- 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 stops holding parties and replaces all of his servants to prevent any gossip about Daisy’s visits.
- Nick, Gatsby and Jordan go for lunch at Tom and Daisy’s. Tom realises that Daisy and Gatsby are in love. They all go
to New York. Tom stops for petrol and Wilson reveals he knows Myrtle is having an affair.
- In New York, Tom confronts Gatsby about his past and accuses his of being a bootlegger. Gatsby tells Tom that that
Daisy never loved him, bit she claims she did and decides to stay with Tom.
- Daisy and Gatsby drive home ahead of the others. On the way back they hit and kill Myrtle. Tom finds out that
Gatsby’s car was involved in the accident. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving but that he’ll take the blame.
Gatsby dismisses his servants and replaces them with Wolfshiem’s thugs. While Daisy and Gatsby conduct their love
affair there are reminders of criminal activities through which Gatsby gained entry to Daisy’s world. If the kitchen
looked like ‘a pigsty’ and the general opinion is that they aren’t servants, it is very unlikely that they used to run a
small hotel, as Gatsby claims.
Tom finds out about Daisy’s affair:
Chapter 7 is the climax of the novel – different strands of the story finally converge in Myrtle’s dramatic death.
The conflict between Tom and Gatsby finally comes to the surface – their argument reveals flaws in both of them –
Tom’s prejudice and bullying is highlighted, as well as Gatsby’s immoral, criminal activities, and his inability to let go
of the past.
The climax occurs on the hottest day of summer – the oppressive heat reflects the passion and tension of the
characters’ affairs. The heat makes everyone irritable, and at a symbolic level it brings everything to the boil.
Gatsby puts an end to his parties:
The chapter opens with the news that Gatsby has stopped his parties and replaces his staff. The tone is unsettling
and sinister – the new butler has a ‘villainous face’ and its rumoured that the ‘new people weren’t servants at all’.
Now Gatsby has achieved his dream of being with Daisy, the parties no longer matter, and his lifestyle has ‘fallen in
like a card house at the disapproval of her eyes’.
The rumours surrounding Gatsby once made him mythical. However, now he shies away from them by stopping his
parties and replacing all his servants.
The rumours that were once a ‘source of satisfaction’, presumably because he hoped Daisy might hear about him,
now threaten the very relationship he has established with Daisy.
Nick declares that Gatsby’s ‘career as Trimalchio was over’ when Gatsby ends his parties . Fitzgerald gives Gatsby a
new literary identity as the modern Trimalchio of the American Dream. Trimalchio is a former slave who has made a
fortune through hard work and gained a degree of power. He’s famous for holding lavish parties, but the glamour of
his exotic feasts is undermined by the fact he’s vulgar and his display of wealth is garish. Trimalchio’s story end with
his guests acting out his funeral for his own entertainment, so Nick’s mention of his could be seen as foreshadowing
Gatsby’s death. By mentioning Trimalchio, Fitzgerald is also referencing T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ which also uses
the figure of Trimalchio.
Daisy seems to want to stir things up:
In contrast to Gatsby’s careful, secretive behaviour, Daisy appears reckless:
- At lunch Daisy flirts with Gatsby openly, kissing him in front of Jordan and Nick. Daisy acts as if she is in control,
ordering Tom to ‘make us a cold drink’. She inadvertently reveals to Tom that she loves Gatsby: ‘You always look so
cool’. Daisy seems to want to force a confrontation between Tom and Gatsby.
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