Moving back to the present, Gatsby and Nick continue their discussion of Daisy and how Gatsby had gone to Louisville to find her upon his return to the United States. She was on her honeymoon and Gatsby was left with a “melancholy beauty,” as well as the idea that if he had only searched harder he would have found her. The men are finishing breakfast as Gatsby’s gardener arrives. He says he plans on draining the pool because the season is over, but Gatsby asks him to wait because he hasn’t used the pool at all. Nick, purposely moving slowly, heads to his train. He doesn’t want to leave Gatsby, impulsively declaring “They’re a rotten crowd . . . You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

For Nick, the day drags on; he feels uneasy, preoccupied with the past day’s adventures. Jordan phones, but Nick cuts her off. He phones Gatsby and, unable to reach him, decides to head home early. The narrative again shifts time and focus, as Fitzgerald goes back in time, to the evening prior, in the valley of ashes. George Wilson, despondent at Myrtle’s death, appears irrational when Michaelis attempts to engage him in conversation. By morning, Michaelis is exhausted and returns home to sleep. When he returns four hours later, Wilson is gone and has traveled to Port Roosevelt, Gads Hill, West Egg, and ultimately, Gatsby’s house. There he finds Gatsby floating on an air mattress in the pool. Wilson, sure that Gatsby is responsible for his wife’s death, shoots and kills Gatsby. Nick finds Gatsby’s body floating in the pool and, while starting to the house with the body, the gardener discovers Wilson’s lifeless body off in the grass.

Jay Gatsby is actually James Gatz… born to “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people.” Gatz wanted more from life than the meager existence he saw growing up. He leaves home to pour sweat into his survival and still finds his soul in “a constant, turbulent riot.” He begins to create an alternative reality in his mind… a “universe of ineffable gaudiness.”

Gatz’s short stint in the world of higher education is cut short by his vision for life beyond the janitor’s job that enables him to attend college. It is at this point that we begin to see Gatz’s alternative reality move toward fruition. As he makes the acquaintance of Dan Cody, Gatz discovers the world of wealth and the power it wields. Cody’s wild living inspires Gatz to attain prosperity, but without the propensity toward drunkenness.

Gatsby/Gatz’s humble upbringing endears him to the middle class reader. He has apparently achieved the American Dream. However, the dream is hollow as the chapter continues and reality eclipses Gatsby’s vision.

The unraveling begins as Tom Buchanan drops by the Gatsby mansion along with his friends, the Sloanes. The old-money trio is appalled when Gatsby ignores social graces and attempts to join them for dinner following their facetious invitation. Ironically, the reader is appalled when the trio bent on observing social graces leaves Gatsby behind in a wake of rudeness.

During Tom’s visit to his home, Gatsby unceremoniously declares that he knows Tom’s wife. This revelation leads the Buchanans to attend Gatsby’s next party as Tom seeks to find out more about this man who knows his wife. People had flocked to his parties all summer, and yet Gatsby’s most sought after guest does not arrive until now. Tom and Daisy seem momentarily impressed with the smattering of celebrities, but Tom soon turns to skirt-chasing, and Daisy is left to enjoy the party with the host.

Soon the illusion of the extraordinary fades, and it is clear that Daisy’s thinly veiled disgust for the indulgence and antics of “new money” will ultimately take her away from Jay Gatsby. As she leaves, a weighted glance back to Gatsby’s mansion indicates her inner turmoil.

Gatsby’s melancholy matches hers as he begins to sense the vast distance between their lives. He expects Daisy to abandon her opulent lifestyle and pledge undying devotion to him… a dream that is not as attainable as the wealth he was able to amass. He is desperate to hold on to the past and cannot grasp the impossibility of recreating the love he once shared with Daisy.

