The Great Gatsby reading journal: Chapter 8

Chapter eight; in which the summer comes to an end, Gatsby tells Nick his life's story and Gatsby takes a dip in his pool.

Reader's thoughts:

• In this chapter, Fitzgerald uses rather a lot of references to time and he even counts down in the last two sections before Gatsby is murdered! The penultimate section begins with "By six O'clock". Michaelis, the Greek restaurant owner who was Wilson's neighbour went to sleep and "four hours later" he returned to Wilson's garage to find him gone. For "three hours" Wilson "disappeared from view". By "half-past two" he was in West Egg. The story then goes backwards slightly to "two o'clock" when Gatsby puts on his bathing costume. Fitzgerald cheats slightly with the one. In fact, he doesn't write one, but "once" instead as Gatsby disappears into the yellowing leaves.

Sectional notes:

• There are eight mini-sections within this one chapter. 
• The first section tells us of Nick going to warn Gatsby and being told about Gatsby's past after the warnings fall on deaf ears. 
• The second section tells us of Gatsby leaving Daisy to go to war in Gatsby's own words. 
• The third section tells of the reason that Daisy married Tom, practicality because "there was a certain bulkiness about his person" and Daisy was "flattered".
• The fourth section tells us of Gatsby's trip to Louisville while Daisy was on her honeymoon, Gatsby's decision to use his pool for the first time and Nick's final words to Gatsby "I enjoyed breakfast, Gatsby". 
• The fifth section tells us of Nick's telephone conversation with Jordan Baker.
• The sixth section tells us of Michaelis's conversation with Wilson and that the a mad George Wilson  believed T.J. Eckleburg to be God.
• The seventh section tells us of Wilson's path to Gatsby's mansion
• The eighth section tells of Nick and the servants discovering Gatsby's body

Miscellaneous notes:

• Gatsby says that, at four o'clock in the morning, Daisy went to her window. Gatsby was in the drive, so Daisy's window probably would have been on the front of the house for Gatsby to see it. This would mean that she was looking away from the Sound as the Buchanan household's back garden leads out onto it. All of this is a convoluted way of saying that, to contrast with Gatsby stretching his arms towards Daisy's house in the first chapter, Daisy looks the other way from Gatsby's house. She has left him behind and is willing for him to take the blame for the mess that she had created.
• In the second section, Gatsby's speech tells the story, just like Jordan in chapter four.
• There is some unpleasant plant imagery used by Nick imagining what Gatsby's last few thoughts were. There are "frightening leaves", "grotesque roses" and "scarcely created grass".
• Suspense is built up in the first section.  "morning would be too late"
• The tone of this chapter is slow and tired, just like the characters. Nick, Wilson and Gatsby all didn't sleep the night before, so the tone is reflecting this fact.
• The summer is over. There is a definite "autumnal feeling" in the air and all of the leaves have turned yellow just one night after the hottest day of the summer.

Something to remember:

• The last time that Jay Gatsby is described alive, he is disappearing through yellowing leaves. Fitzgerald wants this to be our lasting image of him. As an extra comment here, I will add that I didn't actually realise that Gatsby was dead here. I thought that he had murdered Wilson. I was, it turns out, wrong.