Great Gatsby ch7,8,9

Nick reflects 2 years after Gatsby's death  

  • Tons of reporters and gossip surrounded the whole situation  

  • The true story is never explained 

    • Instead, Wilson was labeled a "madman deranged by grief" 

    • Catherine maintains that Myrtle was completely happy with her husband 

No one shows up for Gatsby 

  • Nick is the one left to answer reporters, plan the funeral, and call up Gatsby's friends. 

  • Tom and Daisy have packed up and moved away, leaving no address 

    • They flee and experience no consequences for their actions  

    • Daisy pays no respects to Gatsby  

    • Careless people 

  • Wolfsheim  

    • He claims he is shaken up about Gatsby's death but can't get away from his "business dealing." 

    • Nick goes to see him on the day of the funeral, but his secretary says that he isn't there.  

    • Eventually, Nick talks with him and learns that Wolfsheim "made" Gatsby (business) 

    • Wolfsheim still won't come to the funeral, won’t "get mixed up in it." 

  • Klipspringer "the boarder" 

    • Calls, but he only wants to know about a pair of shoes he left at Gatsby's house  

  • Someone named Slagle calls and immediately starts talking about business 

    • When Nick interrupts him, "Look here- this isn't Mr. Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby's dead" (Fitz 174), Slagle hangs up 

Gatsby's Father- Henry C Gatz  

  • Sent a telegram to postpone the funeral until he arrives from Minnesota  

  • He learned about his son's death through the newspaper 

  • Solemn, helpless, shocked  

  • We know Gatsby bought him his house, was generous with him 

  • It brings an old schedule of Gatsby's  

    • Gatsby's character: Diligent, wanting to improve/make something of himself 

Gatsby's funeral 

  • The only people who show up are: 

    • Nick  

    • His father  

    • Some servants  

    • Owl Eyes  

Nick plans to move back West Egg  

  • He is sick of the values of the East  

  • He breaks up with Jordan; she is engaged to another man  

  • He runs into Tom in NYC  

    • Tom was the one who told George that Gatsby owned the yellow car 

    • No regrets or shame about Gatsby's death says he deserved to die  

    • He mourns the loss of his NYC apartment  

  • "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made."  

Nicks reflections  

  • The American Dream, like Gatsby's dream of Daisy, is unattainable; it is over in the past.  

  • "so we beat on boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." 

  • Living in the past prevents any meaningful progress in the present/future