The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis May 2011

2. Chapter Nine – Summary • Reporters and gossipers swarm Gatsby’s house • One car actually drives by the house to see if a party is occurring • Nick tries to get people to attend Gatsby’s funeral • “Owl Eyes” attends the funeral – man astonished at Gatsby’s library • Tom, Daisy, Klipspringer and Wolfshiem do not attend • Henry C. Gatz shows Nick a book that Gatsby kept a self-improvement schedule in

3. Chapter Nine – Summary • Nick meets with Jordan Baker – she tells him that he and she are both “bad drivers” • Jordan claims to be engaged when Nick ends their courtship

4. Chapter Nine – Summary • Nick runs into Tom Buchanan who admits he sent George Wilson to Gatsby’s house that day • He shows no remorse and stated Gatsby deserved to die • Tom and Daisy are capable of only cruelty and destruction • Kept safe from consequences of their actions because of wealth and privilege • Nick believes all characters possess some deficiency which makes them unsuitable to Eastern life • East haunted after Gatsby’s death, Midwest seems idyllic as a scene on a Christmas card

5. Chapter Nine – Summary • The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is like the green continent of America • American dream already dead when Gatsby began to dream it – his goals, wealth and status, had long since become empty and meaningless • Contemporary Americans – any attempt to move forward, to progress is ultimately futile

6. Chapter Nine – Analysis • Nick worships Gatsby’s courage and self-reinvention, yet disapproves of his dishonesty and criminal dealings • Nick believes the past determines who we are • All characters are Westerners and intrinsically unsuited for life in the East • West – presented as the seat of traditional morality, an idyllic heartland in start contrast to the greed of the East

7. Chapter Nine – Analysis • The final line of The Great Gatsby is one of the most famous in American literature • “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” • Epitaph (noun) for Gatsby and the novel • A commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site • A brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person www.dictionary.com

8. Chapter Nine – Analysis • Backward-driving force compared to the current of a river • Gatsby’s life-long quest to transcend his past, not possible • Humanity tends to move backward, therefore, progress is associated with outsized ambition

9. Chapter Nine – Analysis Fitzgerald links America’s fate to the fate of Gatsby’s • America – founded on ideals of progress and equality • Intended as a place for visionary dreamers to thrive • Similar to Gatsby’s hope for himself • European aristocracy compared to the New World (America) • Excess created by Tom and Daisy • Gatsby unable to reach this as he is from the New World • Gatsby’s attempt to engineer his own destiny was sabotaged by their cruelty • America failed to transcend European origins, Gatsby, too, cannot overcome the circumstances of his upbringing

10. Chapter Nine – Analysis • Buchanan’s = East Egg Gatsby = West Egg • When Gatsby dazed at the green light, he was looking East • Green light, similar to green land of America, was once a symbol of hope; now the original ideas of the American dream have deteriorated into the crass pursuit of wealth • Gatsby devoted his life to nothing more than material gain to get Daisy’s attention and love • Gatsby’s ruin both mirrors and prefigures the ruin of America itself

11. Chapter Nine – Key Questions • Why did Nick take care of Gatsby's funeral? • How was James Gatz's childhood schedule consistent with the adult Gatsby's behavior? • Who attended Gatsby's funeral? How and why is this significant? • What is the purpose of Nick's last meeting with Jordan? • Why does Nick call Tom and Daisy "careless people"?