The chapter ends with what is arguably the most romantic passage in American literature. The reader is transported back in time and invited to walk with Jay and Daisy on a crisp autumn night while there is a “stir and bustle among the stars.” Gatsby envisions the sidewalk as a ladder reaching to his destiny. He is faced with the decision to fall in love with Daisy or allow his mind to romp “like the mind of God.” He chooses Daisy with a kiss that makes even the staunchest anti-romantic melt a little inside.

This chapter reminds me that visiting the past can be pleasant, but that past experiences are best left alone. Never again will we be able to capture the magic of the moments that have shaped our lives. Attempting to relive the past only tarnishes its gleam in our memories.

This is the pivotal chapter of The Great Gatsby, as Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy is the hinge on which the novel revolves. Before their meeting, the story of their relationship exists only in Gatsby’s dreams.

As the novel explores ideas of love, excess, and the American dream, it becomes clearer and clearer to the reader that Gatsby’s emotional frame of mind is out of sync with the passage of time. His nervousness about the present and about how Daisy’s attitude toward him may have changed causes him to knock over Nick’s clock, symbolizing the clumsiness of his attempt to stop time and retrieve the past. This passage causes mixed emotions: pity and almost humor.

In this chapter, Gatsby’s house is compared several times to that of a feudal lord, and his imported clothes, antiques, and luxuries all display nostalgia for the lifestyle of a British aristocrat. Though Nick and Daisy are amazed and dazzled by Gatsby’s splendid possessions, a number of things in Nick’s narrative suggest that something is not right about this transplantation of an aristocrat’s lifestyle into democratic America. For example, Nick notes that the brewer who built the house in which Gatsby now lives tried to pay the neighboring villagers to have their roofs thatched, to complement the style of the mansion. They refused, Nick says, because “Americans are obstinately unwilling to play the role of peasants”. Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers envisioned America as a place that would be free of the injustices of class and caste, a place where people from humble backgrounds would be free to try to improve ones self economically and socially. Chapter V suggests that this dream of improvement, carried to its logical conclusion, results in a superficial imitation of the old European social system that America left behind.

As the reader continues with the novel one begins to think things in society have not evolved. We still deal with excess, only now we have the 24/7 news cycle constantly dinning in our ears.

Guests received goodie bags that included a copy of The great Gatsby, a reader’s guide, an audio guide and a schedule of events.

It was so fun to see everyone who dressed up in their 20s outfits. Library staff really got into the spirit! There were also quite a few other people who participated in the costume contest.

All in all, I think it was a great way to kick off our Henry County Big Read.

One late July morning, Gatsby arrives at Nick’s and announces they are having lunch that day in New York. During the “disconcerting ride” to the city, Gatsby attempts to clear the record about his past so that Nick wouldn’t “get a wrong idea” by listening to the rumors. Nick is suspicious, however, when he hears Gatsby reveal that he was born into a wealthy Midwest family (in San Francisco) and educated at Oxford, “a family tradition.”

After touring Europe, Gatsby served as a major in the military where he “tried very hard to die” but, in his own words, “seemed to bear an enchanted life.” As in testament to this disclosure, Gatsby is pulled over for speeding, but is let go after producing a card from the police commissioner for whom Gatsby had once done a favor.We learn a little more about Gatsby’s past. We are introduced to Meyer Wolfsheim. At lunch Nick meets Wolfshiem, a professional gambler and the man rumored to have fixed the 1919 World Series. Wolfshiem is Gatsby’s link to organized crime and there is an intimation that Gatsby may be able to fix Nick up with Wolfshiem in an undisclosed venture (this hint is again brought out in Chapter 5).

Secondly, Nick learns of Gatsby and Daisy’s past through Jordan Baker. She recounts how one morning in 1917 she met Daisy and an unknown admirer, a military officer, who watched Daisy “in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at.” His name: Jay Gatsby. Daisy’s family didn’t approve of the match and so she eventually turned her attentions away from Gatsby and to Tom Buchannan. On the day before the wedding, Daisy reconsidered her actions but after a drunken cry, she thought better of her situation and married Tom. The following April, Daisy gave birth to a daughter. Jordan continues, noting what Gatsby told her on the night of the party. Apparently, it was not coincidence that brought him to West Egg: He purposely selected his house so that the house of his lost love would be just across the bay. Jordan then relays Gatsby’s request: that Nick invite Daisy over some afternoon so he can arrange to come by and see her, as if by accident. She is to know nothing about the intended reunion with her former lover; it is all supposed to be a surprise.

