 

Quote 

“’Oh, you want too much!’ ‘I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past’” (126). 

Daisy 

Quote 

“It passed, and he began to talk excitedly ... denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made. But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself . . . “ (128). 

Nick

Quote 

 “He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and let him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing” (138-139). 

Nick

Quote 

" The rumour is, that that's Tom's girl on the telephone." 

Jordan 

Quote 

"I read somewhere that the sun's getting hotter every year. It seems that pretty soon the sun's going to fall into the sun - or wait a minute - it's just the opposite - the sun's getting colder every year." 

Tom

structure 

The ending of the chapter with Gatsby hiding in the bushes clearly parallels Gatsby pining for Daisy at the end of Chapter One.​

In Chapter One he was optimistic about their future, but now he has made it past the green light onto the lawn of Daisy’s house. However, now his dream is gone for ever as Daisy and Tom have reconciled their differences – “His hand had fallen upon and covered her own” ​p. 138 

How is the topic of "The Past" developed in this chapter?

The past 

Tom reminds Daisy of their shared past. This is a clever way to persuade Daisy. He uses their personal history to remind Daisy that she was once in love with him. pg 126

By controlling the past Tom eradicated Gatsby's control of the future.

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