The Great Gatsby: Chapters 6-7

Mr. Heape, I used the online book to read so I do not know the specific page numbers the quotes are on, but I can give you the chapters.

 "I knew that except for the half-hour she’d been alone with Gatsby she wasn’t having a good time." (Chapter 6)

The author suggests by Daisy’s unbiased behavior of the people and action of the party, she does not enjoy her time at her actual “lovers” party. This saddens Jay Gatsby even though Daisy suggests that it was not a boring time. Nick Carraway could tell that she did not have a good time and his argument is how she only had the best time of the night when she was alone with Gatsby. This is almost a given because she is unhappy with her life except for the time she is with Gatsby behind her husband’s back.

The girl addressed was trying, unsuccessfully, to slump against my shoulder. At this inquiry she sat up and opened her eyes. (Chapter 6)

Immediately before this quote, Nick explains the tipsiness of the table he was sitting at. He had been with these people before at Gatsby’s party just two weeks earlier and decides it would be a good time to go back. This suggests that the woman who attempted to lay her head against his shoulder was also drunk, even though he did not exactly say it, it is implied. The author also suggests how drunk this woman was because she had “unsuccessfully” slumped against his shoulder. If she wasn’t that drunk, she wouldn’t have messed up and made a fool of herself.

“I like her,” said Daisy, “I think she’s lovely.”
But the rest offended her — and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion. (Chapter 6)

Daisy is not particularly liking this woman that she sees, but more jealous of her actions at this party. She is with a man under a tree in the moonlight and they seem extremely lovable towards each other at this party. Daisy sees the two and pictures herself and Jay and how they could be if she was not with Tom. The argument the author is trying to make is not that Daisy only thinks she looks lovely, but her life is lovely.

He was calling up at Daisy’s request — would I come to lunch at her house to-morrow? Miss Baker would be there. Half an hour later Daisy herself telephoned and seemed relieved to find that I was coming. Something was up. (Chapter 7)

Nick thought that he, Jay, Jordan, and the Buchanan’s were all having lunch together and Tom’s house was very odd. Due to the fact that both tom and Daisy have been cheating on each other and Tom doesn’t not even know about Daisy and Gatsby’s affair. Nick suggests to himself that “something was up” and they are meaning to make this not seem like an awkward situation. Given the people attending, Nick believes Jay and Daisy are going to make a scene and finally come out to Tom about their love affair. He does not understand why they would do it over lunch, and why they want himself and Jordan there as well.

“You’re crazy!” he exploded. “I can’t speak about what happened five years ago, because I didn’t know Daisy then — and I’ll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that’s a God damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now.” (Chapter 7)

Tom absolutely will not accept the fact Daisy has never loved him. He finds it impossible that they have been in love for five years when that was even before Daisy had met himself. The author is suggesting the hardheadedness of Tom about everything daisy. He will not accept the truth if he does not want it to be fact. Even when Daisy tells him she never loved him, he doesn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. The only words that are fact are the ones coming out of his mouth, he believes. It also suggests that Daisy and Gatsby had to have been making this up because there is no way the two of them could have been seeing each other right under his nose. Tom will not accept a fault of his because he has too much pride to admit when he is wrong.

Commencement Speech

 

                The author’s argument that you as an individual need to find what you are looking for in life and not feel the need to live up to other’s standards is very uplifting and inspiring. She encourages going against the behavior society expects you to have to find your own way of life. Let go of what your parents, friends, or society want you to be and start being yourself. The hardest part is finding yourself first.

                Obviously, there can be no individuality between people if everyone is perfect and precise with their actions. Limitations have held people back from progressing in the direction of individuality and happiness. The author explains “nothing important, or meaningful, or beautiful, or interesting, or great ever came out of imitations”. The point is, no one should stop you from being yourself because your uniqueness is what makes the community a better, more meaningful place. Order and strict policies make everything predictable and more importantly, boring. You were brought into this world and you should determine your own fate, not rules.

                She also argues how parents may lose their want for a happy child and replace it for what they think a happy child would be. Parents want more for their children than what they had growing up. That could mean they want their kids to have better grades to get into a higher college than they went to, or they want their child to be involved and successful at sports because the parents wish they could have been greater in that area. Parents sometimes forget what being a kid and growing up is like. The author, as a parent herself, confesses that it is a difficult job to uphold. Parents have to remind themselves that happiness does not automatically come with success, money, or reputation. It comes with accepting who you are and what you think is successful in your own terms, not what the people closest to you or society think. At the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is you own because you have to live with that opinion for the rest of your life.

                If you try to be “perfect” according to your family, your friends, your community, and your society, the chances of you being truly happy with yourself is very slim. There will be something missing inside of you and that will burden you worse than if you had let any other person down. The author explains there is so much weight on everyone’s shoulders to be perfect and everything everyone wants you to be. She uses the metaphor of a backpack full of bricks to demonstrate the heaviness of society on your shoulders. She explains that if you just take the backpack with all the heavy bricks off, everything will seem so light as a feather, especially life. Take a chill pill and enjoy life instead of packing everything up. This is a genius idea and illustration to show people the importance of relaxing and not stressing about the world.