The Great Gatsby - english

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The Great Gatsby Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis May 2011

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Chapter Eight – Summary Nick wracked by anxiety – hears Gatsby come home and heads to his house

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Gatsby had been outside of Daisy’s house all night

Nick advises Gatsby to leave town – Atlantic City, Montreal

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Cannot leave Daisy

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Chapter Eight – Summary 

Gatsby tells Nick the real story as to how he first met Daisy

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1917, Louisville 

Smitten with her wealth, beauty and youthful innocence

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Gatsby lied about his poverty and past

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Daisy promised to wait for him after the war 

Daisy married Tom, her social equal and her parents’ choice

When Nick leaves, he gives Gatsby a compliment

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“worth the whole damn bunch [of the Buchanans and their East Egg friends] put together.”

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Chapter Eight – Summary Valley of Ashes 

George Wilson being consoled by Michaelis

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George Wilson tells Michaelis that he confronted Myrtle with the evidence of her affair 

She could not hide it from the eyes of God

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George Wilson mistakes Dr. T.J. Eckelburg for the eyes of God

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Assumes the driver of the car was Myrtle’s lover

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Chapter Eight – Analysis 

Although Gatsby has a criminal past and nouveau riche affectations, Nick cannot help but admire him for his nobility

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Nick does recognize Gatsby as a visionary, capable of grand passion and great dreams

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Represents an ideal that had grown rare in the 1920s, which was an age of cynicism, decadence and cruelty

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Chapter Eight – Analysis 

Nick believes Gatsby’s great mistake was loving Daisy

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American Dream has degenerated into the crass pursuit of material wealth 

Gatsby strived only for wealth once he had fallen in love

Gatsby, not murdered for his criminal activities, but his unwavering devotion to Daisy

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Nick writes, Gatsby “[pays] a high price for living too long with a single dream.”

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Chapter Eight – Analysis Gatsby unable to accept that his dream is over – continues to insist that Daisy may still come to him

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Clear to everyone, including the reader, she is bound to Tom

Gatsby’s death seems inevitable – dreamer cannot exist without his dreams

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Through Daisy’s betrayal, he loses his reason for living

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Chapter Eight – Analysis Wilson – Gatsby’s grim double in Chapter VIII Fundamentally alters the course of his life by attaching symbolic significance to something that is, in and of itself, meaningless

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Gatsby, Daisy and her green light Wilson, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckelburg

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Destroyed by their love for women who love the brutal Tom Buchanan

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Both consumed for longing for something more 

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Gatsby, “American Dreamer” – in-so-far as his dreams of wealth Wilson, exemplifies the fate of the “Failed Dreamer” – poverty deprived him of even his ability to hope

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Chapter Eight – Analysis Wilson – Gatsby’s grim double in Chapter VIII 

Gatsby’s death takes place on the first day of autumn

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Decision to use his pool in defiance of the change of seasons 

Gatsby’s unwillingness to accept the passage of time

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Summer = reunion with Daisy 

End of summer = end of their romance

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Chapter Eight – Key Questions 1.

How does Fitzgerald achieve a melancholic mood in the beginning of this chapter?

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How are seasons used in constructing this novel?

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Who is Dan Cody and what is his significance in Gatsby's life?

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How does Nick's statement "You're worth the whole bunch put together" show a change in Nick from the beginning of the novel?

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How does T. J. Eckleberg affect Mr. Wilson?