- Chapter summary for the Great Gatsby
- detailed analysis for the chapter
- used by myself for the OCR: English literature and language specification (H074, H474)
- however, it can be used for other specifications
- achieved A* with these notes (combined with others I have uploaded)
- Gatsby waits all night outside the Buchanans’ house in case Daisy needs him, but nothing happens.
- Gatsby tells Nick the truth about his past and his relationship with Daisy.
- Nick goes to work where he receives a phone call from Jordan. He makes excuses not to see her.
- Nick describes events that occurred just after Myrtle’s death, and hints that Wilson headed to Gatsby’s house.
- Nick returns from work and finds that Gatsby has been killed. Wilson’s body is found nearby.
No longer are Nick’s dreams of romantic women smiling invitingly at him. Now he tosses ‘half-sick between
grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams’. What is keeping him awake is the fear that there will be
repercussions for Gatsby.
At dawn, Fitzgerald is very specific about the quality of the ‘grey-turning, gold-turning’ light that fills the house, a
gloomy light but still with a hint of gold to suggest the possibility of romance.
In a description of Gatsby’s smile, Nick juxtaposes ‘ecstatic’ with ‘cahoots’. This phrase neatly sums up Nick’s
perception of Gatsby, the ‘elegant young rough-neck’ with the sublime dream.
Fitzgerald employs dramatic irony when Nick replies ‘I want to see you, too’ because we know he is lying.
Gatsby’s dream is dead:
The chapter begins at the end of summer, which coincides with the ending of Gatsby’s dream, his love affair with
Daisy and his life. Fitzgerald uses various narrative techniques in this chapter to build suspense:
- the chapter is divided into short segments to suggest that the novel is building up to a climax.
- Nick uses a series of incomplete accounts to increase the tension – because the story is told from the point of view
of a range of characters, the reader doesn’t know what to believe. Withholding information increases the mystery.
- Fitzgerald creates a cliff-hanger at the end of the chapter – Gatsby’s dead but it’s not clear how.
Gatsby tells Nick his real history:
Chapter 8 opens ominously – Nick can’t sleep and shifts between nightmares and ‘grotesque’ reality:
- Around dawn Nick walks over to Gatsby’s house to find Gatsby has neglected his home while he has been seeing
Daisy. The darkness contrasts with the bright lights of former times and the ‘splash upon the keys of a ghostly piano’
in the dark is like an echo of past parties.
Gatsby can’t admit that his dream is dead. He talks to Nick about Daisy as a way of keeping his dream alive. Nick’s
references to Daisy’s wealth and status – ‘the bought luxury of star-shine’ ‘a person from much the same strata as
herself’ – implies that Gatsby is attracted to what Daisy stands for, rather than who she is.
It is suggested that Gatsby only wanted Daisy because, like the ‘grail’, she was unobtainable. Gatsby’s tendency to
dream means he always wants more. The refence to the grail links Gatsby to medieval knights who followed the
strict code of chivalry in completing dangerous quests and selflessly worshipping their ‘lady’ at a distance.
Gatsby repeatedly suggests he is unworthy of Daisy. Nick claims that Gatsby is ‘worth the whole damn bunch’,
contradicting his ‘unworthiness’ and highlights the problems of a class-based society.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust:
Inside Gatsby’s mansion Nick notices that now ‘there was an inexplicable amount of dust everywhere’. The word
‘dust’ should remind us of the description in Chapter 2 of George Wilson’s home, in the valley of ashes, where ‘a
white ashen dust’ covers everything. Nick keeps Gatsby company at this difficult time; and Michaelis tries to look
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