1. Chapter 7

2. GATSBY’S HOUSE
(113-114)
• one Saturday night the lights failed to go on at
Gatsby’s house
• He replaced his staff with people
recommended by Wolfsheim; they can keep
secrets
• No longer interested in throwing lavish parties
because his goal has been accomplished - the
parties were intended to lure Daisy

3. • Even with Tom in the house, Daisy is
shameless in her affection toward Gatsby.
• She sends Tom out of the room for
drinks and kisses Gatsby in the presence
of Nick and Jordan.
• much more critical of Tom than normal.

5. PAMMY
(117)
• Pammy is undeniable proof of Tom and
Daisy’s physical relationship and past.
• In her presence, Gatsby cannot deny the
love and attachment that existed between
the married couple
• Pammy’s presence shatters Gatsby’s
dream of going back exactly to the way
things were.

7. “What’ll we do with ourselves this
afternoon?...and the day after that and the
next thirty years?” (118)
• Daisy is only concerned with passing the time
in a pleasing manner - she is constantly in need
of attention and distraction.
• We can see that she may be bored in her
life, noticing the monotony of the days - part
of her would love to run away with
Gatsby, seeking adventure.

9. TOM KNOWS
(119)
• Tom notices the way that Daisy and Gatsby are
looking at one another and realizes what has been
going on between the two.
• Tom never imagined that Daisy would cheat on him -
he thought that he had her under control.
• His temper cracks - he begins trembling with his
effort at self control and begins drinking - a
dangerous mood, reckless.
• Subconsciously, Tom wants to hurt Gatsby and Daisy
and invites them to participate in the danger

11. CAR: “THIS CIRCUS WAGON” (121)
• Tom is insulting Gatsby’s style
• Gatsby has acquired property that stands out
and is remembered in order to attract Daisy’s
attention - very showy
• Tom drives the car into town, since Daisy is
attracted to expensive looking things

12. GEORGE WILSON
(123-124)
• ill - run down
• He talks about saving money and moving West with his
wife - it had been her dream to leave the valley of ashes.
• Suspects that his wife might be having an affair.
• He has locked her up in the apartment and is planning on
moving with the help of Tom and the car that Tom has
promised to sell him.
• Determined to remove Myrtle from her corrupting
location, however, his plan to leave the valley of ashes
comes too late - Myrtle has already found her escape in the
form of Tom and no longer wants to leave.

14. TOM CARES ABOUT MYRTLE?
• Tom is startled when Wilson tells him that
it has been his wife’s dream to leave the
West Egg
• Thinks that Myrtle wants to leave, not that
she’s being forced
• Tom believes that he has lost control over
Myrtle as well as Daisy.

15. TOM AND GEORGE
“He had discovered that Myrtle has some sort of
life apart from him in another world, and the shock
had made him physically sick. I stared at him and
then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less
than an hour before - and it occurred to me that
there was no difference between men, in
intelligence or race, so profound as the difference
between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick
that he looked guilty..”.(124)

16. • Tom and Wilson are in the same situation - wives are
unfaithful
• Wilson blames himself - appearing guilty and ill
• Tom rages against others - engages in reckless behavior
• Tom and Wilson are alike, despite the difference in their
social status - the rich and the poor can have the same
problems
• Both men have lost control of their relationships and are
no longer able to provide what their women need - money
in the case of Myrtle, affection in the case of Daisy.

18. MYRTLE
(125-126)
“So engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being
observed, and one emotion after another crept into her face like objects
into a slowly developing picture.”
• Everything is visible in this society and everyone
knows every one's secrets
• Eyes of billboard - reminder of the vigilance and
awareness of the city.
• Myrtle emotional as she looks out, regarding Jordan
with “jealous terror” thinking her to be Tom’s wife

20. TOM’S THOUGHTS
“There is no confusion like the confusion of
a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom
was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife
and his mistress, until an hour ago secure
and inviolate, were slipping precipitately
from his control. Instinct made him step on
the accelerator with the double purpose of
overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson
behind.” (125)

21. • Tom experiences a crisis – questions his purpose in life.
• Previously a man of ability, control, wealth and power,
Tom sees these elements slip from his grasp.
• He realizes that neither Myrtle nor Daisy are entirely
dependent on him, and therefore, not entirely under his
control.
• Looses all control - recklessly accelerates, drunk
• Violently he attempts to overtake her rescuer

23. BILOXI
(127-129)
• Biloxi is a cheat and a liar that fabricates stories so
that he can take advantage of people.
• He appeared at the wedding of Tom and Daisy posing
as a friend of Daisy’s to Tom and as a friend of Tom’s
to Daisy.
• bumming his way home, trying to live off of people
that are gullible.
• To Tom, Biloxi is much like Gatsby, a liar that uses
people to achieve his means

24. THE PAST
“She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting
for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any
one except me!”(130)
• In Gatsby’s mind, his relationship with Daisy
was true love and she couldn’t have possibly
loved anyone else
• He needs to believe that Daisy never loved
Tom in order for his dream to work.
• He wants to recover the past love they shared.

