Chapter 8Chapter 8Gatsby’s last ‘swim’Gatsby’s last ‘swim’

setting (foreshadowing)

• “there was a slow, pleasant movement of air, scarcely a wind, promising cool, lovely day” (144)

• “Daisy began to move again with the seasons” (144)

• “the night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavour in the air” (146)

characters

• Gatsby

• Nick

• George Wilson

Gatsby

• erased his past (dreamt up a new one)

• so...he’s stuck in the present

• “however glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby” (155)

Gatsby

• realizing that his dream is faulty

• “of course she might of loved him, just for a minute” (159)

Nick

• Nick’s opinion of Gatsby has shifted

• although he disapproves of Gatsby’s lifestyle, sees him as admirable

• “‘They’re a rotten crowd,’ I shouted across the lawn”

nick

• begins to isolate himself

• from Jordan: “I don’t know which of us hung up with a sharp click” (163)

• decides to leave and go back home

George Wilson

• distraught about wife’s recent death - looking for revenge

• “He announced that he had a way of finding out” (164)

• is alone now in the world - his dream has died

• Myrtle was all he had

plotplot

nick and gatsby

• Gatsby confesses the truth about his past – foreshadowing Gatsby’s downfall

• “It was this night that he told me the strange stories...” (155)

• Gatsby is still hopeful which is why he stays, although this leads to his death

• “ ‘I suppose Daisy will call too...” (161)

• Nick has made the decision to leave West Egg for home. 

george wilson grieving

• Wilson knows about Myrtle’s affair after finding the dog leash

• “She tried to tell me about it, but I knew it was something funny.” (166)

• Wilson is going to seek revenge on Gatsby for the murder of Myrtle. 

gatsby’s death

• Wilson murders Gatsby

• then commits suicide

symbolssymbols

“God sees everything” (167)“God sees everything” (167)

• “ God sees everything”

• Dr T.J.’s eyes are like God witnessing everything (corruption and excessiveness in 1920s America)

Grail

• Gatsby has been searching for a very elusive treasure, which may not even exist – much like the mystery of the holy grail

• “He had committed himself to the following of the grail”(149)

Orchids and Daisy

• “…and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed” (151)

THE MEANING & SYMBOLISM OF THE ORCHIDThe most highly coveted of ornamental plants, the delicate, exotic and graceful orchid represents love, luxury, beauty and strength. In ancient Greece, orchids were associated with virility. In fact, Greek women believed that if the father of their unborn child ate large, new orchid tubers, the baby would be a boy. If the mother ate small orchid tubers, she would give birth to a girl.During the Victorian era, orchid symbolism shifted to luxury, and today this sense of magnificence and artful splendor continues, with orchids representing rare and delicate beauty.

autumn• signals the end of the life

which once flourished in the summer-similar to the death of the once much alive Gatsby

• “The night had made a sharp difference in the weather, and there was an Autumn flavor in the air” (153)

• “Leaves’ll start falling pretty soon, and then there’s always trouble with the pipes.”(153)

traintrain

final separation of everyone: separation

from...city vanishes...

like the relationships

final separation of everyone: separation

from...city vanishes...

like the relationships

colourscolours

greygrey

“At the grey tea hour there were always rooms

that throbbed incessantly with this low

sweet fever” (158)

“glazed eyes turned out to the ash heaps, here

small grey clouds took on fantastic shape”

“At the grey tea hour there were always rooms

that throbbed incessantly with this low

sweet fever” (158)

“glazed eyes turned out to the ash heaps, here

small grey clouds took on fantastic shape”

whitewhite

“Revisiting the out-of-the-way places to which they had driven in her

white car” (160)

“His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot

of colour against the white steps” (162)

“Revisiting the out-of-the-way places to which they had driven in her

white car” (160)

“His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot

of colour against the white steps” (162)

yellowyellow

“…and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing trees” (169)

yellow trolley in the fields

“…and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing trees” (169)

yellow trolley in the fields

themetheme

sorrow

• Nick wakes up to find Gatsby “leaning against a table in the hall, heavy with dejection or sleep” (140)

• Has something come over Gatsby? Is he feeling uneasy?

• “…felt over innumerable feet of dark wall for electric light switches – once I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys of the ghostly piano.” (140)

• Gatsby’s uneasy feelings have brushed off on Nick, making him feel nervous

gatsby’s dream fails

• Daisy is unobtainable.

• “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately – and the decision must be made by some force – of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality – that was close at hand” (144)

gatsby’s death

• “he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (161)

• “he must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves”

wilson’s dream fails

• “Wilson’s glazed eyes turned out to the ash heaps, where small grey clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind.” (152)