Monday, April 13, 2009

Gatsby Fishbowl: Chapter 5


Enjoy your discussion of Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby!
Please try to bring a passage from the text into at least one of your questions or comments today.

46 comments:

hilary l said...

I think Nick was insulted when Gatsby offered to give Nick a job. I think Nick felt used by Gatsby and he was only giving him a job so that Gatsby could get to Daisy.

JordanR said...

I think the reason that Nick declined Gatsby's job offer was because he feels that there is something else going on with Gatsby and doesn't completely trust him.

carlys said...

I was wondering why Gatsby did not answer one of his calls when he had Daisy over. Is it just because Daisy is more important to him then like Nick?

PatrickD said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MattB said...

I agree with what Gary said about Nick not wanting the job because of all the rumours that people talk about Gatsby, even if they are not true, if i were in Nick's situation, I would not take a job from someone who is suspected of being a German spy or could have killed someone.

KeriN said...

I agree with Hilary. I think that Nick feels used by Gatsby and is only being nice to him to get to Daisy. At the end of the chapter they said they didn't want him to leave but they were paying no attention to him at all so it could be annoying for Nick

Niki_Huck said...

I feel like Gatsby is simply just using Nick to get to Daisy and he will do anything to get Nick to agree. If I was in Nicks place I would be mad that Gatsby was trying to do me favors for my actions

Margaret_O'B said...

On page 83, why did Daisy ask "Who is Tom"? Is it symbolizing something?

KeriN said...

Do you think the reason Gatsby was so scared to see Daisy was that he thought she wouldn't love him anymore?

Brianne D. said...

Gatsby's attitude totally change when he was around Daisy. I could tell that he was in love with Daisy by the way he was portrayed by Fitzgerald. On page 89 Nick says that Gatsby had changed he glowed when he was around Daisy. I thought that was cute because he is genuinely in love.

KeriN said...

Maggie, I never thought of that before but that could mean she is going to leave Tom soon. After she knows Gatsby still loves her maybe she will stand up for herself and leave him.

jenniferc said...

I very much agree with Niki, i also think that Gatsby is using Nick. And i dont think it is the smartest thing for Gatsby thing to do.

Niki_Huck said...

Maggie I think that Daisy was trying to make it seem as if she did not have another life with Tom and that she just wanted to live a life with Gatsby

MattB said...

To answer Keri's question, I think that Gatsby is afraid of Daisy not loving him. Gatsby just doesn't seem like a very confident guy, he is too worried about what people think of him and he might be afraid of doing something wrong in front of Daisy and he doesnt want to mess anything up with her.

Margaret_O'B said...

Is Daisy emotionally stable?

Stephanie C said...

I believe that Gatsby is not just using Nick to get to Daisy but part of him is. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and since Nick knows Daisy, Gatsby might as well try to have Nick introduce him to her. Gatsby wants to be friends and get to know his neighbor. I don't think Gatsby knew that Tom knew Daisy when he invited him to that party. Therefore, I believe that Gatsby is not just using Nick to get closer to Daisy.

jenniferc said...

I think Gatsby was scared to see Daisy because for one he doenst know if she will still ave feelings for him, and also beacuse he knows he kinda changed from when they knew eachother.

JordanR said...

What do you think happened between Gatsby and Daisy, when nick left them alone, that made Daisy cry and Gastby glow?

jenniferc said...

I think Daisy is not stable and by the end of the book she will be completly insane.

chapman. said...

in response to keri i think that Gatsby was so nervous about meeting with Daisy again because he has had this image of her since the last time her saw her before he went off to war and i think his ideal vision of her has expanded into something way mnore than she is now. She was so hysterical when she saw all of gatsby's possestions. I thiknk she was so overwhelmed with who he had become.

hilary l said...

I think Daisy realized what a big mistake she made in marrying Tom instead of Gatsby and that is why she was crying about the Gatsby's shirts.

Niki_Huck said...

I feel that none of these characters are emotionally stable. Gatsby is so nervous about seeing Daisy that he walks around his house in the rain. Daisy is constantly crying in this chapter.

meredith a. said...

I agree with Hilary when she said that Nick felt used by Gatsby. Gatsby just used Nick to get to Daisy. I think that Nick was jealous but it's kind of weird because Daisy is his cousin so that's kind of creepy. Also i agree with what what said about Nick. I if were offered a job by Gatsby, it would be kind of hard to trust him because you hear strange rumors about him and it would be hard to trust him because he is just using Nick to get to Daisy and Gatsby will say anything to make Nick give in.

I agree with you Niki, Daisy could just be forgetting about Tom because he forgets about her. You can tell Daisy just wants to be wanted by somebody, and I think Gatsby will want her.

