Chapter 7

• one Saturday night the lights failed to go on at Gatsby’s house

• He replaced his staff with people recommended by Wolfsheim; they

can keep secrets• No longer interested in throwing lavish parties because his goal has

been accomplished - the parties were intended to lure Daisy

GATSBY’S HOUSE(113-114)

• Even with Tom in the house, Daisy is shameless in her affection toward Gatsby.

• She sends Tom out of the room for drinks and kisses Gatsby in

the presence of Nick and Jordan. • much more critical of Tom than

normal.

• Pammy is undeniable proof of Tom and Daisy’s physical

relationship and past. • In her presence, Gatsby cannot

deny the love and attachment that existed between the

married couple• Pammy’s presence shatters Gatsby’s dream of going back

exactly to the way things were.

PAMMY(117)

“What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?...and the day after that and the next thirty years?” (118) • Daisy is only concerned with passing the time in a pleasing

manner - she is constantly in need of attention and distraction.

• We can see that she may be bored in her life, noticing the monotony of the days - part of her would love to

run away with Gatsby, seeking adventure.

• Tom notices the way that Daisy and Gatsby are looking at one another and

realizes what has been going on between the two.

• Tom never imagined that Daisy would cheat on him - he thought that he had

her under control. • His temper cracks - he begins trembling

with his effort at self control and begins drinking - a dangerous mood, reckless. • Subconsciously, Tom wants to hurt Gatsby and Daisy and invites them to

participate in the danger

TOM KNOWS(119)

• Tom is insulting Gatsby’s style• Gatsby has acquired property that

stands out and is remembered in order to attract Daisy’s attention -

very showy • Tom drives the car into town, since

Daisy is attracted to expensive looking things

CAR: “THIS CIRCUS WAGON” (121)

• ill - run down• He talks about saving money and moving West with his wife - it had been her dream to

leave the valley of ashes. • Suspects that his wife might be having an

affair. • He has locked her up in the apartment and is

planning on moving with the help of Tom and the car that Tom has promised to sell him. • Determined to remove Myrtle from her corrupting location, however, his plan to leave the valley of ashes comes too late -

Myrtle has already found her escape in the form of Tom and no longer wants to leave.

GEORGE WILSON(123-124)

• Tom is startled when Wilson tells him that it has been his

wife’s dream to leave the West Egg

• Thinks that Myrtle wants to leave, not that she’s being

forced• Tom believes that he has lost control over Myrtle as well as

Daisy.

TOM CARES ABOUT MYRTLE?

“He had discovered that Myrtle has some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick.

I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour

before - and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in

intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.

Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty..”.(124)

TOM AND GEORGE

• Tom and Wilson are in the same situation - wives are unfaithful

• Wilson blames himself - appearing guilty and ill

• Tom rages against others - engages in reckless behavior

• Tom and Wilson are alike, despite the difference in their social status - the rich and the poor can have the same problems• Both men have lost control of their relationships and are no longer able to

provide what their women need - money in the case of Myrtle, affection in the case of

Daisy.

“So engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being observed, and one emotion after another crept into

her face like objects into a slowly developing picture.”

• Everything is visible in this society and everyone knows every one's secrets

• Eyes of billboard - reminder of the vigilance and awareness of the city.

• Myrtle emotional as she looks out, regarding Jordan with “jealous terror”

thinking her to be Tom’s wife

MYRTLE(125-126)

“There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we

drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his

mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately

from his control. Instinct made him step on the accelerator with the double

purpose of overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson behind.” (125)

TOM’S THOUGHTS

• Tom experiences a crisis – questions his purpose in life.

• Previously a man of ability, control, wealth and power, Tom sees these elements slip

from his grasp. • He realizes that neither Myrtle nor Daisy

are entirely dependent on him, and therefore, not entirely under his control.

• Looses all control - recklessly accelerates, drunk

• Violently he attempts to overtake her rescuer

• Biloxi is a cheat and a liar that fabricates stories so that he can take advantage of

people. • He appeared at the wedding of Tom and Daisy posing as a friend of Daisy’s to Tom

and as a friend of Tom’s to Daisy. • bumming his way home, trying to live off

of people that are gullible. • To Tom, Biloxi is much like Gatsby, a liar

that uses people to achieve his means

BILOXI(127-129)

“She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart

she never loved any one except me!”(130)

• In Gatsby’s mind, his relationship with Daisy was true love and she couldn’t

have possibly loved anyone else• He needs to believe that Daisy never

loved Tom in order for his dream to work.

