The Great Gatsby Chapter 4
The Great Gatsby Chapter 4
Nick lists visitors to Gatsby’s house, the people he meets at his parties and how they behave. This links again with one of the novel’s themes, illustrating the shallowness of the upper classes and also the theme of appearance versus reality. One day, Nick is driven to Manhattan by Gatsby who makes well-rehearsed and seemingly outrageous claims about his past. Gatsby has said he has no family and has spent a lot of time in Europe, being educated at Oxford. He is awarded for bravery after WWI. Gatsby is obsessed with establishing who he is and proving that he is worthy and valuable. This brings up the significance of the “old money” that is a constant theme in the book. Gatsby wants to establish his lineage in terms of Oxford, his family, and tradition, but Nick doubts him. Gatsby seems insecure about who he is, having to ask what Nick thinks of him. Nick is skeptical until Gatsby produces a war medal and a photograph of himself at Oxford University. Nick reveals that the medal ‘… had an authentic look’ and after seeing the photograph of Gatsby, he then felt ‘… it was all true’.
Gatsby’s car is a symbol of his wealth and reinforces the theme of the American Dream. As they drive through the Valley of the Ashes, Nick notices Myrtle Wilson ‘straining at the garage pump …. as we went by’. This reminds us of the gulf between the rich and poor, the contrast of Gatsby’s expensive car and the desolate place that is the Valley of the Ashes. It also signals to the reader that Myrtle remains a character we should be aware of.
On the journey into the city in Gatsby’s luxurious car, Nick notices Americans, originating from south-eastern Europe, attending a funeral and black Americans in an expensive car driven by a white chauffeur. This could suggest the existence of equal opportunities for social advancement. However, it is more likely in this instance, where social injustice and obstacles to advancement are main concerns, that the author is inviting us to suspect illegal means as in the case of the Jewish gangster, Meyer Wolfshiem.
Gatsby pays little attention to the speed limit, and a policeman pulls him over. Gatsby shows the officer a little card. The officer apologises and lets him go.
Over lunch, Nick meets Meyer Wolfshiem, the gambler supposedly responsible for fixing the 1919 World Baseball Series. He is a dangerous man and his cufflinks made from human molars suggest sinister associations. Nick sees Tom and goes to introduce Gatsby to him: ‘They shook hands briefly, and a strained unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby’s face … I turned towards Mr Gatsby14 but he was no longer there’. Gatsby, normally so polite and charming, reacts in a strange way to meeting Tom.
Gatsby’s comment that Jordan Baker is ‘a great sportswoman’ who would ‘never do anything that wasn’t all right’ contradicts directly the conclusion arrived at by Nick in the previous chapter. This illustrates how interpretations differ according to point of view. Gatsby’s judgement is coloured by the fact he is using Jordan to arrange a meeting with Daisy and so he wants Nick to trust her. Gatsby reveals he wants Daisy to see his house. This is in the hope she will be impressed by his present status and immense wealth.
The change in this chapter from Nick to Jordan as narrator is important as it allows us to gain an insight into the back story of Gatsby and Daisy. She can tell the story better than Nick because she was there at the time. When Nick meets with Jordan, she recalls her meeting with Daisy some five years before and how Daisy went out with Gatsby before he went to war in 1917. In June 1919 she married Tom who was unfaithful to her within three months of their marriage. What Jordan says to Nick suggests Daisy did care for Gatsby but then she marries Tom and seems able to forget Gatsby entirely. Daisy’s maiden name was Fay (an old English word for ‘fairy’ – an inhabitant of an enchanted world) and this surface delicacy seems to suit Daisy. Jordan’s story suggests the three characters we have met in the present have not changed: Gatsby is still obsessed with Daisy, Tom continues to cheat on his wife and Daisy appears easily led.
We learn that Gatsby bought his house simply so that he would be across the bay from Daisy and that he wants Nick to invite her to lunch so he can meet her again, at Nick’s bungalow.
When Nick grasps the nature of Gatsby’s unwavering love for Daisy, he remarks: ‘He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendour’. He means Gatsby became for him another person, not the flashy and showy character he had taken him for. Nick begins to understand that Gatsby’s actions – the bright lights, big parties and carnival atmosphere were all to draw attention to his home in the hope that Daisy might attend. The seemingly purposeless nights of Gatsby staring off across the water at a green light now made sense to Nick. Daisy was across from there.