The Great Gatsby

Chapter 7: Analysis Questions

While reading and annotating the chapter, you should be actively analyzing, hypothesizing, and
interpreting, as well as focusing on intentional authorial choices. For this assignment, CHOOSE
FOUR of the following prompts and answer each in a short and concise paragraph, using at least
three woven in quotes for support.

DO NOT RESEARCH THESE ONLINE!

CHALLENGE YOUR INTELLECT AND DO THE WORK YOURSELF!

1. Analyze how the author effectively uses the weather in this climactic chapter.
Fitzgerald uses a “relentless beating heat” to influence the emotions of both the character and the
reader in this chapter (Fitzgerald 95). He utilizes a terrible “broiling heat” that has swept over
New York in order to show the pent-up frustration, agitation, and even rage that nearly all the
characters feel at some point throughout this chapter (Fitzgerald 88). The high temperatures also
represent boiling water overflowing its pot, just like the boiling secrets that Daisy and Gatsby
have been keeping about their love. Tom attempts to explain to Daisy and the others that “the
thing to do is forget about the heat” which is also an attempt on Toms behalf to further ignore the
heat in an effort to bring their arguments to a head.

2. Paying close attention to diction and imagery, discuss the significance of the passage where
the reader finally meets Daisy and Tom’s daughter.
Daisy sees her daughter as a possession or pet to show off rather than a child that she has a
loving relationship with. Daisy “wants to show [her] off” rather than spend time with her or be
actively involved with her (Fitzgerald 90). Daisy further shows this behavior when she ignores
her daughter’s simple question regarding “where [her] daddy” was (Fitzgerald 90). Despite Tom
being the room over and the answer to the said question being less than a sentence, Daisy decides
to let her nurse “step forward and [hold]-out her hand” to summon her daughter away further
showing her uncaring attitude toward her child.

3. Argue whether or not Daisy truly loves Gatsby:

Daisy does truly love Gatsby despite her eventual choosing of Tom over him. She shows this
most when “their eyes [meet], and they stared at each other, alone in space” showing that both of
them are so enamored with each other that it takes literal “effort” to “glance down at the table”
(Fitzgerald 91). Daisy also shows her true love for Gatsby due to her choosing him over Tom at
first in the hotel scene and going as far as to claim that “[she] never loved [Tom]” despite her
quick revocation of that statement (Fitzgerald 101). However, the initial claim that she “loved
him once” stands and shows her true feelings towards Gatsby (Fitzgerald 102). Directly after
that, she also agrees with Gatsby’s statement that “Daisy is leaving [tom]” showing once again
her internal desire is to marry Gatsby. Despite her more emotional love towards Gatsby, she
realizes that Tom is more important in regard to social status, money, and other things she values
so she picks him over Gatsby.

4. Closely analyze Michaelis’ account of events, making Level-2 connections through important
diction, connotation, imagery, and symbolism.
Michaeils gives a very in-depth recantation of what truly happened when Myrtle was run over by
Daisy, it shows not only some norms of the lives of the people within the valley of ashes but also
some insight into how Michaelis personally feels about it. First, we see Michaelis, while
explaining what happened to the officer, attempt to “[raise] his hand toward the blankets but
stopped halfway” in an attempt to act out what happened (Fitzgerald 107) . We see Michaelis
give up however when he realizes that it is futile and he is too tired to complete such an action
because he realizes the futility of trying to help, the car is long gone and Myrtle is dead so he
feels as if he has nothing left to offer. Essentially, Michaelis is a defeated man and does not feel
particularly strongly about anything because he believes that it is futile. He then describes how
the “one comin’ from N’york knock right into her” in the same saddened but nonchalant tone
(Fitzgerald 107). The casualness with which this is said is meant to be interpreted as a sense of
definiteness due to his constant experiences with death in the valley of ashes. In fact, it is safe to
assume that people from the gleaming capital of New York, the home of luxury, run over or kill
members of the valley of ashes on a semi-regular basis due to their lack of care. We see
Michaelis defeatist attitude towards life one last time when the officer asks him the name of the
place they are currently. Michaelis explains that the place “hasn’t got a name” (Fitzgerald 107)
further showing the state of terribleness that he lives in on a constant basis and provides a good
reason for him to be a defeatist.

5. Analyze Nick’s considerable growth in character within the chapter:

6. Discuss how the author effectively foreshadowed the shocking, climactic event of this chapter
previously in the novel. And then, based on those foreshadowing passages, make an inference as
to the possible outcome of this event in the future chapters: