Gatsby Chapter 7 Journal

Summary: One night, Nick observed that the parties had ceased occurring over at Gatsby's. He goes over to see if Gatsby is sick, and an unfamiliar butler answers the door. The butler is rude to Nick, but informs him that Gatsby is not sick and says that he will tell him of Nick's visit. Nick then learns from his Finnish servant that Gatsby has replaced all of his servants, and the new ones don't seem very much like servants. The next day, Gatsby and Nick talk on the phone and Nick learns that they all used to run a hotel, were sent from Wolfsheim, and are there because they won't gossip. Nick is then invited over to Daisy's for lunch the next day with Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan, and accepts. It is brutally hot the next day, and Nick has an unpleasant train ride to the Buchanan's. Gatsby and Nick arrive at the house and are guided into the cool salon. Daisy and Jordan are awaiting them, but Tom is on the phone in the hall talking to Mr. Wilson about the car. Daisy gets Tom to go make them some drinks, and while he is gone she goes over and kisses Gatsby, saying she loves him. Jordan and Daisy make a slight joke about there being a lady present. A nurse walks in with Pammy, Daisy's daughter. Daisy introduces Pammy to her guests, showing her off, and then the nurse takes her back. Tom returns with drinks, says some 'scientific' nonsense about the sun, and takes Gatsby out on the veranda to show him the view. Gatsby points out his house. At lunch, Daisy suggests they go to town. She says that Gatsby looks cool, but really in subtext it's like she is confessing her love for him, and Tom notices. He is atounded. Tom gets them all up to go to town immediately, and Daisy and Jordan go upstairs to get ready. Tom, Nick, and Gatsby chat for a bit, and then Tom goes inside to fetch some whiskey to take with them. Nick and Gatsby now deduce that Daisy's voice is 'full of money', that's why it charms. Tom decides he wants to take Gatsby's car and Daisy, and have Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby drive in his coupe. Daisy however goes with Gatsby instead, leaving Tom with Jordan and Nick. Tom speaks about the affair he has just witnessed with Nick and Jordan. Tom says he's been investigating Gatsby, and Jordan makes a joke about a medium. Tom has to stop to get gas, at the Wilson garage. Tom and George discuss their conversation they had earlier, and Mr. Wilson says that he needs the money for him and his wife to move West. Tom is startled. Wilson says that he suspects something about his wife, and it is obviously making him physically sick. Tom agrees to give him the car. Myrtle sees Tom's car out the window, and looks on with extreme jealousy because she believes that Jordan is his wife. Tom and Gatsby meet up on the road and Jordan suggests they go to see a movie. Daisy suggests that Tom, Nick, and Jordan go to watch a movie, but that she and Gatsby drive around for a while instead. Tom decides that they should have a further discussion on the matter at the Plaza hotel. They meet up and agree to get a room. Daisy complains about the heat, Tom tells her to stop, and Gatsby defends Daisy. Daisy decides that everyone needs to get a mint julep. They hear a wedding going on downstairs. Daisy remembers a man whom neither of them knew at her and Tom's wedding named Biloxi, who stayed with Jordan, and gave her an aluminum putter, until her dad kicked him out. Her dad died a day later. Biloxi said he was from Yale, which starts the discussion on Gatsby being an Oxford man, which Tom doesn't believe. Gatsby finally tells them that he only went to Oxford for 5 months, after the Armistice deal. Daisy gets up to make drinks, but Tom starts asking Gatsby about what he is trying to do to his household. Daisy answers for Gatsby, saying he isn't trying to cause any problems. Tom goes on about some tangent on how people don't respect the family unit anymore and makes a racist comment about how people shouldn't intermarry. Tom insults Gatsby and his parties. Gatsby gets mad and tells Tom that Daisy never loved him. The two men argue for a time, each getting more angry. Daisy breaks in and makes a comment about Tom's cheating and an incident in Chicago. Daisy breaks down after being taken into the argument and says that she loved Gatsby, but she loved Tom too. Gatsby is baffled. Tom says that he is going to take better care of Daisy, and Gatsby says that Daisy is going to move in with him. Daisy says that she is leaving Tom. Tom talks about Wolfsheim, and how he discovered the truth behind Gatsby's bootlegging drug-stores, and bring up a man named Walter Chase who was threatened to keep silent by Wolfsheim. Nick noticed that Gatsby gets a look in his eye, and sees why people say that he could have killed a man before. Gatsby frantically tries to explain to Daisy, but Daisy just wants to go home. They leave with Gatsby in his own car again, and Nick realizes he had forgotten that it was his 30th birthday that day. Nick is comforted of his fears of a new decade by Jordan, sitting right beside him. We view a scene in which Michaelis, a neighbor of the Wilson's, sees George's sickness and tells him to rest. Wilson decides not to, and asks Michaelis suspicious questions involving Myrtle. This whole time, George has Myrtle locked up inside, which she doesn't take kindly to. Michaelis leaves, and Myrtle runs out of the house, and onto the road. She recognizes Tom's car and believes that Tom is in it, and so she tries to get it to stop, but it turns out that she gets run over (Gatsby and Daisy have no idea who she is). Tom drives by and stops to see what all the racket at the garage is about. Mr. Wilson is freaking out about his dead wife. Tom sees Myrtle's corpse and learns what happened via Michaelis, a policeman, and a black man, who tells him what the car looked like. Tom goes and tell George that he wasn't in the car he was driving earlier, and that he sold it. Tom leaves after some questioning by the policeman, and sobs all the way home. They arrive back at the Buchanan's to find Daisy is already home. Tom invites Nick in, and Jordan asks him to come in, but Nick declines, not wanting to see any of them, and waits outside while Tom calls for a taxi. Gatsby steps out of the bushes and Nick discovers that it was Daisy who was driving the car, and that she had tried to swerve away, but didn't. Gatsby says he'll take the blame for Daisy though. Gatsby says that he is going to wait until Tom and Daisy go to bed before he leaves so that he can make sure Tom doesn't try to hurt Daisy. Nick goes inside to check and see if there is any commotion, but finds Daisy and Tom sitting at the table together, not unhappily, looking as if they were conspiring something together. Nick goes back outside, reports to Gatsby, who says he is still going to wait, and leaves in his taxi.

Allusion: Trimalchio - a Roman novel cahracter who was a freedman who worked hard to gain his wealth. Mendelssohn's Wedding March.

Symbols: Dr. T. J. Eckleburg.

Irony: Tom and George Wilson realize that their wives are cheating on them at the same time.

    There is a wedding going on downstairs in the Plaza, while the Buchanan party is                           upstairs, dealing with relationship issues.

Motif: That Gatsby killed a man. Time - 5 years ago, 30th birthday, three months before.