So Nick is invited to the Buchanan's for a nice afternoon and it just so perfectly is a very hot and uncomfortable day, very suiting for the uncomfortable confrontation that will soon reside. So as if Tom had had his suspicions before, they are now completely confirmed when Daisy's careless lips say passionately and suddenly to Gatsby, "you look so cool" (Fitzgerald 119). Tom, who is not exactly the dumb brute that Gatsby take him as, very easily notices the subtext in this remark. Now everyone is quite aware that everyone is quite aware, and now the tention and awkwardness in the room is rising, and Tom's quick temper is as well. However, in the mist of this delicate situation, I find it fascinating that Fitzgerald gives time for an aside between Gatsby and Nick about this; "'[Daisy's] voice is full of money', he said suddenly" (Fitzgerald 120). After first reading this, I automatically thought that it may have something to do with a particular theme or maybe the symbolism that Gatsby, a man who has been chasing wealth for some time, is attracted to Daisy as he is attracted to money. However, when Nick examines this idea, he does not account it to anything symbolic or abstract, rather, he simply acknowledges what he had never understood before, that her voice literally mimicked the sound of money. I feel as though this fleeting moment, that is so suddenly forced into a environment it has no connection to, must suggest that their is some great importance behind the statement, and Fitzgerald obviously is trying to convey some insight towards the reader. However, at the moment, what it is is over my head!
So to avoid the confrontation becoming out of hand, Daisy suggests that the group traverse to the city. The whole situation is even more muddled when Tom, scornfully just wanting to cause problems, suggests that he and Gatsby switch cars for the ride and then shortly after Daisy requests that Tom drive Nick and Jordan while she and Gatsby drive in the coupe. At this point I figure that either Gatsby and Daisy are so in love that they ignore any simple discreetness or maybe the whole purpose of this meeting was to absolutely let Tom's ignorance dissolve because, this small gesture of riding in the coupe alone practically spells out affair. So the party, rents a suit and settle on some small talk to diffuse the situation when Tom finally decides to skip the charade and, after mocking Gatsby's questionable past says, "What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow?" (Fitzgerald 129). At this point, now that Tom has openly acknowledged the underlying conflict, all bets are off for the separate baths they had been planning minutes before. Daisy, this entire time has been trying to nullify Tom's accusing remarks by trying to make humor from them and calling Tom an idiot, which I do not believe is really working anyhow. Although daisy is so obviously trying to smooth this conflict over, Gatsby sees the opportunity as a chance to say what he has for so long felt, "Your wife doesn't love you...She's never loved you. She loves me" (Fitzgerald 130).
From that statement on, I found that the whole situation backfires towards Gatsby and slowly, he presumes the role of the "bad guy". First of all, Jay is made to look quite stupid when he forces Daisy to inform Tom that she did in fact never love him, only to be denied by Daisy who truthfully explains that she did once love Tom. Now Tom, who finally realizes to what extent he has absentmindedly let his wife slip away from him and into the arms of this "swindler", finds a better strategy in exposing what he had found about Gatsby instead of pointlessly arguing about how he loves Daisy more. Tom explains to the crowd that in his investigation he became aware of many "drug stores" that Gatsby had staged to make a business out of the selling of alcohol. This does not truly come as a shock but the real kicker comes when Tom says, "That drug-store business was just small change... but you've got something on now that Walter's afraid to tell me about" (Fitzgerald 134). It is not exactly the statement that sets us on edge, but however, it is the sudden reaction that it withdrawals from Gatsby, when he begins to excitedly deny the accusation that Tom had never truly laid on him. The fact that this small statement brought Gatsby to a nervous wreck completely illustrates its significance and I am afraid for the worst from Jay. Through the whole first section of this chapter, I find this role reversal between Gatsby and Tom quite interesting as we begin to shift the sympathy and support from Gatsby towards Tom and all of the anger and adversity vice versa. I very much commend Fitzgerald on the subject of how dynamic his characters are. For what I have come to realize is that in this book there is no clear antagonist or protagonist or black and white. His use of this very much reminds me of the HBO series Game of Thrones. Now if you have never seen this, I implore that you stop reading my long, drawn-out post and go watch it now. It would do you great good. With that being said, one of the best features of the show is its ability to slow your decisions on taking sides throughout the plot. Just as Fitzgerald does in Gatsby, in GOT, there is no perfect, pure protagonist. All the characters throughout the show certain downfalls that are unsavory and just as Fitzgerald slowly evolves his character's throughout the story, so does Game of Thrones.
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| In all honestly, I've been trying to plug this for a while now... |
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