How far do you agree with Nick’s view that Gatsby is “worth the whole damn bunch put together”?

I agree with this statement completely as despite his involvement in 'bootlegging' and how his life was built around lies, Gatsby stands for something in which the other characters lack. I believe he stands for hope, for love and for dreams. This is shows through his adoration of Daisy and his tenacity to never give up on her.

The first reason that this statement holds truth is the contrast between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. From chapter one we begin to understand that the relationship between Tom and Daisy is purely superficial, a relationship that seemed to be based on show and wealth. In this chapter, we learn from Jordan that Tom has been seeing another woman in New York, and Tom's attitude toward Daisy does not adopt the most loving manner. Instead of allowing his wife to join in on the conversation or take interest in what she talks of, he is more concerned about the extremist book he's been reading and discussing it's racist views - 'The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be - will be utterly submerged.'

This greatly contrasts with Gatsby. He is compassionate toward Daisy unlike Tom who treats her only as a possession, and his determination in refusing to give up on her and this dream world he has created for the two of them. Even in chapter seven when Daisy runs over Myrtle, Gatsby takes the blame himself just to protect her - Nick asks, 'Was Daisy driving?' to which Gatsby responds, 'Yes... but of course I'll say I was.' By this time Gatsby has already abandoned his elaborate parties, which only existed as a way to lure in the one he so yearned for, which counteracts the argument that he was purely covetous and materialistic. He even shouts at Tom in chapter seven, 'She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me,' which illustrates how all the effort and his immersion in illegal business was all to build up an Empire big enough and grand enough for Daisy, and also demonstrates how money-orientated and trivial Daisy is. In comparison to Daisy, it may well be said he was worth a lot more than her. Towards the end of the book she and Tom both pack up and move on, recoiling back into all their money and hiding away from the upset and destruction they had both caused.

Another reason Gatsby stands for something greater than the other characters is the fact that he died with love still in his heart and a dream to aspire to. He did not die bitter and anguished over the fact he could not have Daisy, over the fact that his whole life had been created with her at the center, and all for nothing. Gatsby died only with a taste on his tongue of what life could be like with Daisy, of what it would feel like to have her as his own, but this seemed to console him enough to know he was dying a happier and better man. He refused to give in until the very end, when Nick suggests that Gatsby 'ought to go away,' Gatsby is almost in shock when he responds, 'Go away now, old sport?' He could not bear to tear himself away after how far he had come, how far he had gotten to Daisy being his. And despite his love's own selfishness and shallow ways, he dies still with that green glow of hope in his heart. Gatsby is 'worth the whole damn bunch put together' because he died with love.

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapter 8-9

• 'Grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams' - big difference from previous chapters - setting of West Egg has usually been dreamlike in the sense that it has been extravagant and elegant, beautiful colours and sounds of laughter and chatter, now it is much more sincere and dark
• Focus of narrative shifts - informs the reader about what happened at the garage after Myrtle died
• Wilson speaks of the eyes of T.J Eckleburg, eyes of God - relates back to previous chapters where they have been described - gives the idea that the eyes have seen everything and are all knowing
• Time: Gatsby cannot accept the fact that he cannot control time, cannot go back to how things used to be between him and Daisy
• Green light: green light on her dock a symbol of his destiny with her, his dream for a life with Daisy kept alive with symbolism
• Time: not linear, shifts between the past, Gatsby telling Nick of his and Daisy's past, again reinforcing how he just wants to keep his dream alive, and then bringing it back up to date
• 'There was a ripe mystery about it...bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool... of gay and radiant activities... laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year's shining motor cars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered.' - these particular words having such a deep contrast with the rest of chapter 8 and with events that have already happened, relating back to Gatsby's parties
• chapter 9: time is not linear once again, Nick writes two years after Gatsby's death, and Gatsby's father telling Nick of his earlier life
• Nick decides to leave West Egg due to its empty values - shows how time has changed once again, at the start of the book West Egg is empty for Nick with nothing there for him, until he then meets Jordan and Gatsby, when he has more purpose, and then Gatsby dies and Jordan announces she is engaged, when West Egg becomes meaningless to him once more
• By now the story has obviously shifted from a love story to a tragedy
• 'I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.' - Nick commenting on their inability to shape themselves into characters of West Egg - almost summarizing, tying the story together

