The Great Gatsby: Chapter 7 Analysis

Chapter 7 Summary Mr. Gatsby and Daisy continue to see each other. Mr. Gatsby hires new help to keep their secret. He is then invited over to Tom and Daisy’s and meets their daughter and Tom realizes Daisy is cheating on him with Mr. Gatsby. They all go to town and when they are on their way back, while Daisy is driving Gatsby’s car, Myrtle Wilson is hit and killed. The chapter ends with Gatsby watching over Daisy’s house, because he is afraid Tom will do something to Daisy.

Syntax #1 “ “Going away?” I inquired.” (pg. 114) (interrogative sentence) Nick starts his conversation with Gatsby on the phone with this because he is confused and wanting answers to the events of the day prior. This adds to the way Nick feels and conveys the showing that Nick cares and wants to know what is going on with all the new help. I think this is a good addition to the chapter because it shows almost how the new help made him feel unwelcome at his good friends home.

Syntax #2 “With an effort Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway and, breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the tank. in the sunlight his face was green.” (pg. 123) Here, Fitzgerald is describing George Wilson after he discovers his wife is living an alternate life. He does so by describing his attitude by his actions in a long sentence and then stating what he looks like in a very short sentence directly after. He does this to convey the importance of how sick he looks. He puts it in a short sentence after a long one so it will really stand out and catch the reader’s attention.

Syntax #3 “ I did love him once - but I loved you too.” (pg. 132) This is a prime example of a balanced sentence. It is said by Daisy during their skirmish in the hotel room. Gatsby wanted daisy to say she never loved Tom but she could not come to do it. I believe Fitzgerald included this small piece of syntax as a way of showing Daisy as a middle ground type. She couldn’t commit to one because she was torn which suggest balance. She was balanced like the syntax suggests.

Diction example and Analysis “ “Wondering if he were sick I went over to find out- an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door.” (pg. 113) Fitzgerald’s word choice depicts a rather shady and evil/corrupt vibe. His diction makes the reader feel as if he or she walked in on a drug deal or another morally corrupt or illegal action. Fitzgerald does this to show how morally flawed the rich were in this time and it almost foreshadows the events to come in later chapters. This diction stays mainly the same because the chapter is hinting to the fact that this “dream” is starting to fall apart completely.

Figurative Language #1 “Her voice is full of money”, he said suddenly.” (pg. 120) This is an example of symbolism because Nick and Gatsby are discussing Daisy’s voice and how it sounds like money. In this time period, Money was a very appealing thing, so it sounds appropriate to compare her voice to money.

Figurative Language #2 “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” (pg. 118) This is one of the many examples of symbolism that Fitzgerald uses. This is used to explain how everything old dies away and becomes new. This includes everything from the past between Gatsby and Daisy and from the summer in which the novel takes place.

Figurative Language #3 “Her expression was curiously familiar - it was an expression I had after seen on women’s faces, but on Myrtle Wilson’s face face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes,wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife.” (pg 124-125) This is an example of foreshadowing. Fitzgerald uses this in this sentence to show how everything that has been built up in the novel to this point and all in the matter of a few pages it completely crumbles and decays into the crushing reality of this morally corrupt time period.

Figurative Language #4 “ “So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.” (pg.136) This is a great example of foreshadowing. This was said after they left the hotel. Fitzgerald is a master of figurative language that must be noted and admired. His use of foreshadowing here gives you slight insight into the future of the novel to which I find its purpose.

Figurative Language #5 “Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space.” (pg. 119) This is an example of an hyperbole, because Gatsby and Daisy aren’t really “alone in space”, they are just caught up in each other's stare. Fitzgerald uses this to add to the love effect between the two of them.