Thought piece 1 - Jessica

The first chapter sets the rest of the novel up beautifully as it introduces the characters that will have an impact on the story. It only presents the basics of each character such as Tom’s ‘woman in the city’. In the beginning that is all she is known as. Fitzgerald only tells us that she is Tom’s other woman as it hides the rest of her identity. He doesn't give her a name, while in contrast to her is Daisy, Tom and even the omniscient narrator in the character Nick. With these characters Fitzgerald shares so much detail about each of them like the way Daisy talks in a ‘low, thrilling voice’ she used to draw people in. Fitzgerald keeps his character ‘Mr Gatsby’ as a mystery to everyone,  not just the characters in the book who know Gatsby as the man with the lavish parties but the readers as well.

Fitzgerald sets the scene and the mood in the chapter through the intricate detail he uses. When describing the surroundings he uses personification of simple things such as the garden to draw the reader in closer and keep their interest. While the mood of the first chapter is both elegance yet inferiority highlighted by Nick. The elegance that Fitzgerald presents is held by the Buchanan’s living on the better side of the bay, and the way their lifestyle is presented. But in contrast to them is Nick, although he is living on the opposite side of the bay, he is superior intellectually but his lifestyle presents his inferiority to the Buchanan’s.

The Buchanan's are the representation of the idealised ‘American Dream’, which consists of having a big, beautiful house full of materialistic objects, a wonderful happy family and the money to pay for it all. Yet Fitzgerald realised the idea that was the basis of so so many individuals aspirations was in fact a lie and that nothing would ever be ‘perfect’. Fitzgerald does this through Tom’s affair and Daisy's blatant ignorance towards it. Daisy is often labelled as silly and childish, however she is quite clever and so puts on the front of being fragile and ‘innocent’, but when she talks to Nick about her daughter saying that ‘the best thing for a girl to be is a fool’ her intellect begins to shine out. She knows that her life is not perfect and that it has flaws but she ignores them to keep herself happy. She acts the fool when in fact she is quite the opposite.

Mrs Baker is the strength and knowledge of the novel. Her masculine structure that was idealised throughout the ‘roaring 20’s’ presents he strength. She is also the fountain of knowledge for Nick as she brings him in on the secrets that ‘everyone knows’ except him. She tells him about Tom’s woman in the city and the mysterious Mr Gatsby. She is the light that guides Nick through his confusing new surroundings.

Emma- Why does Daisy cry?

Daisy has lived a life of luxury, so to see her cry over some shirts is very odd. There obviously are some subconscious feelings that Daisy has to make to cry ‘stormily.’ As soon as she met Gatsby for the first time in five years a lot of emotions and memories would have returned to her. The amount of emotions that she would have had to deal with and control, as she was in Gatsby’s and Nick’s presence could have pushed her to break down.

Daisy knows that she is the only reason of Gatsby’s happiness and excitement in that moment, without her presence Gatsby would not have any unreasonable joy. She knows how much she means to him, and maybe she knows that she will not be able to live up to the very high expectations that Gatsby has of everything, especially her but even his shirts as even she who has lived this life of luxury has ‘never seen such beautiful shirts’.

Gatsby could also be seen as messing up Daisy’s life, as the shirts could represent the many beautiful fixed factors of her life, which became unstable the minute she met Gatsby again. She knows there a chance that they would run away together meaning she would have to leave her old life (the shirts) behind. She would have leave the now ‘coloured disarray’ of her life behind. She knows she has to choose between the many people, her home and basically her whole life or choosea man who she used and still loves. Anyone would cry over a decision like that. Also she knows from that very moment her life will be different. Huge life changes causes a build-up of emotions good and bad and we are shown in a short period of time from Daisy the effect that these emotions have, which is basically crying over beautiful shirts.

Why does Daisy cry? - Nafeesa

Daisy is clearly not crying because the shirts are 'beautiful', she is crying because she cannot believe that she is with Gatsby again and by Gatsby coming into her life again it has made her realise the life she could have had with Gatsby.

They way Gatsby is chucking his different coloured shirts 'throwing them, one by one' shows how  Daisy is missing out on something and that his style of shirts is bringing back memories of the past. The quality of the shirts, 'thick silk, fine flannel'  shows how Gatsby is wealthy and his shirts are made out of expensive materials. This frustrates Daisy as she could have been living with Gatsby in this mansion as the Gatsby she knew five years ago couldn't afford all these expensive shirts.

Daisy realises that with Tom she only has one thing which is money, before their wedding day he bought her some pearls 'valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars'. But with Gatsby she can have 2 things which is love and money and she could have had a purpose in life with Gatsby.  Daisy is overwhelmed by Gatsby’s mansion as it 'drew from her well-loved eyes'.  This shows how Daisy is now loved by Gatsby and this is now expressed through her eyes.  However Daisy knows that her relationship with Gatsby is just a fantasy now and in reality she is with Tom therefore she is crying because of this.

