The Great Gatsby: Chapter Eight

Question: Select a passage that reveals Nick’s attitudes. Discuss how this passage contributes to your interpretation of the work as a whole, including strategies employed by the author to reveal these attitudes. Comment on the role they play in your own reaction to the ending and the novel as a whole.

Answer:

            Chapter Eight brings with us the aftermath of Myrtle’s death, which results in the death of Wilson and Gatsby. Before that, Nick gets to say what turned out to be his last words to Gatsby. He says, “We shook hands and I started away. Just before I reached the hedge I remembered something and turned around.

“They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end. First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time. His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot of color against the white steps, and I thought of the night when I first came to his ancestral home, three months before. The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption—and he had stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible dream, as he waved them good-by.

I thanked him for his hospitality. We were always thanking him for that—I and the others.” (Fitzgerald, 154).

            The most important relationship in this novel is the friendship between Gatsby and Nick because it’s one of the only real ones. Most of the others mentioned are shallow and fake. For example, Gatsby’s ‘friends’ that comes to his parties are just using his hospitality. Daisy’s ‘feelings’ for Gatsby are either very fragile or non-existent based on how she quickly changes her mind about him at the hotel. Even the mother-daughter relationship between Daisy and Pammy is superficial beings as Daisy treats her more like a toy that she can take out to dress up and show around before putting her back away and not bothering with her. In comparison to those sorry excuses for a connection between two people, Gatsby and Nick’s friendship stands out. They tell each other things that they don’t reveal to others (for example, Gatsby tells Nick about his life and family), they help each other out and simply care for one another (like when they stay awake all night after Myrtle’s death because both are unable of dealing with it). Therefore, Nick’s opinion and attitude towards and about Gatsby is very important. In this passage, he reveals that he spent a lot of time judging and opposed to his behavior and whatnot. However, as he gets to truly know Gatsby, he, while still sometimes disapproving of his course of actions, finds that Gatsby’s motives are pure and good. Gatsby is a good person, plain and simple. He’s made mistakes and might not always be on the right side of the law, but he is undoubtedly a good person and Nick can appreciate that when they’re surrounded by all of the fake and selfish people. What is Nick’s attitude towards Gatsby? He makes it very clear in his last words to his gentlemanly neighbor, “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (Fitzgerald, 154).

            Nick also makes his attitude towards Daisy, Tom and Jordan very clear. He ends chapter seven by saying, ““I’d had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too.” (Fitzgerald, 142) and it seems that a few hours to calm down and reflect has certainly not changed his opinion. To Gatsby, he says, “They’re a rotten crowd.” (Fitzgerald, 154). While he’s had his suspicions the whole time, there was no question about it anymore. Nick has seen who these people truly are and it’s not a pretty sight. They’re bad people in the sense that they only care for themselves and their money. Nick has clearly decided that they aren’t the type of people he should surround himself with. They’re worth millions monetarily, but when it comes to substance and character, they’re dirt poor.

            Nick’s attitudes don’t affect my interpretation of the story much, because I agree with him on it. This passage did assist me in figuring out Gatsby’s death before it occurred though due to its blatant foreshadowing. Nick states, “I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him” (Fitzgerald, 154). That excerpt along with the emphasis on their goodbyes makes it clear that they wouldn’t ever see each other again, which is probably because one of them is about to die. It’s only logical to assume that it would be Gatsby since the story focuses on him, Nick is the narrator (and narrators don’t often get killed off in books), Gatsby is involved in dangerous and illegal business and was recently caught having an affair with a man’s wife and is taking the blame for a hit and run. Since I realized that he was going to die, Gatsby’s death wasn’t surprising. However, I did feel the incredible sadness and injustice of it all since he was murdered for two things that he didn’t do (the affair with Myrtle and the hit and run). It was awful to see a good man die for the wrongs of Tom and Daisy, who are two horrible people.