This is a magical chapter as the ethereal Gatsby becomes a real person whose smile warrants nearly an entire paragraph. While rumors about the host are whispered among the visitors, the man himself continues the mystery with a secret conversation with Jordan.

The man with owl-eyed spectacles is intent on finding falsity in the façade that is Gatsby. He is astounded that his host’s books are real, as if reality is rare in the world in which he lives. I love looking for themes and parallels in literature. Does anyone else think that this man’s owl-eye spectacles looking for reality are also reflected in the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg? Eckleburg’s bespectacled eyes see the harsh reality beyond the wealth and glamour that is foremost in the novel from his place on the billboard overlooking the valley of ashes.

The owl-eyed man makes another inadvertent comment on society as he runs his car off the road, causing a traffic backup as the party breaks. “I wasn’t even trying,” Owl Eyes tells a man who had said he shouldn’t be driving at night. His passenger insists there’s “no harm in trying” to back up the car, even without a wheel. Seemingly, “not trying” or taking a foolish approach was a theme for those longing for a life of ease and wealth.

One more observation: take note of the way Fitzgerald refers to light, color and shadows throughout the text. As Gatsby’s party gets underway, the “lights grow brighter” and “the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music.” Gatsby’s guests are described as a “sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light.” Immediately after Gatsby identifies himself, “A dim background started to take shape behind him, but at her next remark it faded away.” Continue to watch for references to light, color, and shadows as you finish the book.

Waves of guests attend Gatsby’s parties. Fitzgerald refers to them as “swirls and eddies of people.” Jordan remarks ironically that she likes large parties because “they’re so intimate.” There is a measure of intimacy that emerges as guests indulge in the free-flowing, forbidden spirits. Yet Gatsby is left out of this intimacy as he seems to be looking for something… or someone (who is later revealed). He refrains from drinking and creates an invisible wall between his guests and himself. While lovers pair off and flirt unashamedly, Gasby stands alone… apparently content to watch the shenanigans.

As the flood of guests leave the party, the reader has a parting glimpse of the host and his home. “A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.”

Nick echoes the emptiness embodied in Gatsby while describing his daily life. “At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes…” Nick attempts to hide his loneliness in an admittedly superficial relationship with Jordan. He thinks in passing that he may love her, but states that he is “slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires.” Nick continues to be a study in contrasts. He talks about the ways he is less than honest in his relationships with the opposite sex and yet at the end declares himself as “one of the few honest people that I have ever known.” Can you relate to Nick’s struggle to see himself realistically? It is often easier to find fault with others rather than admit to our own failings.

Tom and Nick are heading to New York on the train when Tom suddenly forces Nick off the train in order to meet his mistress, Myrtle. Tom flaunts his affair and doesn’t seem to care even if Daisy knows. Myrtle, who is trapped in the valley of ashes, seems to be transformed once they arrive at the apartment in New York. As if by changing clothes she leaves behind her lower-class lifestyle and adopts a new personality mirroring Tom’s sense of social superiority.

All this quickly changes though when Myrtle, emboldened by whisky taunts Tom by shouting Daisy’s name. He quickly breaks her nose by striking her with his open hand. Tom seems to be putting Myrtle in her place by insisting that she doesn’t have the right to mention Daisy’s name. Perhaps thinking that if his wife’s name is not mentioned his infidelity is justified. If Tom is capable of this kind of violence what else might he be capable of? So many things in the novel seem to call upon the reader to fill in the blanks. This is evident in the ambiguous ending to chapter 2.

