As you know, chapter 7 from The Great Gatsby is full of drama!
We also, of course, only see Nick's perspective of what happens.
Choose a section (or scene) of chapter 7 to re-tell through another character's perspective. (ex. through Daisy, Tom, Jordan, George or Jordan's eyes...or even someone else's...)
This retelling should be true to what heppened in the text, but reveal some thing new through the new narrator's thoughts.
Sign your name!
**You will be doing this post IN class Friday, not for homework before class!**
ReplyDeleteThings were tense between Tom and Daisy and I could tell that when Nick and Gatsby came it would have been worse. Tom knew Gatsby and daisy had a thing, everybodty did. Sitting there listening to him yell, of course he would chill out when the company arrived but things were tense for the meantime. Did Nick know that Tom beat her? I have been telling her all week how gatsby is a better man for her against my better judgement but the fact is that he would treat her better. I am exited to see Nick, although I cant help to feel that he is ignoring my advances. When they arrrived Tom was busy with something involving a car which i didnt pay any mind to. Ugh when he kissed her I saw true love, I wish Nick was more affectonate in public, even though im confused on where he stands. but when their eyes met as Tom came in and they both spoke words straight from cupids bow I knew it confirmed it for him. Daisy can be scandolous and I wouldnt be surprised if she had feelings for Nick which I joke about. But the truth is Tom is not a huge part of her mind anymore, and I hope Tom does not become to furious. Because we all know how Tom can get when things dont go his way.
ReplyDeleteNice line: "they both spoke words straight from cupids bow"
DeleteLC
That was meant to be Jordans perspective
ReplyDeleteWhen reading The Great Gatsby, I discovered a rather interesting scene. Starting on page 131, Tom Buchanan starting complaining about his life.
ReplyDeleteTom: I can't believe it, I'm losing everything in a matter of hours. This Gastby guy is stealing everything from me and I cannot do anything but stare at the back of his car. The absurdity of this situation is unbelievable and I will stop at nothing to reveal the truth. Angry as I was, I sped passed Daisy on the road and overtook her. I mean, I know I can be selfish and unreasonable at some times, but that certainly does not mean that Daisy should leave me. On the other, I was cheating on my wife and having an affair with another women. I think I should rethink the way I look at life and rethink the way I treat women. Even though all of this is true, I know that the man that I hate right now is Jay Gatsby. I know him all too well and I won't let a bootlegger take my wife. I may lose my temper but I have to make things right in my head. Panic, terror, and hostility have overwhelmed me and I will deal with Gastby in a way I see fit. If only I could just talk to him when we arrive at the hotel. Yes, I will expose him there and everything will turn out according to my plans. Hopefully nothing will go wrong...
Tadas Buivydas
Good ideas- I especially liek the little detail about only being abl eto stare at the back of his car, but I don't know if he'd reflect: "I think I should rethink the way I look at life and rethink the way I treat women."
DeleteIn chaoter 7, one of the most prominent moments I can remember was the part in which all main characters of the story were at the home of the Buchanans roasting in the heat preparing themselves for an eventful afternoon. The room was loaded with lies, tension and deciet that made it noticable difficult to stand in the room. Even as the reader I was incomfortable just reading this encounter. The quote on page 119 was as perfedct example, "She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago.
ReplyDelete“You resemble the advertisement of the man,” she went on innocently. “You know the advertisement of the man——”
“All right,” broke in Tom quickly, “I’m perfectly willing to go to town. Come on—we’re all going to town.”
He got up, his eyes still flashing between Gatsby and his wife. No one moved." From the point of Jordan:
"I enetered the roasting room with my clothes heavy with heat and tension. I easily recognized the interactoins between Daisy and Gatsby. They made no effort to conceal their feelings and I could see Tom's face filling with anger by the second! He soon stood and left the room to prepare "drinks" but I could see that entering the kitchen while he was in there would have been a death wish. I then saw Nick. In the corner noticing the same things as me. His face seemed to have become more gentle in the past days. When I saw him for the first time a few days ago he seemed like a harsh starnger but his features had softnened. He was quite handsome. Maybe this day wont be as bad as i thought!"