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapter 7

• This chapter is the longest chapter in the book but I think this is because it is arguably the most important chapter. Because of the events that take place it deserves more time and coverage.
• There are a lot of dramatic moments in the chapter, obviously because Tom finds out about Gatsby and Daisy and Myrtle is run over. 
• In the first part of the chapter, Nick says that Gatsby's 'career as Trimalchio was over.' Trimalchio was known for throwing lavish dinner parties and having power and wealth - this shows his affection for Daisy as after she attended one of his parties Gatsby is sure she didn't like it, and gets new servants because he doesn't want any gossip going about - Nick writes, 'so the whole caravansary had fallen at the disapproval in her eyes.'
• Pathetic fallacy is used to show how uncomfortable the characters are, as Nick writes, 'the next day was broiling', and how the train driver says 'Some weather...Hot!' he also says how when they are all in the hotel and the window is opened that it is 'hot shrubbery', and also writes, 'compressed heat exploded-' here Nick is using the heat of the weather to build up the tension to what is about to happen
• Tone is used a lot to express how the characters feel, for example, 'open another window', commanded Daisy,' and 'the thing to do is forget about the heat,' said Tom impatiently,' showing the frustration between the couple surrounding their rocky relationship
• I think that there is a change in genre when we get to chapter seven as it goes from being a sort of romantic novel to a tragedy, however the elements of love are still present. This is because of the sudden explosion in the characters emotions, as Nick puts it, 'they were out in the open and at last Gatsby was content,' to suggest he had been waiting for this for such a long time and he was relieved to have everything laid out on the table at last.
• In this chapter there is actually a lack of colour and sound, which is something Nick uses a lot in the previous chapters, but that may be because he doesn't want the reader to concentrate on the trivial details but wants to express the scene just how he recalled it.
• We also notice in this chapter that it is in linear chronology which differs from the other chapters as they usually skip from one event to another in time. This may be because the other chapters do not focus solely on one solid event, but describe several things and maybe because of other reasons such as in chapter 2 when he's drunk and cannot remember things strictly as they happened.

Character, theme and ideology - Gatsby Chapter 4

The Great Gatsby Chapter 4 - character, theme and ideology

Main discussion points:

• Nick’s confidence growing
• How he is becoming more involved with the people
• His feelings toward Gatsby
• Daisy’s past

In the first section of chapter 4 Nick names all the attendants of Gatsby’s parties. This explores Nick’s character development as it suggests to the readers his materialistic side. An example of this would be when he writes, ‘and Edgar Beaver, whose hair, they say, turned cotton white one winter afternoon for no good reason at all.’ He finds himself repeating rumour just like the characters would at the parties, who he looks upon as superficial and materialistic. In chapter one he tells us of how he would be referred to as a ‘politician’ in University and this is supported further throughout the novel as we begin to understand Nick; he is very reserved, observant and tends to think very carefully about all he does. However now we see Nick developing and beginning to succumb to the nature of the East and West Egg. Another point is when Nick writes, ‘a Prince of something, whom we called Duke,’ – here he uses the pronoun ‘we’, including himself when he regards the people of Gatsby’s elaborate parties. Clearly this is very contrasting to chapter 3 when he attends his first party at Gatsby’s when he writes, ‘I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table – the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone.’ His confidence is growing and this becomes more apparent as the novel continues.

In this chapter, Nick goes out with Gatsby in his car, which he describes as ‘rich cream’, and says that the colour of Gatsby’s suit is ‘caramel’. These colours are also sweet things, which may show a deeper affection for Gatsby despite Nick’s initial disgust in him, as he represents everything Nick begrudges. Again this shows character progression in Nick as his feelings toward Jay Gatsby are gradually changing. Also, the use of colours here represents the theme of materialism, as these may be seen as beautiful and grand colours, the colour of money. The theme/idea of wrong doing is also reinforced at the beginning of the chapter when Nick says, ‘on Sunday morning when church bells rang in the villages along the shore, the world and its mistress returned to Gatsby’s house and twinkled hilariously on his lawn.’  The bells ringing from the Church on a Sunday is religious and holy, with Sunday being a holy day, and the ‘world and it’s mistress’ representing all the wrong doing taking place, such as the illegal drinking and affairs, namely Tom and Myrtle, laughing in the face of morality – ‘and twinkled hilariously on his lawn’ – also representing the people who gather there to drink.