I have often been asked why we selected The great Gatsby for our Big Read book. I usually respond that it is because we are a community in Indiana we felt the book’s contrast between Nick’s Midwestern values and the big-city East Coast values would be of interest to our community. The more I read and explore the themes in The great Gatsby the more I see the similarities with life today. The all-consuming search for wealth and position during the 1920s is still evident today. People are still searching for the American Dream and this search still has a dark side. Take for instance, the fascination with the so-called “Pop Tarts” – Britney, Lindsey, Paris, etc. Their extravagant lifestyle and never ending parties takes them on the same kind of downward spiral that ultimately consumed Gatsby.

Even so, I stumble over some parallel (or are they?) lines again and again, where his father tells him “[w]henever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all the people in the world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had.” Then, just a page later, Nick remarks that his father says “snobbishly” that “a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.” Nick appears to be quoting his father similarly, but these are not quite the same. This makes the storytelling hard to figure out. A red flag has gone up. But, you know, I like having the puzzle laid out like that. Fitzgerald writes some
enigmatic statements and lets us figure it out for ourselves–especially when it comes to Nick’s memory and of time. What do you think? Do you believe Nick?

Nick is a fortunate man and he says so himself. He comes from a well-to-do family who made their money the hard-working way. Now, he’s moving east to make his own way. Haven’t we all wanted to do that? The movement that is written out in the novel is like the American dream itself. Nick is described as a “pathfinder” when giving directions, and it sparks the memory of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel and the following years of pioneering. But all the movement comes to a halt upon Tom Buchanan on page 11. This is one of my favorite sentences when Nick describes the Buchanan’s lawn starting “on the beach” and “jumping over sun dials.” All this movement comes to a end upon which Tom himself stands on his porch. Even Gatsby’s view of the green light is his hope that he’ll move toward the Buchanan’s porch, and into that exciting and rich life as well. The movement foreshadows events to come.

What is it about Tom and Daisy Buchanan? What do they all talk about in their big house? One thing that Daisy says really sums it up, sadly enough: “You see I think everything’s terrible now.” Nick has gone to his friends’ (or new friends’) house and all the grandeur is not quite what it is cracked up to be. They are “sophisticated” as Daisy so sarcastically states, but we find that Tom has a mistress in New York and even Daisy knows. Though they are living the dream of wealth and high society, Nick observes the unhappiness of it. But after this, he finds that Gatsby almost quivers with hope and longing for this life, stretching his arms to the green light that is Daisy’s home. “Civilization is going to pieces,” Tom claims. Nick, on the other hand, observes how Gatsby remains hopeful, full of dreams with his arms stretched out to the green light that is the Buchanan’s home. At one time or another, we all want a better life, even though the words “better life” are different with whomever wishes it. I’m anxious to see what happens to Gatsby, for Nick to write a story of it…well, you know it’s got to be a story worth telling!

Paint the Town Read, as the free event will be called, will feature a live jazz band, refreshments, dancing and free books to the first 100 households attending.

Participants are encouraged to wear 20s-inspired costumes. So, get all “dolled up” and come on down. Prizes will be awarded for the costumes that are the “cat’s pajamas”. Free tickets for the event are available at the library, the Henry County Community Foundation, the Courier Times, and the YMCA. More locations will be announced soon. Get your tickets today!

Basically, during The Big Read project (which runs from October 12, 2007 to November 16, 2007) we are encouraging all Henry County residents to join with us and read “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not only will we have lots of books to distribute, but we will offer a wide variety of programs related to the book and the Jazz Age.

You might be asking yourself “How can I participate in The Big Read?” Here are some great suggestions:

• Read the book! Books and reader’s guides will be given away throughout the community.
• Make books available in your place of business. Read the book as a staff.
• Encourage friends, relatives and neighbors to read the book
• Attend the many activities presented during The Big Read
• For more specific ways to participate, contact the library at 765-529-0362.