The Great Gatsby
By: Sunny Yi
Chapter 1 (West & East Egg Found Poem)
Due east of New York
A pair of Enormous eggs
West Egg
the less fashionable of the two
View of millionaires
A colossal affair with more than forty acres
Rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season
Spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy
New money roaming all around
East egg
Glittered along the water across the courtesy bay
Sharply different from the West
White palaces filled with old money
Freedom with money
[Inherited] white Georgian Colonial mansion
Two similar yet completely different grounds
I chose to use the West and East Egg for this poem because they are two very similar things and places, yet there are very different from the perspectives of those who live on each bay. The West Egg is seen as "new money" which means that they did not inherit the wealth therefore there are not the "original rich people". This is important to see because not just the poor are criticized for living in poverty but new money as well because they were not fortunate enough to inherit all this money. I see two social classes as a result of this: the people of East egg, and everyone else. People would normally assume that if you had money, you would rise in the social class standard, but if you had to work for it instead of inherit it, you are just as bad as the common people. This is why I put in that the East Egg is sharply different from the West because even if the amount of money in each bank account is the same, the source will never be.
Chapter 2 (Two Voice Poem between George and Myrtle)
Chapter 3 (Twitter Feed from Nick Carraway)
These tweets show the carelessness of Gatsby in his money for throwing such extravagant and expensive parties for people that he doesn't even know. Along with that, drivers are very careless for driving as if they can just buy a new car if anything becomes damaged or broken. People are squandering money and their things for a night of complete carelessness. Just imagining how much money it was to get all this bootleg alcohol is another thing that is careless. Gatsby just spent years trying to get money in this business for Daisy and now he is throwing parties and using money to buy gifts for her.
Chapter 4 (Letter to Daisy from Gatsby)
Dear Daisy,
you're the bee's knees that i'm stuck on. I know you want me to get a wiggle on and come home, and I hate to be a wet blanket and disappoint a doll like you, but i will not be coming home any time soon. I don't want to ankle this opportunity of seeing you again, but I've gotten myself in a little situation. As an egg I have more than enough to help me but it's more complicating than i can explain, but i promise to you that i will make you a happy live wire when i come back. I will become a swell man for you so wait for me, Daisy. I love you so much and i know that this may all sound like applesauce, but just trust me and know that its jake. I don't exactly how long i will be in my situation or when i will be able to get out, but all i'm sure of is that this crush i have on you is the realest thing i've ever felt. Stay away from those drugstore cowboys and don't let them stare at your beautiful gams. I'm beating my gums now, but before i go i just wanted to tell you that i miss you. Until we meet again, take care of yourself.
Love,
Jay Gatsby
This is my assumption of the letter that Gatsby wrote to Daisy. I feel as if he did not want to completely tell Daisy anything that was really going on with him, especially after he already told her before about what type of social class he came from. I imagined him to be shady but very promising in assuring her that he would make her happy while at the same time trying to stick to his lie that he is an egg which is why I made him reiterate it. Gatsby knows that Daisy will never marry a poor man because of the security that she has found in her abundant amount of wealth and that there is no way she could change her entire lifestyle for a man which is why I feel like she cried after reading this. Daisy knew that Tom was right there in front of her ready to sweep her off her feet with a mansion and piles of money to squander while Gatsby was far away with a returning clock she was unsure of. She stuck to what she was comfortable with and married Tom because his money and social status brought her security which shows how big of a deal it is to have money or not.
Chapter 5 (Recipe for the Perfect Tea Party with Daisy)
- 3 clouds ready for showers
- Couple dashes of freshly cut grass
- Thousands of bundles of flowers
- 1 Curious Daisy
- 1 nervous beating heart
- Suit soaked in water
- 2 sleep deprived eyes
- 1 broken clock
- splash of sunshine
To start out, 3 clouds must be ready to pour during the entire process. Then you add a couple dashes of freshly cut grass from the heaping pile in the yard which should have been cut just before. After you add bundles of flowers, then more bundles, and then more until it is overflowing with flowers. Proceeding, you add a curious Daisy to create the anticipation for the nervous beating heart that will follow. Afterwards, a drenched suit in water will be laid in the center with two sleep deprived eyes placed carelessly in any direction. The sleepless and careless eyes must go before the clock so that they break the clock up. And finally you add a dash of sunshine for the recipe is now complete.