I like, especially, her mention of entering the kitchen being a "death wish."
Delete“Who did he think he was” Myrtle thought angrily to herself, storming around the room. “Just who exactly did he think he was” she mumbled under her breath, “I made him what he was, I married him . . . to think, I married him while he wore a borrowed suit, what a fool I was!” Throwing her hands down on the floor she beat her fists against it a hurried rage, over and over again the mantra of “ dirty lying coward” playing in her mind . Shaking her head and picking herself up from the floor she made her way down from the tiny apartment down to the garage. Glancing in and giving a loathing glare at Wilson only seconds before launching into an overwhelming tirade “ You’re not a real man” she cried, shouting in his face “ Never could be a real man, not one like Tom at least could you?” she taunted him mercilessly . “Beat me, throw me down and beat me you dirty little coward.” Without even waiting for a response she turned on her heals stormed out of the garage, her hands on her hips as she whipped her head around to start hurling more insults at her husband. Not even paying the slightest bit of attention to the road as she failed to notice that green car flying down the road. Her life over before she knew it, her hands still resting on her hips as her lifeless body lay in the street.
ReplyDelete~Stephanie Brown
Great job bringing her to life (and death!). But of course, it's a yellow car...
Delete"Beat me! Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!"
ReplyDeleteThose words, like me, had been locked up for what seemed like forever. George refused to let me out, he told that I would stay up above the garage till the day after tomorrow, and then we would go away. I felt like the dog that Tom bought me in the city; I had absolutely no control over my life. One day I decided to let that dog free. I had no use for it anymore and it deserved the right to a happy little life. I longed to be let free in the same way, but I knew that it would never happen. I had to take matters into my own hands. I kept the collar and hid it in a small drawer where George would never find it.
Until a few days ago, I could walk right over George and he would do absolutely nothing in response. Then, I heard him on the phone; he was speaking to Tom. I grew worried about his suspicions. Things around the garage changed rapidly. I tried to call Tom and see if we could do something, but he too seemed strangely preoccupied.
I thought in that cramped apartment for hours. About the life that I had so desperately wanted, and had never received. As much as I tried to obtain it, I just felt even more like a fool. My sister Catherine once told me to stop acting so rich, since it only made me seem more poor.
I thought and I thought until my mind couldn’t take it anymore. I began to throw a fit and broke down the door. As I uttered my last words, I waved my hands in the air and shouted in a frantic state. Yellow zoomed over me, and then it was done as quickly as it had happened. I freed myself just like I freed that dog.
The last eyes I ever met were those of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg on the giant billboard that saw everyone and everything in the Valley of Ashes.
(Myrtle's persepective of her last few moments)
DeleteExcellent symbolic details & phrasing!
DeleteI saw Gatsby approaching up the drive, sporting one of his crisp, clean, shirts and the tie that I mentioned I had particularly liked. "Tom, dear," I asked gently, "go let Mr. Gatsby in". He glanced at me with questioning eyes then, at that moment, heard a knock at the door. Grumbling, Tom lumbered to the door. I sometimes wondered if Tom has picked up on the relations between Gatsby and I - despite his lacking intellect, he still picked up on things from time to time. Gatsby brought with him, as soon as he entered the sitting room, a gust of cool air. He was a refreshing figure in the midst of the sweltering day. "Tom, dear," I repeated, "go get us some drinks, please". Again, he gruffed and walked heavily out of the room. Gatsby's cool face was right in front of me and, losing grasp of my self control, I kissed him. During that kiss I felt that it was just me and him in the room. Despite the humid day, I felt chilled and refreshed. Returning from my blissful moment I instantly felt the eyes of Jordan and Nick upon me. I didn't care though. I didn't care if Tom knew, if Nick knew, if Jordan knew, I didn't even care if all of West Egg had knowledge of my love for Jay. Tom returned with our drinks, and instantly the coolness of my body was eliminated. The heat returned with a vengence. I enjoyed the coolness better. I didn't like this heat. I hear the weather is cooler West Egg anyways...
