Thy Neighbor's Wife

The Great Gatsby

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

chap IV, pgs 72-80

There has been a lot of foreshadowing so far in this book, and especially in this section.  I read the summary on the back cover, so I know that Gatsby loves Daisy at some point in the book.  Therefore, any mention of a connection between them seems like foreshadowing to me.  Meyer Wolfsheim (who is comically if not stereotypically described, being a short rambunctious Jew with a large nose) said that "Gatsby's very careful about women. He would never so much as look at a friend's wife" (Fitzgerald, 72).  I think this foreshadows Gatsby making known his feelings for the married Daisy Buchanan.  And when Gatsby meets Daisy's husband Tom, "a strained, unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby's face" (Fitzgerald, 74).  Because Gatsby is usually a friendly and courteous host, his embarrassment in meeting Tom Buchanan foreshadows a deep and upcoming reason for the embarrassment.  When Jordan told Nick about Daisy and Gatsby's history, I realized that Gatsby did have very strong feelings for Daisy and obviously still does.  Everything Gatsby has changed in his life recently- moving, throwing parties, making friends with Nick- is all to get closer to Daisy.  Now that Gatsby's intentions are clear, I'm interested to see how far he'll go and how Daisy will respond.

Let's see how well Gatsby can follow this...if at all