This is a "recipe" for the perfect tea party with Daisy specifically designed by Jay Gatsby, himself. I wanted to really incorporate how much effort as well as money Gatsby spends just for one tea party with Daisy. He doesn't care that he is hiring people to redo Nick's entire landscape as well as the interior design. He wants everything to be perfect to give off this perfect appearance of being able to get anything because he is so wealthy that anything is possible now. Gatsby wants no blemish or questioning of what he is capable of since he didn't grow up with much of the things he has now. He doesn't even care that he ruined his suit in the rain but just wants to seem presentable as any other "egg" would.
Chapter 6 (Gatsby's Resume)
Skills:
- lie extremely well
- can clean
- smile a smile seen only a couple times in a lifetime
- love blindly
- commit secret crimes
- keep secrets with commissioners
Experience:
- janitor at the Lutheran college of St. Olaf
- steward
- mate
- skipper
- secretary
- jailor
- officer
- sold bootleg liquor
- associated in other criminal affairs
This shows a resume of what Gatsby has done since he was 17 years old. He has gone from the poorest of the poor with his unsuccessful farm parents, to living on one of the most wealthiest places in New York. Everything that Gatsby does is centered and focused on Daisy and the idea to become a worthy man for her. Being worthy to a girl like Daisy meant being able to buy whatever her heart desires and have enough to fix the things that do not please her. Gatsby knew that he couldn't marry her or even support her with the lifestyle he had been living so he resulted to selling bootleg liquor to help him gain all his wealth. This idea of even being with Daisy would not be possible if he was poor so he worked in the fastest way, even if it was illegal, to get where he needed to be because there really was no other way to be able to obtain all the money needed to support Daisy. A high class woman needs a man with an never ceasing bank account, and he risked everything to get it.
Email: jamesgatz@gmail.com
Phone: (212) 768-0073
Chapter 7 (Bumper Stickers)
Chapter 8 (George Wilson's Obituary)
Survived by the love of his life, his wife, Myrtle Wilson. George was a caring man who owns the garage down in the Valley of Ashes. He was known for fixing and repairing cars as well as filling the tanks of cars. Mr.Wilson loved his wife more than anything and yearned after the same love to fall back to him. Reporters say that Wilson took his life due to his wife having an affair, but nonetheless he loved her as much as he could while he was on this earth. May you rest in peace, George Wilson.
This obituary was a very short one with not much information because nobody really payed attention to the death of George Wilson nor did they focus much on the death of Gatsby. Much of the attention went towards revealing exactly what Gatsby did to obtain all that money exemplifying just how much more money means to the city rather than the death of loved ones. The town talked more about how Gatsby was involved in criminal activities than how George murdered Gatsby without hard evidence to even follow through with the crime. The mystery of the new money in the town is now revealed and that's all that matters because the source of where the money came from is obviously more important that the lives that were taken.
Chapter 9 (Post Card from Nick to Tom and Daisy)
I hope that the both of you are perfectly happy with your lives. How could you do that to Gatsby?! He was at least an acquaintance with the both of you and Daisy claimed to have loved him! You both are cowards for running and not even showing your respects at the funeral. You both depend on your money and retreat along with it wherever you go. You know you guys can't always run and hide from your problems. One day your money will run out and it won't be able to save you from everything. Why don't you both man up and face what has happened here in New York, or at least have the decency to never come back. I'm more disappointed in the both of you than i have ever been in my entire life. Do not show your faces around here again, and i thought this post card would fit you guys perfectly since you both are obsessed and attached to your money.
-Nick
I wrote this postcard from Nick to the both of them to emphasize just how much they both rely on their money for anything and everything. "-- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money" (188) Daisy and Tom do not know what else to do when they are in sticky or uncomfortable situations. All they know what to do is pick up their lives and leave because they have enough money to travel and never come back which scares me because there may come a day where there will be no money left over, so they can't continuously rely on it. I believe that this is exactly how Nick would respond after hearing that Daisy and Tom left right before the funeral with no returning address especially since Daisy claimed to love Gatsby.