Friday April 27 Gatsby through chapter VIII / symbolism

Vocabulary 13: due Tuesday May 1
Quick write: chapter 8
review of symbolism and the tale so far.
handout: plot line, copy below
finish the book for Monday


Gatsby. Reading schedule;


For Friday April 20 through chapter II


For Monday April 23 through chapter IV
For Tuesday April 24 through chapter V


For Wednesday April 25 through chapter VI


For Thursday April 26 through chapter VII


For Friday April 27 through chapter VIII


For Monday April 30 through chapter IX  -end of novel


Be prepared for a quick write or short quiz for each day. 





The Great Gatsby: ThemeTracker, Timeline-style rundown of all the important plot points

Back-story          

Jay Gatz is born on a farm in North Dakota.

Gatsby charms and becomes an assistant to Dan Cody, a multimillionaire.

Gatsby and Daisy fall in love in Louisville while Gatsby trains as a soldier.

Gatsby is a hero in the war and attends Oxford. Daisy marries Tom Buchanan

Gatsby returns to America penniless. He meets and goes into business with Meyer Wolfsheim.

1      

In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway moves to New York. He rents a house in new money West Egg, across the bay from old money East Egg.,

Nick goes to dinner at his cousin Daisy Buchanan’s house in East Egg. He also knows Daisy’s husband Tom, vaguely, from their time together at Yale.

At dinner, he meets Jordan Baker, endures Tom’s racist rants, and learns that Tom is having an affair.

Nick spots his neighbor Gatsby gazing across Long Island Sound at a tiny green light.

2      

Nick meets Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who is the wife of George Wilson, a mechanic in the Valley of Ashes.

Myrtle goes with Tom and Nick to the apartment Tom keeps in New York City. The gathering becomes a drunken party at which guests swaps rumors about Gatsby. At one point, Myrtle teases Tom by repeating Daisy’s name. Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose.

3      

Nick attends one of the extravagant Saturday night parties Gatsby throws at his mansion. Nick runs into Jordan at the party.

As Nick and Jordan explore the mansion, they meet Owl Eyes in Gatsby’s library. Owl Eyes admires the “realism” of Gatsby’s unread book collection.

Nick meets Gatsby at the party and the two realize that they knew each other in the army. Later, Gatsby tells Jordan a secret, remarkable story about his past.

Nick and Jordan start to date.

    4      

Nick travels into the city with Gatsby. Gatsby gets pulled over for speeding, but shows a little card to the policeman and is not given a ticket.

Nick meets Gatsby’s business partner Meyer Wolfsheim. Later they run into Tom Buchanan. Gatsby appears embarrassed and leaves without saying goodbye.

Jordan tells Nick the story of how Gatsby and Daisy fell in love but did not marry, and explains that Gatsby bought his mansion because it is directly across from Daisy’ house in East Egg. Nick realizes the green light must be on Daisy’s dock. Finally, Jordan relays Gatsby’s request that Nick engineer a meeting between him and Daisy.

   5      

Nick arranges the meeting between Daisy and Gatsby. Though at first it is awkward, soon Daisy and Gatsby are blissfully happy.

Gatsby gives them a tour of his mansion. Daisy cries over Gatsby’s beautiful English shirts. Nick leaves the two of them alone.

   6      

Tom and Daisy attend a party at Gatsby’s mansion, but Daisy seems to have a bad time. After the party, Gatsby suspects Daisy doesn’t understand the depth of his feelings for her.

Nick reminds Gatsby that the past is impossible to repeat. Gatsby disagrees.

   7      

Gatsby ceases throwing parties now that he has Daisy. He fires his servants, so they can’t gossip about Daisy’s afternoon visits to the mansion.

Daisy invites Nick and Gatsby to lunch with Jordan and Tom. Before lunch, Daisy kisses Gatsby when Tom is out of the room. A moment later, Gatsby sees Daisy’s daughter, and seems surprised.

During lunch, Tom can tell from Daisy’s behavior that she and Gatsby are having an affair. Gatsby and Nick agree that Daisy is indiscreet. Gatsby comments that Daisy’s voice is “full of money.”

The group goes to New York City. Tom drives Gatsby’s car, while Gatsby drives Tom’s coupe. They stop at Wilson’s garage to get gas, and Tom learns of Wilson’s plans to move west with Myrtle.

At Tom’s apartment, Gatsby and Tom argue over Daisy. Daisy says she loves only Gatsby. But a moment later, Daisy takes it back. Gatsby is shocked. Tom, victorious, tells the defeated Gatsby to drive Daisy home.

On the ride home, Gatsby’s car hits and kills Myrtle (who thought that the car was Tom’s, since Tom had been driving it earlier). Daisy is secretly at the wheel.

Nick remembers that it’s his thirtieth birthday. Gatsby hides outside of the Buchanans’ house out of concern for Daisy, though it’s clear that she’s fine.

  8       

Nick advises Gatsby to forget about Daisy, but he dismisses the advice. Then he tells Nick about how he first fell in love with Daisy.

Nick and Jordan have a fight over the phone. Nick finds that he doesn’t care.

George Wilson thinks the driver of the car is Myrtle’s lover, and somehow figures out that the car was Gatsby’s. Wilson shoots Gatsby, then kills himself.

     9    

Besides Nick and Gatsby’s father, only Owl Eyes attends Gatsby’s funeral.

Nick and Jordan end their relationship. Jordan accuses Nick of being dishonest with her.

Nick learns that Tom told Wilson that Gatsby had run over Myrtle, and describes Tom and Daisy as careless people who destroy things.

On his last night in West Egg before returning to Minnesota for good, Nick compares how the first settlers to America must have felt looking out at the great forests of the New World to how Gatsby must have felt when he realized that the green light was on Daisy’s dock.