The Great Gatsby: Chapter Four

Question: Select a passage that gives the reader background information about Gatsby. Discuss how this passage contributes to your interpretation of the work as a whole, including literary strategies that affect your feelings about Gatsby.

Answer:

            During Chapter Four, Nick has tea with Jordan Baker, who, with Gatsby’s permission, tells him about Gatsby and Daisy’s history. About this, Nick writes, “He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths-so that he could "come over" some afternoon to a stranger's garden.

"Did I have to know all this before he could ask such a little thing?"

"He's afraid, he's waited so long. He thought you might be offended. You see, he's a regular tough underneath it all."

Something worried me.

"Why didn't he ask you to arrange a meeting?"

"He wants her to see his house," she explained. "And your house is right next door."

"Oh!"

"I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night," went on Jordan, "but she never did. Then he began asking people casually if they knew her, and I was the first one he found. It was that night he sent for me at his dance, and you should have heard the elaborate way he worked up to it. Of course, I immediately suggested a luncheon in New York-and I thought he'd go mad: " 'I don't want to do anything out of the way!' he kept saying. 'I want to see her right next door.' "

When I said you were a particular friend of Tom's, he started to abandon the whole idea. He doesn't know very much about Tom, though he says he's read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy's name."” (Fitzgerald, 78-79).

One of the characteristics that make up Gatsby the most is his infatuation and everlasting love for Daisy. Despite the facts that the couple has been separated for five years and that Daisy is married to another man, Gatsby remains devoted to her and does things that are borderline obsessive. For example, Nick states that Gatsby “had waited five years and bought a mansion” (Fitzgerald 78) just so he could meet up with her. He also threw wild, extravagant parties weekly in the hopes of her coming to one and asked people about her. Jordan mentions that “he's read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy's name” (Fitzgerald, 79). These actions can lead one to believe that he’s either unnaturally obsessed with her or crazy with love.

This passage also explains the (possible) motives behind Gatsby’s past actions. Based on what Jordan said, his reason for throwing the parties was to attract Daisy and/or help him meet up with her once more. It also explains what he wanted from Miss Baker when he beckoned for her at the first party that Nick attended. Earlier in this chapter, Mr. Wolfsheim, Gatsby’s longtime friend, said, “Gatsby's very careful about women. He would never so much as look at a friend's wife.” (Fitzgerald, 72). Aside from Gatsby’s loyalties to his friends, a reason that he might be this way is because he only cares for Daisy and isn’t interested in any other women.