KeriN said...

Maggie and Jennifer, If you think Daisy is unstable, do you think Fitzgerald based her off Zelda?

chapman. said...

I also think that green light that shows the end of daisy's dock definitely symbolizes something a lot more than that. I think it shows that he will always have this image of her that wont change until he actually sees her. Its like seeing something thats so beautiful yet you cant quite touch it.

Barry Tischler said...

With the amount of alcohol these people injest, Im not at all surprised that none of the charachetrs are emotionally stable.

Niki_Huck said...

I think that once Nick left the room it became less awkawad and they were more able to talk about things that had happened in the past.

Barry Tischler said...

It is possible, but he also may have based her off of himself. He had his own problems, and each of the characters reflect Fitzgerald in some form.

hilary l said...

I think Gatsby and Daisy want to get together but it is making Daisy emotional because she doesn't feel like she can just leave her husband Tom.

jenniferc said...

Keri,
I think that Fitzgerald maybe based Daisy on Zelda, but more so on the way that he saw Zelda was changing right in front of him. He just wanted to get out all the changes he was going through.

MattB said...

I think that Fitzgerald did base Daisy off Zelda because they both share a lot of the same characteristics, the only thing that is different is that Daisy is married to someone else, do you think that Daisy being married to Tom symbolizes Zelda cheating on Fitzgerald?

carlys said...

The green light at the end of Daisy's dock, I think resembles "go", like a stop light. It is signaling Gatsby to make a move to get Daisy, but Gatsby is somewhat ignoring the signal until now.

Barry Tischler said...

I agree with hilary. During the Time period this book was set in, there was a heavily important sense of propriety, and dumping your husband to go get married to another man was probably so socially unacceptable it bordered on sin, and Daisy is conflicted. She is srugglin with deciding to follow her heart or remain in the norm.

Margaret_O'B said...

Keri,
I think that Fitzgerald may have based some of Daisy's character off of Zelda and he may have been seeing some of the first signs of her break down. It makes sense to me that Daisy would be based off of Zelda emotionally due to her love life as well as her mental state.

hilary l said...

I think everyone thinks of Gatsby as great but he may not be as great as he seems. He is wealthy and went to a good school but inside he is weak and uses people so he can get to a marries lady.

KeriN said...

Matt, I think Zelda being married to Tom and actually loving Gatsby does symbolize how Zelda cheated on Fitzgerald.

meredith a. said...

I agree with Hilary. Daisy would feel bad if she left Tom for Gatsby, but Tom is so unfaithful to her so I think she has the right to leave him. Even with a child she could still leave him.

Brianne D. said...

I didn't like how Gatsby used his wealth to get Daisy. I also didn't like how Daisy fell for it. Love shouldn't be because of wealth and materials. Love is suppose to be true and genuine no matter how much money the person has.

Stephanie C said...

Jordan- I think that they revealed their feelings for each other and brought back their pasts. If they did use to love each other then that could bring some strong emotions for both of them, meeting at some random house years later.

JordanR said...

I agree with what Barry said about none of the characters being emotionally stable because of the amount of alcohol they drink. Back in that time it seemed like that what everyone would do to kind of escape their emotions for a night.

JordanR said...

I agree with you Steph. I feel like if you love someone, not matter how long it's been since you've seen that person, those feelings will come back when you see them again.

MattB said...

I think that the problem with Gatsby is that he doesn't really understand himself, he tries so hard to understand Daisy and other people that he doesn't have the time to get to know himself, he has no self confidence but he has all these great things that people would love to have, if Gatsby were to find out who he really is I think that he would get Daisy. People just make all these assumptions about Gatsby throughout the story and if would just be himself and actually get people to understand him they wouldnt have to come up with a fake background about him.

Unknown said...

I think Gatsby could be using Nick to get to Daisy and the house, the parties, Nick's friendship could be him trying, and i think the job offer could be Gatsby wanting to have Nick and his family around him.


In the book cover the face has a green light, do you guys think it has to do any thing with Daisys house?

PatrickD said...

I agree with Matt I feel like Gatsby has become so tied into his fake life style that he has lost kind of who he is and now he is bouncing between the two lives.

Barry Tischler said...

Gatby is the quintessential idiot who tries too hard. He is like the idiot in all the movies that tries so hard, nobody actually understands what he is trying to do in the first place, but I think that, like in the movies, he will eventually get the girl anyway.

Brianne D. said...

I feel bad for Nick because as soon as Nick set Gatsby up with Daisy, they both forgot him. Like Nick served his purpose and now he is going to be done with him. I'm curious to see what happens in the chapters to come.