The Great Gatsby reflection essay 3 &4

Jordan Blackwell
3B
Ms. Tate
4/27/14
Reflection essay chapters 3&4
Chapter 3 begins with a description of Gatsby’s legendary parties. ‘’There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer night’’ is the first sentence of the chapter, and I think that it is a very short but good description of Gatsby’s parties that start early in the morning and last until the next one. Gatsby’s parties are legendary. The people Nick met so far, they all said that they know Mr. Gatsby from West Egg and had been to one of his parties; though no one actually knew Mr. Gatsby himself, and only heard rumors about him. As we can see, his parties contain all kinds of people: ‘’People were not invited- they went there.’’ Gatsby’s parties bring together the ‘’old rich’’ of the East Egg and the “new rich’’ of the West Egg. Personally I really liked how this chapter started in a colorful way; I wanted to be at one of Gatsby’s parties when I was reading the description. The fact that Nick was ‘’one of the few guests who had actually been invited’’ was honoring for him, as well as surprising. Nick wasn’t expecting an invitation to one of the legendary parties of his mysterious neighbor, and neither was I. ‘’The honor would be entirely Gatsby’s, it said, if I would attend his ‘little party “that night ’’ was the invitation Nick received. I like how this invitation was so ironic; inviting Nick to attend the legendary ‘little party’.
In this chapter, we finally witness one of Gatsby’s parties, and actually meet Gatsby for the first time. We only saw Gatsby once, at the end of the first chapter, and that was only like a shadow. As the reader, I was curious about Gatsby’s parties and of course Gatsby himself, the man we heard so many rumors about but never actually saw. Nick finally arrives to the party and is surprised to see ‘’number of Englishmen dotted about.’’ He gets bored since he is alone and doesn’t know anyone, so he tries to find his host, Mr. Gatsby. When he asks people about Gatsby, the look at him amazed and deny any knowledge; which seemed surprising to me and increased my curiosity in meeting Gatsby. I wondered why people were so afraid of the man, but still showed the courage to come to his house. When he can’t find the host after all his attempts, Nick goes to the cock tail table- ‘’the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone.’’ I particularly liked this description; probably because that it was true in 1920’s and still is in 2010’s. I wasn’t surprised when Nick ran into Jordan Baker at the party, and I knew that something would happen between these two.
Later on in the party, Jordan and Nick join a group at a table and they start to talk about Gatsby. ‘’He doesn’t want trouble with anybody’’ they say; they also say that they heard he killed someone, and that he was a German spy during the war. The fact that Gatsby is so mysterious, and we still don’t know anything about him besides his parties and that isn’t a rumor sharpens my curiosity. One of the girls comment surprised me when she said ‘’I’ll bet he killed a man.’’ Personally, I don’t think that Gatsby is a violent man, and is capable of killing someone but at that point I was just think positive I really didn’t know. You may not know someone, and you may have heard rumors about him; but it is stupid to believe a rumor, unless you know that it isn’t, and judge a person by a possible lie that you heard.
Nick and Jordan then go out to the garden after having a little chat with the middle-aged man in the library. Nick starts talking to a man near his own age at the table. The man says that he remembers Nick from somewhere and it turns out that they were both in the First Division during the war. When this man turned out to be Gatsby, I was shocked. The fact that Nick and Gatsby knew each other from war was surprising. Nick says ‘’I had expected Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years’’ and I agree with him; I also expected someone in his middle ages. When Gatsby wants to talk to Jordan alone I wondered what he said to her, especially when she came saying ‘’I’ve just heard the most amazing thing,’’ I’m predicting that this will be a very significant moment in the novel; what Gatsby said to Jordan in that room is very important, and I am sure that it is going to come up later in the story and we will find it out.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 starts with more rumors of Gatsby. The young ladies on his lawn say ‘’He’s a bootlelegger, one time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.’’ This book is starting to annoy me. I know that it is just the 4th chapter, but I am curious about Gatsby. All we know is some rumors that go around about him, and that is it. We don’t know anything about his family, where he comes from, or even what he does for a living.
Nick and Gatsby become good friends through the times they spent together, Nick found out to his disappointment that ‘’he had little to say.’’ This was to my disappointment as well, as I thought that he was a man of many words, I still think that he is a man of many words, but he has little to say because he is hiding something (that hopefully we will find out later on). Later on in the story I was surprised when Gatsby said that he ‘’tried very hard to die’’ in the war, but ‘’seemed to bear an enchanted life’’. Who tries hard to die? I started to think that underneath all the money, glamour, and the parties; Gatsby is a very lonely and depressed man, probably because of the thing that happened to him.
After their lunch is finished, Nick sees Tom in the far corner of the restaurant. He takes Gatsby to introduce him to Tom. When they shake hands, an ‘’unfamiliar look of embarrassment’’ comes across Gatsby’s face; which I wondered why he was so embarrassed. ‘’I’ve been having lunch with Mr. Gatsby’’ says Nick, but when he turns Mr. Gatsby is no longer there. I thought that this was the strangest thing that Gatsby did ever since the beginning of the novel. He had particularly no reason to feel embarrassed, and no reason to vanish; unless, he is hiding something, and his secret contains Tom.
Nick then goes to the Plaza Hotel to have tea with Jordan. She starts talking about Daisy, and this is the first time that we find out about her, and about Gatsby’s secret. Turns out, Jay Gatsby was Daisy’s old boyfriend and they were in love. Daisy, even hesitated to marry Tom when she received a letter (I suspect that it was from Gatsby). But later on, she married Tom without a shrug. Daisy was mad about her husband, and they had a very happy marriage, ‘’it was touching to see them together.’’ In the first chapter, when Nick came to dinner, Daisy heard the name Gatsby again, and sneaked into Jordan’s room at night to ask about him. When Jordan explained Gatsby, she was sure that he was the man from years ago.
Gatsby waited five years for her, he even bought the house on purpose, so that Daisy would be right across the bay, and he would see her house every day. I thought that this might be the reason that he stands on the bay at night, just looking into the sky or Daisy’s house. Learning Gatsby’s secret was relieving. I was shocked, because I wasn’t expecting a secret like this. The book started to get interesting, and I have a feeling that it will get more interesting when Nick invited Daisy for tea at his house, and Gatsby shows up as well.