The Great Gatsby Chapter 7

Themes

Plot Summary

Characters

The Roaring Twenties

• In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald chooses to portray a more somber side of the Twenties. He focuses on its shallow recklessness, hypocrisy, indulgence and its even fatal consequences.
• Tom discovers Daisy and Gatsby’s affair when Daisy compares him to a man in an advertisement. Enveloped by the consumerism of the 1920s, Daisy sees love as material and something that can be advertised.

The American Dream

• The American dream is the essential concept that hard work can lead from rags to riches
• In the chapter, Gatsby says Daisy never loved Tom and Daisy agrees. This brings Gatsby one step closer in fulfilling his dream of starting a life with Daisy.

Class (old money, new money, no money)

• The book portrays three different social classes: old money, represented by Daisy and Tom, new money represented by Gatsby and no money represented by Wilson and Myrtle.
• There is classicism and competition between old moneyed and new moneyed people with no moneyed individuals being overlooked
• Specifically in this chapter, when Tom shows Gatsby around his house, (purchased with old money) Gatsby points out that his house (purchased with new money) is directly across the sound. This shows the rivalry between Gatsby and Tom especially when it comes to old money versus new money.

Past and Future

• Nick is weighed down by the future whilst Gatsby is constantly haunted by the past.
• Nick is always paranoid by the future in chapter chapter 7, Nick realizes it’s his 30th birthday and sees the new decade as a “portentous menacing road,”
• Gatsby tries to repeat his past with Daisy

The chapter begins with Nick visiting Gatsby, where he learns that Gatsby has fired his servants out of fear of them gossiping about his relationship with Daisy. It is the hottest day of the summer, and Nick and Gatsby are invited to lunch with Daisy, Tom, and Jordan. While Tom is out of the room, Daisy kisses Gatsby and tells him that she loves him. Immediately after, Daisy's young daughter is lead into the room. After lunch, Daisy asks what they should do for the rest of the day, and then suddenly exclaims that she wants to go into the city. Tom appears to know that Daisy is in love with Gatsby. He quickly agrees that they will all leave for the city immediately, and insists that he drive Gatsby's car, and that Gatsby and Daisy travel alone in Tom's car. While at the gas station, Wilson alludes to moving out west with Myrtle. Tom is distraught at the thought of losing both his wife and his mistress. While there, Nick begins to understand that Wilson knows about Myrtle's affair, but has not found out that Tom is on the other end of it. Upon arrival, the entire party enters a lavish hotel room. Tom and Gatsby begin to argue, and Tom asks what Gatsby is trying to do to his relationship with Daisy. Daisy becomes very upset and Gatsby says that she never loved Tom, and Daisy says that he is right. With some coaxing from Tom, Daisy admits that she did at one point love him, but does not anymore. Tom then begins to reveal Gatsby's involvement in organized crime, and daisy immediately asks to go home. Tom says that she should go with Gatsby. A short while after Gatsby and Daisy leave, the rest of the group head back in Tom's car. We then learn from the owner of a coffee shop in the valley of ashes that Wilson and Myrtle were struggling upstairs. It is revealed that Wilson has locked her up until he can take her to the west. The owner then reveals that Myrtle had shouted and ran into the street, where she was struck by a car described as “light green”. Tom and Wilson are both extremely overwhelmed by Myrtle's death. Tom suspects that Gatsby hit Myrtle. After arriving home, Nick speaks with Gatsby and learns that Daisy was the one driving the car, but says he will be taking responsibility for it. Nick leaves Gatsby as he watches Tom and Daisy through the window.

Daisy

- in this chapter, Daisy begins to question her loves for both Tom and Gatsby. She begins by saying that she never loved Tom, but quickly changes her story and says that she did love Tom, but also loved Gatsby. We quickly begin to understand that Daisy is indecisive when it comes to her love.