ReplyDeleteexcellent references to coolness and contrasts with heat.
DeleteThis section in chapter seven is from Gatsby’s perspective when Tom begins questioning him and shows his psychological deterioration on this inside, while maintaining a cool composure on the outside. It also shows what was going through his mind on the way home and leaves the reader with a cliff-hanger, just as the story does.
ReplyDeleteKeep composure. Look him right in the eyes. Show him your superiority. I don’t care if this old sport is from the East Egg; his classlessness exudes from every orifice. Don’t avert eye contact. I don’t care about Tom’s perception of me; I simply want Daisy to be mine and I will stop at no risk to ensure she is taken away from this brute. The stillness in the room had reached the point of utmost discomfort. Someone needed to break this silence. After a moment, Tom looks me acrimoniously in the eyes, and I can sense this poison about to spew from his mouth, like a true parasite. True to my prediction, he begins these series of questions. I felt like I was a criminal in an interrogation room being scrutinized for a detestable crime. My insides began to quaver as he asks these questions of my authenticity. Perhaps I should’ve just stayed in the military and forgotten about Daisy. No. I can’t. I’ve waited five years for this opportunity and I’m not going to let this pompous old-money dirt bag jeopardize my future and relationship with Daisy. The barrier had been broken when Tom finally asked what my intentions were. So, I told him the truth. That Daisy belongs to me. At that moment, he looked pained. He actually had shown some signs of vulnerability, but quickly covered them up with his typical arrogant façade that he wears permanently. The conversation ended abruptly and we headed back home from the hotel, just Daisy and I in the car. She’s still a little shaken from the conflict, and tries to just block anything negative from her consciousness. I fell asleep at some point, but I remember feeling the car begin speeding into this black abyss. I see stop lights and street signs as a blur, and at last…
-Alyssa Canderozzi
I really like how you have him thinking in such short choppy thoughts. Can feel his anxiety. :)
DeleteAt the end of chapter 7, Daisy and Gatsby were driving back from New York in his car, and hit Myrtle Wilson who ran into the middle of the street, and kept driving on. Gatsby tells Nick later in the chapter that Daisy was driving the car, so this blog is going to be about the perspective of Daisy while driving the car.
ReplyDeleteI believed driving was going to calm me down from all the events that have happened and the emotions that I have experiences this hot summer day. I'm very confused, and in the beginning it did help a bit. But then we entered the Valley of Ashes and were coming close to Mr. Wilson's gas station. As I look down the road, I saw a woman walking into the street, mouthing words at me and waving her hands. It appears to be Myrtle Wilson.
Oh how much I dislike her. I have a gut feeling that this is the mistress my husband, Tom, has been having an affair with. Only one thought came to my mind at the time. I sped up.
"Slow down Daisy! There's someone on the road!" Jay yelled to me.
I felt angry, and my heart started beating faster and faster and I never slowed down. Jay Gatsby started to try to handle the wheel, but I didn't let him control the car.
"Daisy!"
It was mine, and I drove straight through Myrtle as I felt the force of her body being thrown over the car, driving straight through her. I could feel my eyed wide open, and I was shocked at what I had just done, and I looked at Myrtles motionless body laying on the ground through the front mirror.
Instead of stopping, I sped my way passed the Valley of Ashes, back to my house. There was no discussion for the rest of the carride as both Jay and I silently sat in our seats starring at the road.
Korey Dropkin
Good ideas, but does Daisy even know who Myrtle is? How would she? Try to add even more anxiety/emotion.
