This long chapter was filled with many details that are essential to the unfolding of the plot of the Great Gatsby. One of the most notable things that I found in this chapter were the subliminal insults that Tom Buchannan throws at Gatsby. On page 121, Tom decides that he, Nick, Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan should all go into New York City. He insists that he drive Gatsby’s car and that Gatsby drive his. We all know that Gatsby is infatuated with his car, and therefore I believe that by insisting on driving Gatsby’s car, Tom is saying “If you want to steal my wife, I am going to steal your car.” Since Gatsby loves his car in the way a man would love his wife, “The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby.” To attempt to discourage Tom from driving his car, Gatsby says that it is running low on gas. In response to this Tom makes an insulting remark that Gatsby would exclusively understand: ”’Plenty of Gas,’ said Tom boisterously. He looked at the gauge. ‘And if it runs out I can stop at a drug-store. You can buy anything at a drug-store nowadays.” This is insulting because earlier Daisy had mentioned to Tom that Gatsby had made his fortune from a chain of drug-stores that he owned. Later in the chapter we find out that Gatsby’s “drug-stores” were actually a front for his bootlegging business. By mentioning the drug-stores in such a condescending manner, the reader is led to believe that Gatsby knows some secrets about the profession of Jay Gatsby. These thoughts are reaffirmed later when Tom reveals that Gatsby was selling grain alcohol at his “drug-stores”. Besides this fascinating observation, this is the chapter when Gatsby’s dream falls apart. I believe that Gatsby had constructed a future for himself and Daisy where they forgot all about the past and resumed where they had begun five years ago. He believed that if only Daisy would say that she never loved Tom, then the present would all go away and he could start anew with Daisy. In the end, Daisy refused to say that she never loved Tom, and I believe that this is because she was only ever with Gatsby to spite Tom. She believed that she could get even with Tom for his affair by going and having an affair of her own. She never believed that she would run off with Gatsby and leave Tom, she just thought that by hanging around with Gatsby she could get in Tom’s head and get him to love her even more. Once the problem between Tom and Daisy, Tom’s mistress Myrtle, is removed from the equation due to a terrible “accident” caused by Daisy, the couple can continue off where they left off and begin anew. Now that Myrtle is dead, Tom will not be unfaithful and this makes Daisy happy. Daisy now has no reason to be with Gatsby because she no longer needs to make Tom jealous. For this reason, I predict that her relationship with Gatsby will fade and die in the subsequent chapters.
Why did Fitzgerald incorporate the scene where Nick picks up a lady’s wallet on the train? Is there a symbolic meaning behind this that relates to American capitalism?
Why did Fitzgerald incorporate the scene where Nick picks up a lady’s wallet on the train? Is there a symbolic meaning behind this that relates to American capitalism?