Chapter Seven
The Great Gatsby Summary
   Fearing discovery of his affair with Daisy, Gatsby fires all his servants and hires a family of brothers who operate under the direction of Wolfshiem. His elaborate parties come to an end, but some stragglers continue to drop by every weekend.
   Daisy invites Nick and Gatsby over for lunch promising that Miss Baker will be there. Daisy professes her love to Gatsby in front of Tom during lunch. After eating, Daisy suggests a trip into town. Tom insists that he and Gatsby switch cars.
   On the way to town, Tom stops for gas at Wilson's Garage and learns that he and his wife Myrtle are leaving. Tom realizes with panic that both of the women he holds dear to him are being taken away simultaneously.
   After much arguing, they decide to rent a room at the Plaza Hotel near Central Park to have a place to drink. Gatsby proves the disputed question of his attendance at Oxford by revealing that after the Armistice, some officers were given the option of attending any college in either France or England. He stayed only five months at Oxford and therefore does not feel right in calling himself an Oxford man. During this time, Tom openly asks Gatsby about his affair with Daisy. Tension builds as Gatsby claims that Daisy has only loved him, and had for five years. Somewhat reluctantly, Daisy whispers that she never loved Tom. Quickly realizing her mistake, she admits that she loved both Tom and Gatsby at the same time, but is, in fact, leaving Tom. In his intense anger, Tom reveals that he has learned about Gatsby's bootlegging business with Meyer Wolfshiem.
   With the situation unresolved, the group decides to return home. Tom oddly insists that Daisy ride back with Gatsby to Long Island, switching the cars back to the original owners. Gatsby allows Daisy to drive, but while passing Wilson's Garage, Myrtle runs out into the street believing it to be Tom. Daisy does not swerve to miss Myrtle and runs into her, killing her on impact. Daisy continues driving after the incident occurs, forcing Gatsby to throw on the emergency brake.
   Coming upon the accident, Tom stops the car and is hit with the realization that Myrtle was killed. He deduces that the yellow car that Michaelis, the Greek restaurant owner, described is, in fact, Gatsby's car.
   Returning to the Buchanan household, Tom invites Nick and Jordan inside. Nick declines, requesting only for a taxi to be called and waits outside. Between two bushes, Gatsby calls for Nick. At this point Gatsby reveals to Nick that Daisy was the one driving and that he is going to wait around the house until Daisy goes to bed. Nick leaves quietly in the taxi, and Gatsby remains at his vigil.

Characters
Jay Gatsby - compared to Trimalchio who is a lavish host in The Satyricon, a Latin work by Petronius, for his brightly illuminated parties with colorful lights
Nick Carraway - cousin of Daisy Buchanan, dating Jordan Baker, turns thirty and realizes that his life is promising only loneliness and thinning hair
Daisy Buchanan - described as having a voice full of money with the charm that rose and fell in it, extremely dependent on male figures
Jodan Baker - famed golf player, somewhat of a mannish figure, independent
Tom Buchanan - gruff and husky voice, athletic build, thick body that blocks out light from the doorway, simple mind, volatile
Pammy Buchanan - daughter of Tom and Daisy, eager to impress her mother by showing off her dress, well-disciplined, taken care of by nurse
George Wilson - proprietor of Wilson's Garage, extremely sick resulting from the shock that his wife is leading another life, but nevertheless fills up Gatsby's car with gas which Tom is driving
Myrtle Wilson - a relatively unattractive large woman, having an affair with Tom Buchanan, killed by Daisy while running out into the road, believing Tom is the driver
"Blocks" Biloxi - fainted at the June wedding of Tom and Daisy in Louisville, made boxes and lived in Biloxi, Tennessee (Biloxi is actually located in Mississippi, whether the mistake is the author's or the characters' is undetermined)
Meyer Wolfshiem - bootlegging partner with Gatsby, bought up a lot of side-street drug stores in New York and Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter
Michaelis - young Greek man, principle witness to Myrtle's death at the inquest, owner of a restaurant near Wilson's Garage

Symbols
   Fitzgerald uses color symbolism to convey many of his ideas. The white dresses of Jordan, Daisy, and Pammy represent purity. The sound that is visible from the Buchanans' veranda that points directly to Gatsby's house is green. This green color represents the hope and desire that Gatsby has of being together with Daisy once again. It is also used to symbolize money and the misplaced and adulterated dream. Gatsby's yellow car is ultimately the murder weapon used to kill Myrtle. This yellow represents money and crass materialism that corrupts and destroys Gatsby's dream.

Motifs
   Fitzgerald uses a circus motif throughout this novel. Tom tells Daisy that he will take her to town in Gatsby's "circus wagon." Even the title, The Great Gatsby reflects somewhat of the circus-like life that Gatsby leads. The reader is led to think something along the lines of, "Step right up and see the great Gatsby!"
   While at the Buchanan household in the beginning of the chapter, and at the Plaza Hotel, the heat is unbearably stifling. This heat is used to symbolize the intense sexual energy running between the characters. Tom finally discovers at his house that Daisy really loves Gatsby, and his fears are confirmed at the hotel when she confesses her love.

Setting
   The chapter begins with lunch at the Buchanan household nearing the last days of summer. The characters then proceed to New York where they rent a suite at the Plaza Hotel near Central Park. Some time is spent at Wilson's Garage after Myrtle is killed and the chapter concludes once again at the Buchanan household.

Thematic Elements
   The recklessness of society is epitomized through Myrtle's death. She is struck by a car constructed with human hands during the selfish carefree decade of the 1920s.
   The death of the American Dream is depicted through Gatsby's disappointing experience. His hopes of living a wonderful life with Daisy are dashed as she professes her love for both men.

Quotations
"'Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money- that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it...High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl" (127). This quotation refers to Daisy Buchanan and the way money has greatly affected her life and those who surround her. Being brought up in a wealthy household caused her to speak with refinement and perfection. Daisy has always had whatever she wanted, including her choice of men.

"The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long" (145). Myrtle Wilson's death ends the way she lived. She was always struggling to join a higher social class. Ultimately, she was eliminated by this class that she so desperately wanted to join. It is Gatsby's expensive car that is the murder weapon, and Daisy, with her "voice full of money" that is the murderer.

"Suddenly she threw the cigarette and the burning match on the carpet. 'Oh, you want too much!' she cried to Gatsby. 'I love you now- isn't that enough?'" (139-140). Heat throughout this novel refers to the intense sexual energy between characters. The climax occurs with this actual reference to fire, as Daisy declares that she loves Gatsby, but had also loved Tom.



Page created on March 5, 1999.
Curator: Lara Jacobi