DeleteI wanted to spend more time with Jay, and I had every right to assume he wanted to spend more time with me. But I would have preferred to spend the afternoon with just Jay, rather than Tom and Nick and Jordan. Though they’re nice company, my time with Jay is always such a delight; His attention so focused on my being. It seems as if everything I did was to his liking. It was refreshing to be in the presence of someone who has loved me so completely that he spent much of his time trying to impress me. Jay liked the city…
ReplyDelete“Who wants to go to town?” I prodded. I didn’t want to be begging, but I hoped Gatsby would realize my request and take me up on the offer for a night out together. My chin rested lightly on my first as I looked in his direction and his eyes finally met mine. “Ah,” I cried, “you look so cool.”
We spent seconds looking into each other’s eyes, but it felt as if time stopped. I was no longer sitting at a table full of people. Jay and I were alone. Finally. With much effort, I looked down at the table and broke our connection, remembering Tom was beside me. But it wasn’t like he didn’t have a girl in the city—I knew he did.
“You always look so cool,” I repeated in a hushed voice. I mouthed “I love you” and Jay’s cheeks gained a pink flush. At that moment, Tom was nothing more than a stranger sitting uncomfortably close to me. “You resemble the advertisement of the man,” I continued quietly. “You know the adervertisement of the man—“
“All right,” Tom interrupted. I realized I had openly established the intentions of my relationship with Gatsby in front of Tom. But who was Tom to tell me I was committing anything unorthodox for a person in a marriage? Hypocrite.
““I’m perfectly willing to go to town. Come on—we’re all going to town,” Tom stood up and grabbed my purse. He held it captive, knowing that if he and the purse left, I’d be chasing after it rather than him. He was quiet, and his eyes moved swiftly between me and Gatsby, me and Gatsby.
I sat glued in my seat, almost regretting asking about going to town. I hadn’t considered that Tom would catch on to my affair with Jay.
I especially liek this part: "We spent seconds looking into each other’s eyes, but it felt as if time stopped. I was no longer sitting at a table full of people. Jay and I were alone." Grea tjob!
DeleteDaisy, pull over. Daisy, pull over. Daisy you are in no condition to drive. Please, please pull over.
ReplyDeleteThrough the rearview mirror, I could see only his furrowed brow, glistening in the august heat, as he slumped lower and lower in his seat. He never said these things to me, but I could tell he was thinking them. I could almost hear him shouting as I sped up through the fading twilight. The truth was, I knew perfectly well I was in no condition to drive. I also knew perfectly well that whatever I asked for, Gatsby would provide. The last few weeks had proved that. Stepping foot inside Gatsby's mansion was like leaving reality for a spell and entering into a hazy, glittering dream, almost like the distant sight of the city through the translucent sheild of the Valley of Ashes. Although at first I had reveled in and even relished the reflected the glory cast upon me by Gatsby's imagination, the novelty of living outside the realm of realism soon began to fade. I began to question, and still question, whether or not Gatsby really loved me or if he was simply infatuated with me.
Daisy, please stop all this, he pleaded silently.
I drove on. I haven't been able to shake the growing dread that Gatsby was using me as a way to revisit the past for a couple of hours a day. That maybe he bends to my every whim not out of love, but because he believes he can extend my prescence if he does so.
Daisy, this isn't safe!
I'm no angel. I wish he would call my faults and poor decisions as he saw them, like Tom does. Instead, he had allowed me to place both of us in danger simply because he didn't wish to offend me. That, I thought, is simply ridiculous...
I was shaken from my reveries by a loud thump, a scream, and Gatsby, finally pressed to action, forcefully steering the car out of my grip and away from the inevitable wreckage we had left in our path.
this is supposed to be daisy and gatsby in the car just before they hit myrtle
DeleteThe way you structured this is fantastic!!!
DeleteWilson
ReplyDeleteI heard a screech from outside to see a yellow car slide to a halt in the lot of my garage. I walked outside of the building and sullenly looked at his car. When the window rolled down...and to my misfortune it was Tom Buchanon driving it.
