Daisy didn't like the party, so Gatsby doesn't do parties anymore. Anything to please her, and it seems to be working. We now know - our suspicions confirmed - that they are having an affair, but I'm not quite sure it's everything we had chalked it up to be: true love, romance, real companionship. Frankly, it seems as if Gatsby is hanging on for dear life. He meets Daisy and Tom's daughter, and Nick says of Gatsby: "I don't believe he had ever really believed in its existence before" (123), proving that maybe this world that Gatsby envisioned himself livingin with Daisy is utopian, a figment of his imagination. He is trying to do everything to reverse time, take him back five years when life with Daisy was brand new. Only this time he would have all the money in the world. If he could only recreate that, then life would be perfect. The presence of Daisy's daugher then becomes a major reality check. Daisy has a life beyond Gatsby. She hasn't waited around for the past five years, and although Gatsby has her again temporarily, she is be no means "his." We have to ask ourselves if Daisy is really going to give up her family for a man whom she loved in the past. Is true love all that important to her? Better yet, does she even have true love with Gatsby? For now though, he has her, although with everything that happens in this chapter it looks like his chances are diminishing with each passing hour. Let's see what happens...any comments on Tom and Gatsby's row (argument)? What does Tom do to undermine Gatsby's credibility? Who wins the argument in the end, and how?
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Gatsby's Reality
Daisy didn't like the party, so Gatsby doesn't do parties anymore. Anything to please her, and it seems to be working. We now know - our suspicions confirmed - that they are having an affair, but I'm not quite sure it's everything we had chalked it up to be: true love, romance, real companionship. Frankly, it seems as if Gatsby is hanging on for dear life. He meets Daisy and Tom's daughter, and Nick says of Gatsby: "I don't believe he had ever really believed in its existence before" (123), proving that maybe this world that Gatsby envisioned himself livingin with Daisy is utopian, a figment of his imagination. He is trying to do everything to reverse time, take him back five years when life with Daisy was brand new. Only this time he would have all the money in the world. If he could only recreate that, then life would be perfect. The presence of Daisy's daugher then becomes a major reality check. Daisy has a life beyond Gatsby. She hasn't waited around for the past five years, and although Gatsby has her again temporarily, she is be no means "his." We have to ask ourselves if Daisy is really going to give up her family for a man whom she loved in the past. Is true love all that important to her? Better yet, does she even have true love with Gatsby? For now though, he has her, although with everything that happens in this chapter it looks like his chances are diminishing with each passing hour. Let's see what happens...any comments on Tom and Gatsby's row (argument)? What does Tom do to undermine Gatsby's credibility? Who wins the argument in the end, and how?
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Great Blog ! I think that Tom won the argument because, even though Gatsby kept telling Tom that Daisy doesn't love him, Tom kept bringing up Gatsby's personal life like what him and Wolfsheim do(drug-store buisness). Tom ended the convo by saying, "Go on. He won't annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over."(135) So those are the reasons why I think Tom won.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this post! Gatsby is constantly trying to make things go back to the way they used to be with Daisy, and seeing her and Tom's daughter was a big wake up call for Gatsby. I think that he now knows that he isn't Daisy's number one concern. She has moved for the past 5 years and is having trouble adjusting to Gatsby's presence. However, she seems to be considering leaving Tom. I agree with YeMaya, saying that Tom pretty much won the agrument. Even though Daisy said she didn't love Tom, Tom made Gatsby look like a random stranger who came out of nowhere. Daisy still went home with Tom afterwards, which means that she probably hasn't offically made up her mind about leaving him. This says that Tom must have made an impact on Daisy's thinking, because at this point in the book she is still with him. I'm very interested to see what happens next between them! Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like it! I think Daisy was disappointed when Tom said Gatsby is earning money from alcohol and drugs which was prohibited at that time. Also, she didn't like Gatsby force her to say that Daisy never loved Tom because that wasn't real. In chapter 7 Gatsby was frustrated because he didn't won Daisy but he is losing her. I don't understand why Tom got so angry even he is cheating on Daisy.
ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest, I feel as if Daisy may feel a little bit of past love for Gatsby coming back, but mostly a present lust because she wants to have the best of both worlds- her family and whatever she looks for in a future, and her past. She lusts to have him loving her again in a more physical and emotional way than Tom does, but also knows deep down that she loves Tom even though he has an affair with her behind her back that she knows about. In Daisy's little bubble of a world, she does her best to find any utopian aspects to add to her life to pretend that its innocent and good. To her, that means having her family and "old money" title and house, with her "new money" love and whatever is gained by her through Gatsby and the affair to make her life more pleasing and to make up for what time she is left by the wayside by Tom. I feel that Gatsby is both a lust and a way to feel loved when waiting around for Tom to be ready for her.
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