CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES

CHAPTER VII

Summary (continued)

Tom pulls away from Wilson's garage and steps on the accelerator, hoping to catch up to Gatsby and Daisy. When he pulls up beside them, they all decide to meet in front of the Plaza Hotel, where they will rent a suite for the afternoon. Once in the room, Tom is still upset and is impatient with everyone. He tells Daisy and Jordan to stop complaining about the heat, and he challenges Gatsby about being an Oxford man. Gatsby explains that he was there for five months, in 1919, after the war. Tom then asks him, "What kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house?" Daisy comes to Gatsby's defense and tells her husband that it is he that is causing a row. She tells him to have some self-control. Tom is incredulous at her audacity and says, "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. . .next they'll have intermarriage between black and white." Gatsby attempts to answer Tom, but Daisy, not wanting a scene, interrupts and begs to go home.

Tom will not let it drop and presses Gatsby, who tells Tom, "Your wife doesn't love you. She's never loved you. She loves me. . .She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake." Tom argues and says that sometimes Daisy has foolish ideas and does not know what she is doing. He adds that he loves Daisy; "once in a while, I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." Daisy interrupts to tell Tom that he is "revolting." When Gatsby insists, she also says that she does not love Tom and has never loved him. When Tom reminds her of past memories, she tells Gatsby that she did love Tom in the past. She adds, "I love you now - isn't that enough."

Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy is going to leave him. Tom shouts, "She's not leaving me. . certainly not for a common swindler." Tom then questions Gatsby about his business and discloses to everyone that the man is involved in bootlegging and other illegal acts. Daisy stands between the two men, looking terrified. Gatsby's expression looks like he had just "killed a man." Gatsby tries to defend himself to Daisy, but she merely draws further and further into herself. Gatsby knows he is losing her - - that his dream is vanishing. At the same time, Tom knows he has won the battle and will never lose Daisy. Therefore, he feels comfortable in sending Daisy and Gatsby off together in Gatsby's yellow car. He has nothing to fear; Daisy will always belong to him.

Nick interrupts his narrative to give the details surrounding the accident. Michaelis, the young Greek who runs the coffee shop near the ashheaps, goes over to see Wilson around five o'clock. He finds his friend pale and shaking all over; he tries unsuccessfully to convince Wilson to go to bed. When Michaelis hears a loud noise from upstairs, Wilson explains that he has locked up his wife. He wants to make certain that she does not try and run away before they move from the Valley of Ashes in two days. Michaelis is shocked at Wilson's words, for he is normally a mild, colorless man.

Michaelis leaves the garage to return to his restaurant, promising Wilson to come back and check on him later. Then a little after seven o'clock, he comes outside and hears Myrtle screaming at her husband: "Beat me! Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!" She then runs out the door of the garage waving her hands. When the "death car" hit her, it did not stop. It happened so quickly that Michaelis was not even sure of the color of the automobile. He and a passerby are the first to reach Myrtle's body. It is immediately obvious that she is dead. Her mouth is wide open "ripped at the corners as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored for so long."

When Tom, Nick, and Daisy approach the Valley of Ashes, a crowd has already gathered around the site of the accident. Tom decides to stop and see what is going on. When Nick emerges from the car, he hears a constant wailing sound coming from the garage. When Tom peers inside the garage, he makes a harsh sound and shoves his way through the crowd. Nick and Jordan follow Tom inside, where Myrtle's body, wrapped in a blanket, is laying on a work table. Wilson is in his office staring down at the lifeless form and moaning, "O my Gao-od!" over and over. Tom, with a dazed look and glazed eyes, is bending over Myrtle's body.

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