Funeral

I was surprised by how many people came to the funeral. It was upsetting to see only a couple people there. I felt badly because it was only Nick and Jay’s father, Mr. Gatz. Mr. Gatz only came because he heard about it. Other than his death, they never seemed to keep in touch or talk, so he only cared about him now that he was gone.
It seemed liked Nick was Gatsby’s only friend during the whole book. He didn’t really seem to have anyone close to him. Gatsby had parties every Saturday night that so many people would come to, but only one of the partygoers, Owl Eyes, came to the funeral. Even when Gatsby would throw enormous parties, he would never socialize with anyone there. I didn’t understand why Daisy did not come. It actually made me really mad that she didn’t attend because it was he fault that he died in the first place.
I think that this was meant to show us that Gatsby’s whole life was just an attempt to get to obtain an unreachable goal. Everything that he did was just in an effort to get Daisy back, and other than this dream of her, he had nothing. Almost like Gatsby himself was empty, so was his funeral.

Climax

One thing that foreshadowed the events was when Gatsby was so certain that he could “repeat the past.” When Nick and him had this conversation and Gatsby kept reassuring himself that he could make everything the way it was, I got the feeling that he would not be able to win Daisy back, because in the past he lost her too.
Another thing that was mentioned earlier in the book was the situation with Myrtle and Wilson. Once he found the dog collars and realized that she was cheating on him, I knew that he was going to do something. When Myrtle saw Tom in the yellow car, and started to freak out it seemed that something big was coming.
Also, when Nick revealed the truth about Gatsby, it completely changed what I thought about him. Now he seemed like a shady character. Of course, I liked the fact that he cared for Daisy so much, but I felt that there was going to be a dark fate for him. I didn’t like him after I learned his past, and partly because he was so willing to have an affair with a married woman. I kind of knew that Gatsby would die, especially after Myrtle died because of him and Daisy.

Lies

Gatsby lied about himself because he was embarrassed. He was ashamed of being a nobody. When he worked for a millionaire, he got a taste of the rich life and he couldn’t have enough of it. From then on, Jay Gatsby had longed for great wealth and achievement, but he made all of his money in organized crime. Gatsby fell in love with Daisy and he knew that she surrounded herself with luxuries. Gatsby lied about his own background and hid the true source of his wealth so he could convince her that he was good and rich enough for her.
I think that Nick waited to tell the readers the truth about Gatsby because he wanted us to make our own judgments about him. He explains his “morals” in the very first paragraph of the book, and how he never judges people even though he does silently. I believe that Nick also kept all of this secret because he wanted Gatsby to be a mysterious character. Gatsby created himself. He even changed his name to suit the new him. If we had known his background in the first chapter of the book, we would have had a much different perspective of him that might not have changed at all throughout the book.

Enchanted Objects

Back in Chapter One, Gatsby walked outside to his lawn, trembling, with his arms stretched out towards the water. He was actually staring across the water, at the far green light at the end of the dock on West Egg, where Daisy lives.
As the book goes on, Gatsby attempts to meet up with Daisy, but he never has the chance to. Gatsby hasn’t seen or talked to her for years. It is even implied that he has so many parties, but keeps to himself, only to look outside every so often at all his guests so he can see if there is any possibility she might be there.
The quote that Gatsby's “count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” means that the meaning of the green light disappears because there is no longer any distance between them.