Wilson

- when Wilson speaks with Tom at the gas station, he reveals that he is planning to leave and move out west with Myrtle. It is also revealed that Wilson is beginning to become physically ill.

Gatsby

- while at the Hotel, Gatsby’s past is all revealed by Tom. He is exposed when Tom tells Daisy that Gatsby has earned his wealth through bootlegging and illicit practices.

Settings and Time

Setting One- Tom's House

On the hottest day of the summer, Daisy invites Nick over for lunch.

Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Nick and Jordan are all attending.

Setting Two- Wilson’s Garage

Tom, Jordan, and Nick take Gatsby’s car, while Gatsby and Daisy take Tom’s car.

At the garage, Nick, Tom, and Jordan find out that Wilson has discovered Myrtle is with another man. He does not however know who she is with, but plans to take her out west.

Setting Three- Plaza Hotel

The group decides to get a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

While in the suite a long confrontation between Gatsby and Tom occurs when Tom begins to mock Gatsby’s habit of calling people “old sport.”

Quickly, the focus of their argument turns towards Daisy when Tom asks about Gatsby’s intentions with her to which Gatsby says that she does not love Tom, but is in love with him.

Tom, feeling like he has bested Gatsby, allows him to drive Daisy home in an attempt to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him.

Setting Four- Valley of Ashes

While Nick, Tom, and Jordan drive home, they see here has been an accident at border of the Valley of Ashes.

They learn that someone was hit by an automobile. The man who runs the restaurant beside Wilson’s Garage informs them that it was Myrtle who was hit by a car which paused, then sped away.

Nick realizes it must have been Gatsby and Daisy who hit her on their way back in Gatsby’s yellow automobile.

Tom becomes worried that Wilson will find out Myrtle was struck by a yellow automobile, and think it was Tom as he was the one driving it earlier. Tom also assumes that it was Gatsby who hit her.

Setting Five- Tom's House (again)

Back at Tom's house, Nick finds Gatsby hiding in the bushes.

Gatsby informs Nick that it was Daisy driving, but he plans on taking full responsibility.

The Great Gatsby Chapter 7

Symbols

By: Antonio, Gregor, Ryan, Vince

The Green Light and the Colour Green

• The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents the symbol of Gatsby’s hopes and dreams.
• The colour green pops up multiple times within The Great Gatsby; for example, George Wilson’s sickly looking face is referred to as being “green” in the sunlight. Long Island sound is described as being “green”. Specifically in Chapter seven, Michaelis describes the car that kills myrtle as “light green”.

The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg

• The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg represent many things
• Nick sees them as a symbol of the haunting waste of the past
• George Wilson sees them as the eyes of God
• They are comparatively similar to Gatsby's own eyes

The Valley of Ashes

• The Valley of Ashes is the area halfway between West egg and New York. It is also where all of the expended coal goes coming from New York.
• If west Egg represents all of the people who have gotten rich off of the Roaring Twenties and New York represents all of the “mystery and beauty in the world,” then the Valley of Ashes symbolizes all of the people caught in between.

East and West

• Nick describes the novel as a “story of the west” Characters like Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Nick and Gatsby all come from other places than the East.
• The split between east and west was mirrored in the novel by the division between East and West Egg. West egg symbolises the people on the frontier, making their fortunes from the stock exchange however they are as corrupt and hollow on the inside just as many “Easterners” are.

-Everything in the novel has been a build up to this chapter

-The beginning of the novel starts off with a tense feeling

-We begin to see that Gatsby is not the suave, calm and collected man we perceived him to be

-Gatsby's true motives are revealed through his pressuring Daisy

-Gatsby is adamant that Daisy is to be with him and nobody else

-Tom becomes very aggressive and protective when he accuses Gatsby of being involved in illegal activities

-George Wilson discovers his wife has been unfaithful, this causes another death

-Since he is so infatuated with Daisy, he allows himself to take the blame for Myrtle's death

-This is the first time that Nick is directly "rude"

Importance