26. TOM CAN LOVE DAISY’S FLAWS?
“She does [love me], though. The
trouble is that sometimes she gets
foolish ideas in her head and doesn’t
know what she’s doing...And what’s
more I love Daisy too. Once in a while I
go off on a spree and make a fool of
myself, but I always come back, and in
my heart I love her all the time.” (131)

27. • Tom is willing to excusing her dalliance with Gatsby
and take her back.
• Tom also makes room to make excuses for his own
infidelity.
• It seems that Tom is actually willing to fight for her -
he realizes that neither one of them is perfect, that
they both have faults, and he is willing to accept that
if Daisy is.
• Theirs is a relationship based on realism, with both
parties being aware of the other’s shortcomings.

29. Do you think that Daisy was willing
to leave Tom? What evidence do
you have?

30. “she realized at last what she was doing - and as though she had never,
all along, intended doing anything at all.” (132)
• She never meant to deny her past, she wanted to have it all -
love, glamour, past, present, money, status.
• She initially says that she never loved Tom, but admits that she
did love him, once.
“Oh, you want too much!...I love you now - isn’t that enough? I can’t
help what’s past...I did love him once - but I loved you too.”
• She cannot live up to Gatsby’s expectations, he wants too
much from her - no one can erase their past or deny their
feelings.
• He loses her by asking for the impossible.

31. GATSBY’S PAST AND PRESENT
“...he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying
everything, defending his name against accusations
that had not been made. But with every word she
was drawing further and further into herself, so he
gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as
the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what
was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily,
undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the
room.” (134)

32. • Gatsby attempts to deny the rumors of crime
• confronted with the reality of her lover’s shady business
practices, Daisy wavers in her affections for him
• She draws further from him when she hears the explanation of
how he really accumulated his wealth
• Fragile - cannot reconcile the romantic Gatsby with the cruel
and dangerous bootlegger
• She already has enough violence and immoral behavior from
Tom - Gatsby was her escape
• Daisy, and the purity of the dream she stands for, is
untouchable with his tainted hands.

34. DAISY’S REACTION
• She seeks refuge in Tom, asking him to
drive her home.
• She appears frightened, losing all of her
intentions and courage.
• She doesn’t want to be alone with Gatsby.

36. MYRTLE
Finally getting away from Wilson, Myrtle runs into
the street and is hit by a car that “came out of
the gathering darkness, wavered
tragically…and then disappeared.” She
dies on the spot, her life violently extinguished.

37. • Tom insists to Wilson that the car he was driving earlier was
not his
• The car has been recognized by a witness as the one that
tragically hit Myrtle - Tom is scared that he will be implicated.
• Tom takes charge once he finds out Myrtle’s fate.
• On the drive home, Nick describes hearing “a low husky
sob, and saw that the tears were overflowing down his
face.”
• Tom shows a great deal of emotion in the scene – did he love
Myrtle?
• Assumes Gatsby killed her – calls him a coward for
committing a hit and run

39. NICK’S REACTION
• After experiencing the recklessness and tragic violence
of the afternoon, Nick has had enough of the
company of his friends
• He does not approve of their lack of morality and
their dangerous lifestyles - they hurt themselves and
others, lead a brutal existence that contains casualties.
• Gatsby appears to Nick as a despicable character,
waiting to rob the Buchanan house - Gatsby IS trying
to rob the Buchanan house, of Daisy.

40. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
• Daisy was the one driving the car
• Myrtle ran out in the middle of the road to
speak to them - she had seen Tom in that car
earlier and thought that it was him
• Gatsby is willing to take the blame for the
accident and will tell people that he was the
one driving in order to save Daisy from prison.

41. • Gatsby is making sure that Daisy is safe – watches
over her house
• He is worried that Tom might turn violent after
finding out about the affair.
• Even Tom has seen enough brutality for the day and
is calmly reassuring Daisy at the kitchen table - they
have reconciled amidst the gore and violence and
broken hearts.

43. DAISY AND TOM
• Daisy can’t risk an entanglement with Gatsby - either he or she
would go to prison for the murder of Myrtle.
• She doesn’t want to be associated with his crime
• By staying with Tom, she can protect her money and social
standing.
• She gives up happiness and love for comfort and security.
• “They weren’t happy...and yet they weren’t unhappy either. There was an
unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture.”
• Tom and Daisy are reckless together, understand and are willing to live with
one another’s flaws. Gatsby wanted perfection and was left “watching over
nothing” since nobody is perfect - everything and everyone is gone, even the
illusions.