• He wants to recover the past love they shared.

THE PAST

“She does [love me], though. The trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn’t know what

she’s doing...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.”

(131)

TOM CAN LOVE DAISY’S FLAWS?

• Tom is willing to excusing her dalliance with Gatsby and take her back.

• Tom also makes room to make excuses for his own infidelity.

• It seems that Tom is actually willing to fight for her - he realizes that neither one

of them is perfect, that they both have faults, and he is willing to accept that if

Daisy is. • Theirs is a relationship based on realism,

with both parties being aware of the other’s shortcomings.

Do you think that Daisy was willing to leave Tom?

What evidence do you have?

“she realized at last what she was doing - and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.”

(132)

• She never meant to deny her past, she wanted to have it all - love, glamour, past, present, money,

status. • She initially says that she never loved Tom, but

admits that she did love him, once.“Oh, you want too much!...I love you now - isn’t that

enough? I can’t help what’s past...I did love him once - but I loved you too.”

• She cannot live up to Gatsby’s expectations, he wants too much from her - no one can erase their

past or deny their feelings. • He loses her by asking for the impossible.

“...he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been

made. But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on

as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible,

struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.”

(134)

GATSBY’S PAST AND PRESENT

• Gatsby attempts to deny the rumors of crime• confronted with the reality of her lover’s shady

business practices, Daisy wavers in her affections for him

• She draws further from him when she hears the explanation of how he really accumulated his wealth

• Fragile - cannot reconcile the romantic Gatsby with the cruel and dangerous bootlegger

• She already has enough violence and immoral behavior from Tom - Gatsby was her escape

• Daisy, and the purity of the dream she stands for, is untouchable with his tainted hands.

• She seeks refuge in Tom, asking him to drive her home.

• She appears frightened, losing all of her intentions and

courage. • She doesn’t want to be alone

with Gatsby.

DAISY’S REACTION

Finally getting away from Wilson, Myrtle runs into the street and is

hit by a car that “came out of the gathering darkness, wavered

tragically…and then disappeared.” She dies on the

spot, her life violently extinguished.

MYRTLE

• Tom insists to Wilson that the car he was driving earlier was not his

• The car has been recognized by a witness as the one that tragically hit Myrtle - Tom is scared that

he will be implicated.• Tom takes charge once he finds out Myrtle’s fate. • On the drive home, Nick describes hearing “a low

husky sob, and saw that the tears were overflowing down his face.”

• Tom shows a great deal of emotion in the scene – did he love Myrtle?

• Assumes Gatsby killed her – calls him a coward for committing a hit and run

• After experiencing the recklessness and tragic violence of the afternoon, Nick has had enough of the company of his friends• He does not approve of their lack of morality and their dangerous lifestyles - they hurt themselves and others, lead a

brutal existence that contains casualties. • Gatsby appears to Nick as a despicable

character, waiting to rob the Buchanan house - Gatsby IS trying to rob the

Buchanan house, of Daisy.

NICK’S REACTION

• Daisy was the one driving the car • Myrtle ran out in the middle of the road

to speak to them - she had seen Tom in that car earlier and thought that it was

him• Gatsby is willing to take the blame for the accident and will tell people that he

was the one driving in order to save Daisy from prison.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

• Gatsby is making sure that Daisy is safe – watches over her house

• He is worried that Tom might turn violent after finding out about the affair. • Even Tom has seen enough brutality for the day and is calmly reassuring Daisy at the kitchen table - they have reconciled

amidst the gore and violence and broken hearts.

• Daisy can’t risk an entanglement with Gatsby - either he or she would go to prison for the murder of Myrtle. • She doesn’t want to be associated with his crime

• By staying with Tom, she can protect her money and social standing.

• She gives up happiness and love for comfort and security.

• “They weren’t happy...and yet they weren’t unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the

picture.”• Tom and Daisy are reckless together, understand and are willing to

live with one another’s flaws. Gatsby wanted perfection and was left “watching over nothing” since nobody is perfect -

everything and everyone is gone, even the illusions.

DAISY AND TOM