Thought piece: Why does Daisy cry?

Thank you for your responses so far - don't forget to get your blogs in to discuss in Monday's lesson. Why does Daisy cry over those shirts?

'Why does Daisy cry?' - Saira

Gatsby creates a “coloured disarray” of his shirts to possibly impress Daisy with his mass of wealth, Daisy is quite a materialistic person and therefore, he feels like gloating about his wealth would impress her.

Daisy had cried earlier in the chapter when she spoke to Gatsby, “her throat, full of aching, grieving beauty, told only of unexpected joys” with use of a triadic list, Daisy’s true feelings towards Gatsby are exposed.

However, at this moment Daisy supposedly cries “stormily” over “such beautiful shirts”, but in reality she could be mourning for the love and wealth she could have attained if she was not a married woman. Daisy hides the tone of her voice, “muffled in thick folds” because the tone of her voice would give away the way she feels for Gatsby, of which Nick already had a sort of idea, unlike Gatsby who is ignorant to her feelings.

It is evident that Daisy is not a “beautiful little fool”, to some extent she understands and reciprocates Gatsby fervent, fabricated love. Perhaps, this makes her acknowledge the emptiness of her life with Tom, and the reality of not being able to attain Gatsby’s ‘love’ and wealth. It may even be that Daisy feels overwhelmed by the naked truth of people treating her as if she is a frivolous luxury/ possession that can be bought by a great amount of wealth.

Why is Daisy crying? - Abbi

Throughout 'The Great Gatsby' everything we see is from Nick's eyes and through his words - we don't know why Tom is having an affair, and wouldn't know about it at all if Jordan hadn't told Nick, we don't know how Gatsby's works out the connection between Nick and Daisy and we do not get any of the thoughts of the other characters about the events described by Nick. Because of all this, the novels perspective on the world is narrowed and our understanding of the characters tainted.

In previous chapters, Nick has presented Daisy as ditzy and fluffy - yet hinted at the greater available depth of her character. Daisy seems to be a woman who knows her place in society, her place in the world as something greater than her - she's aware of her husbands affair, her failure of having borne him a daughter and her growing powerlessness within her home life.

However, in chapter five, Daisy is thrown into emotional turmoil with her being re-united with Gatsby. The reader, like Nick, knows nothing more than what has been told to us by Jordan Baker in the previous chapter - so Daisy's situation is controlled by Gatsby more than anything; however, this is reversed upon her entrance, where upon Gatsby falls to pieces, 'fumbling' and 'trembling'.

After all the emotional turmoil of the afternoon - is it really surprising that Daisy cries over something so meaningless? She hasn't seen Gatsby in 5 years, probably thought she'd never see him again, and then, suddenly, he makes this reappearance back into her life.

In short, it can be argued that Daisy's tears over 'shirts' while, on the surface, seem to fit the persona she has displayed in earlier chapters, 'artificial', could actually be hinting to some greater and deeper emotional heartache and confusion.

Thought thingy - finally! - Abbi

1) As a novel, ‘The Great Gatsby’ accomplishes Fitzgerald’s goal perfectly and, it could even be argued that Fitzgerald even surpassed it. ‘The Great Gatsby’ is unique and it is easy to see why it had become the classic that haunts A Level students across the globe. It meets all the set criteria – it’s ‘extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned’. ‘The Great Gatsby’ is so exceptional, such a one of a kind, that it is easy to understand why critics of the day simply did not get it – because I’m not sure they were supposed to get it. Fitzgerald wrote it to be ‘new’ – things that are new, aren't always built for the audience who get them to understand.

2) People never like the way they’re described by other people; viewing ourselves from other people’s perspective highlights aspects of our character that we are blind to. Wilson’s description of the characters as ‘unpleasant’ shows Fitzgerald’s genius within ‘The Great Gatsby’ – Fitzgerald presents a view on society that haunts the reader, with its honesty. For all Nick’s biased, and sometimes slightly confusing, narration – his obsession with Gatsby, his disgust of Myrtle Wilson and the sense of him not fitting in with the East – we see his view of a society in total flux, a ‘white chauffeur’ driving ‘rich blacks’ – the class system being broken down and re-built, the foundations of America and the American Dream being completely rocked and all through Nick’s eyes. Being asked to argue this is impossible, because, as the reader, you aren't supposed to like yourself – no matter how much you wish to – because Fitzgerald has presented all the ugly aspects of human nature and wrapped them up in something ‘beautiful’ and ‘intricate’ and, as much as you can love the novel, you simply can not love yourself.