F. Scott Fitzgerald has loaded the beginning of chapter 7 of
The Great Gatsby with a great deal of
startling twists, turns, and insights into characters which really arrested me
with surprise. Although it is blatantly obvious that Gatsby and Daisy love one
another, I have to admit that I still was definitely not expecting Daisy to
kiss Gatsby and tell him that she loved him in front of Nick and Jordan while
Tom was just a couple rooms away. Moreover, I was even more startled when Tom
intuitively noticed right away that Daisy had fallen in love with Gatsby, for
though I knew that his eventual discovery of this fact was inevitable, I did
not anticipate that this fact would dawn on him so quickly. Despite all of my
surprise, I have to say that I really lost a good deal of respect for Daisy in
this section of the novel. To begin with, I almost completely forgot that Daisy
and Tom had a daughter until she reappeared in this chapter for a brief moment
with her mother. Even if leaving one’s children with a caretaker for a majority
of the day was the norm for wealthy women of the time, I still find it
irresponsible and downright annoying that Daisy spends so little time with her
daughter while she whisks herself away to parties that last until the middle of
the night. Plus, whether Tom cheated on Daisy or not, I strongly believe that
Daisy is wrong to be flirting with Gatsby while she is still married to Tom.
While I do not believe that Daisy should stay with Tom, and I am genuinely
happy that she has found happiness with Gatsby, I feel that it is critical for
her to practice some self-restraint in beginning a relationship with Gatsby
until she has left Tom; otherwise, what kind of example is she setting for her
daughter? I know that Daisy was cruelly hurt by Tom’s infidelity, and I would not
blame her in the slightest for leaving him for Gatsby, but if this is the path
that she chooses, she must hasten to be honest with Tom and divorce him before
becoming involved with Tom, or else she will be cheating on her husband and
making herself no better than Tom Buchanan. After all, no matter how badly
Daisy was hurt, we all know that two wrongs never make a right.
As I
was reading chapter 7 of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, I also noticed the tremendously significant role
that Mr. Wilson plays in the novel despite the fact that he is merely a minor
character. After reading of how Mr. Wilson was working exceptionally hard in
order to raise enough money to move Myrtle and himself out West, I realized how
much he truly loved his wife, and I am convinced that he may be the only
character in the book who truly loves someone else with a pure, unselfish love.
Every other character in the novel seems to harbor a love corrupted by scandal,
infidelity, hubris, dishonesty, or selfish motives. On the other hand, Mr.
Wilson seems to love Myrtle unconditionally and is so distraught at hearing the
news that she was unfaithful to him that he became physically ill. It seems to
me as though his role in the story was perhaps to be a subtle reminder of what
genuine love and dedication to a spouse should look like, since no other
spouses in the novel seem to have any regard for the values of faithfulness or
respect. Furthermore, Nick notices while he, Jordan, and Tom stop at Mr. Wilson’s
shop the stark contrast between Tom and Mr. Wilson’s characters. In this
moment, he remarks that, “I stared at him and then at Tom… and it occurred to
me that there was no difference between men… so profound as the difference
between the sick and the well” (Fitzgerald, 124). When Tom learned of Daisy’s
infidelity, he experienced rage and suffered from a sorely wounded pride, yet
he remained relatively well, whereas Mr. Wilson was so distraught upon learning
of his own wife’s unfaithfulness that he had become terribly ill. I believe that
Fitzgerald manufactured this juxtaposition of Tom Buchanan to Mr. Wilson to
emphasize the cruelty of Tom’s character. Furthermore, I believe that the fact
that Mr. Wilson is moving Myrtle out West will give Tom even more motivation to
fight Gatsby for Daisy’s love; therefore, despite the fact that Mr. Wilson is a
minor character, his role in The Great
Gatsby ultimately ended up being incredibly significant.
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