Great Gatsby, Journal #7

1.       Chapter 7, Pages 113-145

2.    The next Saturday night comes but Gatsby has locked himself up in his house and he doesn’t throw a party. Nick also tells us that Gatsby has fired all of his servants and hired new ones who won’t gossip about Daisy who comes over to Gatsby’s house a lot during the afternoons. Nick is then invited to eat at the Buchanan’s house. As soon as Gatsby walks in the room, Daisy instructs Tom to make everyone drinks and once he leaves, she openly kisses Gatsby and says she loves him. Daisy’s daughter, Pammy, comes into the room and Gatsby is a little upset by this. Tom and Gatsby start bickering but to break the tension, they all decide to go into town. Right before they leave, Tom realizes that his wife is having an affair and that Jordan and Nick have known all along. Tom stops at Wilson’s garage on the way into town to get gas. Wilson says that he and his wife both want to move west. Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Nick and Gatsby all end up in the Plaza Hotel to cool off. While in their room, Gatsby and Tom start bickering once more and Gatsby takes it upon himself to tell Tom that Daisy never loved him. At first Daisy agrees with Gatsby but after Tom gets upset, she finally admits that she loved him once, but not anymore. Nick realizes that today is his birthday and he is thirty. Daisy then begs to go home and she and Gatsby ride together while the rest ride with Tom. On the way home, Tom, Nick and Jordan stop at Wilson’s place but it seems that a tragedy has occurred. Wilson’s neighbor, Michaelis, tells the gang that Myrtle ran out into the street and was hit by a yellow car. It is obvious that it was Gatsby’s car that hit her. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was the one driving when the car hit Myrtle, but he says he is prepared to take the blame for her. Nick then finds Tom and Daisy in an intimate scene and they seem to have reconciled.

3.       Pammy Buchanan

a.       “With a reluctant backward glance the well-disciplined child held to her nurse’s hand and was pulled out the door.”

b.       Pammy is Tom and Daisy’s daughter who is constantly taken care of by a nurse, not her mother.  She is small with tiny hands and according to her mother, she looks like Daisy with her yellow hair.

c.        Pammy has been mentioned before in the story but this is the first time she actually appears. I think she finally appears now because of Gatsby’s reaction to her. He is completely taken aback as if he never believed she existed. This goes along with our discussion in class about how Daisy could never live up to Gatsby’s dream.

4.       "’What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow?’
They were out in the open at last and Gatsby was content.
‘He isn’t causing a row.’ Daisy looked desperately from one to the other. ‘You’re causing a row. Please have a little self-control.’
‘Self-control!’ Repeated Tom incredulously. ‘I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out.’”

a.       They are finally open about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair. Tom is not happy about it while Gatsby was relived. The thing that really bothers Tom is that Gatsby is “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere.” Tom has also been having an affair with Myrtle so why is he so upset about Daisy and Gatsby if he obviously doesn’t care about Daisy.