Nick further pursues his own desires and seems to be caving in his diplomatic ways. He writes, ‘There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.’ This acts as a shift in Nick Carraway, as a personal acceptance of his own adaptation - as at the end of chapter four, he kisses Jordan, despite his earlier thinking that he should sort the situation back home before moving on to anything else. Daisy also develops in this chapter as more is revealed about her and the relationship with Gatsby through Jordan. Here we learn that Daisy never wanted to marry Tom, but maybe did so as to conform to the character she was expected to be, to act as a trophy wife, or perhaps she was too scared to abandon her plans with Tom on a whim that Gatsby would come riding back into her life on a white stallion. 

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapter 4

• At the very start of the chapter Nick writes 'On Sunday morning when church bells rang,' - church bells obviously being holy, and yet he continues to write 'the world and its mistress returns to Gatbsy's house', - contrast between church and holiness and the sinning between the 'world and it's mistress'- maybe referring to Tom and Myrtle. 
• Nick recalls all the names of the people who had been attending Gatsby's parties, showing how observant he is and how actually he's quite interested in the lives of other people - earlier he mentions Myrtle's reading material 'Town Tattle' but here it suggests that even he can be superficial and nosy. 
• Colour - 'rich cream' to describe the car, 'caramel' to describe the suit - colours of sweet things - maybe to show some form of affection toward Gatsby?
• Element of mystery is reinforced with Gatsby - his vagueness when talking to Nick and his sudden disappearance when the meeting with Tom occurs.
•   Nick makes a lot of references to the sky e.g 'a dozen suns' -dreamlike, illusional, perhaps suggesting there is an underlying negativity
• 'There are only the pursued, pursuing, the busy and the tired' - shows Nick's confidence increasing and how he is developing as a narrator, contrasting with how he was called a 'politician'. Now he is becoming more spontaneous and giving in to his desires rather than thinking everything out for long periods of time.

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapter 3

• Nick uses a lot of reference to color and sound which reflects his watchful and observant personality - he speaks of Gatsby's 'blue gardens', suggesting his thoughts are that Gatsby thinks he is royalty. 
• He describes the party goers as 'moths among the whisperings' - this comparison gives the idea that he feels the party goers are just attracted to money and nice things, like moths are to light. 
• Many references to color and light - 'stars, colored lights, glistening, dark gold, primary colours, opal, yellow' - gives insight to the atmosphere, people 
• Description of sound - 'oboes, trombones, chatter, laughter, yellow cocktail music, voices sang,' - reflects the social scale and status of Gatsby and people attending the party, their happiness and the way they revel in money
• Nick uses many lists to convey a certain image or idea - 'significant, elemental and profound, books or insurance or automobiles, whisperings and the champagne and the stars.' 
• He also uses many references to the moon, for example he writes 'a wafer of moon was shining over Gatsby's house' - uses powerful imagery and relates back to chapter 2 where Gatsby is staring up at the sky and as Nick dictates ' deciding which share of the heavens were his.' Gives the impression there is much to be revealed about Gatsby, especially when it is written that 'endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in formal gesture of farewell'  -Nick refers to him as a 'figure', and says he is in 'complete isolation', showing mystery and loneliness.
• Nick unknowingly makes a link between himself and Gatsby, when he writes about himself, 'I felt a haunting loneliness', after stating that Gatsby was in complete isolation. 

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapters 1-2

• Straight away in the first chapter we get an insight to Nick's upbrining - very proper, so how will this develop and contribute to the narrative?
• 'I'm inclined to reserve all judgements', - we understand how he is quite an introvert character, who watched and observes, 'I was unjustly accused of being a politician' - gives the sense he may be quite serious - is there an underlying reason for this?
• 'Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn' - foreshadows later conflict with Gatsby, raises questions - how will this affect the story?
• Why does he refer to his cousin in such a romantic way? - 'Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget; a stinging compulsion...'
• Why does Nick refer to Tom as 'Tom Buchanan' but to Daisy only as 'Daisy?' -  may show status, role in society
• A lot of references to wealth  - 'Lived in France for no particular reason'.
• Tom comes across very arrogant - 'Nice place I've got here' - and racist, 'It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things'.
• Daisy and Tom's relationship seems very dysfunctional and showy - the way Tom disregards her
• What is the significance of Doctor Eckleburg?
•  Why does Tom have a mistress?
• Myrtle is portrayed as not very well educated and fairly illiterate - 'I got to write down a list so I don't forget all the things I got to do.'
• Tom is revealed as a violent brute as Myrtle repeats Daisy's name (this could show some sort of regret as to what he's doing or shame) - 'Tom Buchanan broke her nose with this open hand.'
• A lot of characters are revealed in the second chapter which makes me wonder what their significance will be later on in the play