The Great Gatsby Ch. 4 Reading Journal

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 4 (pp. 61-80)

Summary:

At the beginning of this chapter, Nick describes every person that went to Gatsby’s house for parties during the summer, most of whom had very unlucky or bad experiences soon after.  Nick goes out to lunch in New York with Gatsby in his nice car where he meets Meyer Wolfsheim, who supposedly fixed the 1919 World Series.  Gatsby tells Nick about his past as the son of a well-off family, an Oxford graduate, and receiving medals in World War I, which Nick only believes after seeing one of Gatsby’s metals and a picture of him at Oxford.  When Nick meets Jordan for tea later in the day, she tells him a long story about Daisy and Gatsby meeting when he was a lieutenant, Gatsby buying his house in order to be across the bay from Daisy, and his request that Nick invite Daisy to his house so Gatsby can see her.

Meyer Wolfsheim:

“Meyer Wolfsheim?  No, he’s a gambler… He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919.” (p. 73)

Wolfsheim is “a small, flat-nosed Jew” with a “large head…with two fine growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril,” (p.69).  When Nick first saw him he “discovered his tiny eyes in the half-darkness,” (p. 69).  This could mean Meyer has an obsucured, small vision of morality and the fact that he’s a gambler doesn’t help.  He hasn’t been caught for fixing the World Series because “he’s a smart man,” (p. 73).  Gatsby, having associated himself with Wolfsheim, causes Nick to doubt his honesty even more and leads us to wonder what kind of business Gatsby would be doing with this guy.

Significant Quote:

“I saw them in Santa Barabara when they came back, and I thought I’d never seen a girl so mad about her husband.  If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily, and say: ‘Where’s Tom gone?” (p. 77)

This quote caught my eye because at first glance, and as Jordan interpreted it, it appears that Daisy’s constant worry about Tom is because she is so madly in love with him.  But when taking into consideration Daisy’s drunken second thoughts the night of her bridal dinner, it seems strange that she would make such a stark change in behavior.  Her concern for Tom is more that he is being unfaithful, and as later proved with the chambermaid from the Santa Barbara Hotel, even right after their honeymoon.