Write About the Ways Fitzgerald Tells the Story in Chapter 7 of "The Great Gatsby"
Write about the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in chapter 7 (Page 132 onwards)
Chapter 7 mirrors chapter 1 in setting and structure, of the travelling to New York and the necessity to pass through ‘The Valley of the Ashes’ symbolic of the mythological River Styx and “The Waste Land” by T.S. Elliot. Also, the many separated sections in chapter 7 are reminiscent of the structure of chapter 1, used as a key way for Fitzgerald to effectively and emotively convey the story, by framing the two chapters together. The tragic events in chapter 7; the climactic revelation of Daisy and Gatsby’s affair and Myrtle’s death; come to light. The theme of mistaken identity is crucial in chapter 7, from the first half of the chapter where the prolonged discussion of who is driving which car creates a confused flurry of who is travelling with who; vital for the confusion after Myrtle’s death. Fitzgerald continues to use various images throughout this chapter, filtered throughout structural points in order to tell the story in chapter 7 effectively.
The image of accumulative heat in this chapter symbolically emphasises the rising friction between the characters; being oppressed by the hot temperatures and the uneasiness of the situation. The key example of the stifling heat is the mention of Nick’s underwear; “my underwear kept climbing like a damp snake around my legs” providing a grotesque image to accompany the uncomfortable temperature; hyperbolising Nick’s experience. If the reader is to assume the image of the warmness is symbolic of the inter-character tension, then it is interesting to observe the hypocritical role Tom assumes by declaring “The thing to do is to forget about the heat. You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it”. The event of Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship being unveiled is incited by Tom; thus he is clearly not “forgetting about it” when this symbol of heat is applied to the foreboding argument. By this statement of disapproving of Daisy’s reaction to
Chapter 7 mirrors chapter 1 in setting and structure, of the travelling to New York and the necessity to pass through ‘The Valley of the Ashes’ symbolic of the mythological River Styx and “The Waste Land” by T.S. Elliot. Also, the many separated sections in chapter 7 are reminiscent of the structure of chapter 1, used as a key way for Fitzgerald to effectively and emotively convey the story, by framing the two chapters together. The tragic events in chapter 7; the climactic revelation of Daisy and Gatsby’s affair and Myrtle’s death; come to light. The theme of mistaken identity is crucial in chapter 7, from the first half of the chapter where the prolonged discussion of who is driving which car creates a confused flurry of who is travelling with who; vital for the confusion after Myrtle’s death. Fitzgerald continues to use various images throughout this chapter, filtered throughout structural points in order to tell the story in chapter 7 effectively.
The image of accumulative heat in this chapter symbolically emphasises the rising friction between the characters; being oppressed by the hot temperatures and the uneasiness of the situation. The key example of the stifling heat is the mention of Nick’s underwear; “my underwear kept climbing like a damp snake around my legs” providing a grotesque image to accompany the uncomfortable temperature; hyperbolising Nick’s experience. If the reader is to assume the image of the warmness is symbolic of the inter-character tension, then it is interesting to observe the hypocritical role Tom assumes by declaring “The thing to do is to forget about the heat. You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it”. The event of Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship being unveiled is incited by Tom; thus he is clearly not “forgetting about it” when this symbol of heat is applied to the foreboding argument. By this statement of disapproving of Daisy’s reaction to