"Let's have some gas!" he yelled from the car. "What do you think we stopped for--to admire the view?"
I didn't have the energy to make a remark on the manner of his greeting, so I just politely told him my condition as an excuse.
"I'm sick," I said, remaining still as a statue. "Been sick all day."
"Whats the matter?"
"I'm all run down."
"Well, shall I help myself?" He demanded. "You sounded well enough on the phone."
In truth, I was supposed to be well physically, but mentally I was not. I was not well emotionally to the point where it began to show with how I walked and presented myself. I went on with the casual banter of small talk with Tom about an old car of his, and how I needed money for me and my wife to go West. When Tom suddenly agreed "Your wife does" I almost imploded on the inside. I knew my wife Myrtle was cheating on me, how she had another life outside from me somewhere else, and when Tom said that, it almost began to make me believe that she cheated on me with Tom. Whatever the reason, it made me ill, so ill that I began to show it, looking run down and out of energy. Its almost as if I failed Myrtle as a husband.
When we finished up our inane discussion of money regarding his old car, he asked how much money he owned me.
"Dollar twenty." I croaked with pain. He said he'd let me have the car, but no amount of wealth could cure me of the gaping hole that Myrtle had left in me.
Great choice of scene and perspective. Develop his emotions & personality even more.
DeleteI cant believe my little turd of a husband Wilson locked me up in this room. He found out that ive been cheating on him the other day, but what does he expect when he justs sits around all day. I gotta some man in my diet, not just that foolish coward. He thinks that im going to move away with him? Aw hell no, aint now way im going anywhere with that fool, especially not with tommy boy waiting for me. Next chance i get im getting out of this hole and joining Tom who can give me the life that I deserve. I began to hear a rattling at the door and it opened up to my husband standing in the doorway. I've just about lost my temper at that point so I ran into the garage, pushing him aside as I went by him. He tried telling me about how upset he was or something, just making a fuss so I shouted at him, "Beat Me! Throw me down and beat me, you little coward!" I ran outside, thinking nothing but how much I wanted to lunge into his manly arms. As I looked down the street, I saw the car that Tom was driving earlier today. I throught of nothing else and just started running toward him shouting out for him to stop and pick me up. As I stared at the front of his car hurtling toward me, I could see the faint silloute of a woman driving the car. The car didnt slow down at all and all I could think was "oh Crap" as the car hit me.
ReplyDeleteGood choice of perspective & scene, but try to be more subtle and add more depth to her character.
DeleteGatsby- My sweet daisy is as sweet smelling as the flower she is named afetr, but it seems that Tom will not allow our relationship to prosper. He has been rather aggresive lately like when he ascused me of not going to Oxford. Later today, i heard rumor of a terrible car accident that killed Myrtule, and it seems the car was very similar to mine. I hope i am not blamed for this travesty but to be safe i am now hding in the bushes. I have a feeling that my sweet Daisy may be responsible. -Jonny D
ReplyDeleteCome on Jonny, you can do much better. Add some depth.
DeleteDuring the interaction between Tom and Gatsby, Gatsby explains to Tom how Daisy never loved him. While this is occuring, Nick and Jordan watch and listen silently. Jordan must have been so confused during this exchange due to her closeness to the Buchanons. She must have thought, "how can all this be happening? Sure, Tom is a dirty cheater and I've known that, but Daisy as well? Could it be true that for the past five years of their marriage Daisy felt nothing for Tom? And Gatsby! What a mysterious fellow he really is! I wonder if he really HAS killed a man, in which case Tom Buchanon had better look out. What will Daisy do about this? I know for certain that I would leave Tom for Gatsby any day. Daisy would be a fool not to take him up on such a life of love and prosperity, a life of which she enjoys only half of currently with Tom." Connor
ReplyDeleteGood ideas about what she might be thinking...place them in the scene and develop it even more.
Delete