The Great Gatsby Chapter 6-7

   Throughout Chapter 7, numerous symbols stood out to me. The first of these was the heat that Fitzgerald described in great detail, over a whole three page spread. From the beginning of the chapter, “the day [was] broiling” to the point where “[the] seats of the car hovered on the edge of combustion,” and “people lapsed despairingly into deep heat.” The descriptions of the heat of the day are so immense that it makes the reader really question what the significance of this heat is. Maybe the boiling heat simply symbolizes some type of passion or other strong emotion that will transpire within the chapter. Or possibly the warmth represents a fiery build up of events, maybe an explosion (of sorts), like a fight or other intense situation.

   To find out, the steaming heat lead up to Wilson and Tom realizing that their wives were in affairs with other men. Neither of the men takes this realization well. Wilson actually gets physically sick at this fact. This situation is incredibly ironic simply because both of the men have also been in affairs throughout the complete book. How hypocritical is it that the men hold their wives to higher standards than they hold themselves to? Neither of the men really thought marital affairs were immoral, rather just a part of their upper class lives. How easily a person of this time period would jump from one relationship to another really astounds and confuses me! For example when Gatsby and Tom Buchanan get into a fight about who Daisy loves, Gatsby claims that, “[Daisy’s] never loved you (Tom Buchanan). She loves me (Gatsby).” Throughout this, though, Daisy goes back and forth between her love for Gatsby and for Tom. By the end of the fight she, surprisingly, goes to her husband, but yet Gatsby is still willing to sacrifice everything for her. (Willing to take the blame for Daisy killing Myrtle) How ridiculous! Does Daisy only like Gatsby for his money and possessions? Is she just as greedy as everyone else? Can any of the characters, but Nick, be trusted?

    The last symbolism I’d like to discus is one that had appeared earlier within the book, but that I hadn’t processed: the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. I personally don’t understand the entirety of this symbol yet. Is this an actual doctor from somewhere in America’s history? Do the eyes symbolize God looking down upon the moral wasteland of America? Is this an actual character we readers will meet later on? What significance does Fitzgerald want the reader to realize?