The Great Gatsby - Significant Quotations

Significant Quotations
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her: if you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted lover, I must have you!" - Thomas Parke D' Invillers

This quotation is basically saying that you should do what ever you need to do to get the girl, even if you have to impress her materialistically: show of your bling.

Chapter 1
"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope."  (7) 

This is saying that you should reserve judgement. Since people can change, you should give them a chance and not judge them right away.

Chapter 2
"But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak rust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic -- their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into external blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground"(23-24).

This quote is describing Doctor T.J.Eckleburg as god, with his huge eyes looking down on the valley of ashes.

' "...there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her, as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering." (28)  '''

This quote is significant because it shows contrast between Daisy and Myrtle. Daisy is straight laced, boring, absence of colour, and absent of thought, whereas Myrtle is lively, full of colour, outgoing and outspoken.

The contrast between Daisy and Myrtle also shows another side of Tom because of his relationships with these two drastically different woman.

"Its a bitch,' said Tom decisively. 'Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it.' (30)

'Tom is very aggressive verbally and nonverbally. He thinks he is always right no matter what. He also enjoys bossing people around and talking down to him. He is talking to Myrtle here. This quotation also shows dominance  and sexist part of Tom's charatcer. This also suggests that Tom is paying Myrtle in gifts to be with him and to be as his mistress.'

'Then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring at the morning TRIBUNE, and waiting for the four o'clock train. (40) '

''This happened when Nick left Tom's party in New York due to the fact that he cannot handle all these dramas. Everyone at the party were drunk and acted crazy. The significance of the quote is that the fact everyone are very wealthy and has enormous mansions Nick feels he does not belong with them, so he decided to leave town to travel to a more suited area. He has no friends and feels lonely because the people he was with did not offer the guidance and support needed in his life. ''

Chapter 3
"On week-ends Rolls-Royce became an omnious, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before"(39).

''In the beginning of Chapter 3, Gatsby's house parties are described as enchanting and magical--as if they were unreal. When monday rolls in, the image of the enchanting house is seen by the e''xternal world for an instant. His ''quote is important because Nick finally meets the real Gatsby. He realizes that Gatsby is a real person, and that he seems like a genuine, nice man. Nick sees the magic quality in Gatsby.''

Chapter 4
"With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter. The very phrases were worn so threadbare that evoked no image except that of a turbaned 'character' leaking sawdust at every pore as he pursued a tiger through the Bois de Boulogne" (66).

This is when Gatsby is telling Nick about his life in first person. Nick is trying to restrain himself from laughter because he knows that there is something wrong with what Gatsby is saying because Jordan looks like she knows he is lying when Nick looks at her. From what Nick believes, what Gatsby is saying is so minute meaning there isn't a lot of detail to go on to see if its true or not. Gatsby is saying that he lived so well after his family had all died and that he travelled a lot and almost had it made for him even though we all know the truth about Gatsby and how he actually got everything in the end.

"The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he had dispensed starlight to casual moths so that he could "come over" some afternoon to a stranger's garden" (78).

When Nick heard Gatsby's request from Jordan it surprised him, Gatsby had done so much to win over Daisy and all he wants is to come over to see her. It appears that Gatsby is too nervous to do something by himself, he wants to have Daisy so bad but he doesn't know what he should do to get her. It might also be that he hasn't known Daisy for a long time, he is probably worried that she has changed and that she will not love him like she did when they were teenagers.

"It is an old time-table now, disintigrating as its folds, and headed "This schedule in effect July 5th, 1922." But I can still read the gray names, and they will give you a beter impression than my generalities of those who accepted Gatsby's hospitality and paid him the subtle tribute of knowing nother whatever about him" (60).

This is Nick explaining the paper he has written names upon. The names of all of the people who attended Gatsby's parties over the summer. The paper is dated July 5, which is the day after Independence day. Usually, Independence day is a day in which families celebrate together and pay respect to their country. However, these people are attending a huge party hosted by a man that they know nothing of, surrounded by many people that they don't know. They go to this party, not to celebrate, but to raise their social status'. This shows the West Egg vs East Egg; the West Egg is lacking traditional values.

"He looked at me sideways - and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase "educated at Oxford," or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn't something a little sinister about him, after all" (65).

''-Nick Carraway believes that Jordan Baker misinterpreted what Gatsby had told her, and that's why she thought he had been lying about being educated at Oxford. As it "bothered" him before, Gatsby probably heard this numerous times, and as for Nick, he's thinking that he just may be a fraud.''

Chapter 5
"Only wind in the trees, which blew the wires and made the lights go off and on again as if the house had winked into the darkness" (Narration Pg. 79).

The lights were flickering these nuts because electricity was fairly new and electrical towers were not as sturdy as they are today. This may also represent Gatsby trying to get Daisy's attention from across the way, as that was his house.

"You always have a green light the burns all night at the end of your dock" (92).

The green light represents the journey to get Daisy. Now that he has her beside him, their is no purpose of the light. The quotation is said to Daisy from Gatsby.

Chapter 6
"....bringing out a meaning in each word that it had never had before and would never have again." (104)

When Daisy speaks, her voice is what is captivating, not her words. She speaks with a certain flair that masks the nonsense that she's really saying. In this instance, at Gatsby's party, Daisy's singing voice transforms the song into something completely different than what it actually is. Thus, this is a reflection of her character: By saying, "never had before and would never have again", Fitzgerald further implements the idea that her words are temporary and useless; they're only elements of the moment, as opposed to something serious.

Chapter 7
"I wanted somebody who wouldn‘t gossip. Daisy comes over quite often – in the afternoons"

Gatsby has dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others…(113-114, 113-114).

"Her voice is full of money…That was it. I‘d never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible"

"charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals‘ song of it…High in a white palace the king‘s daughter, the golden girl…" (120, 120).

She never loved you, do

Chapter 8
'''"She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby - nothing. He felt married to her, that was all." (Narration pg. 149)'''

This quotation is describing the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy now that Gatsby finally has Daisy. The word "married" in this quote is describing Gatsby as together but not necessarily in love. Being "married" to someone can be a basic as an official document from the government or it could mean an everlasting love between two people. In this quote it is clear that Gatsby does not have a strong relationship

''The first part of the quote describing Daisy's "rich" and "full" life almost says that her life is complete without Gatsby in it. It could also mean that there is no place in Daisy's life for Gatsby. Either way, Gatsby is left with nothing of Daisy. ''  

' '''"A New world - material without being real." (Chapter 8, pg. 153-154)' ''

''This quote discussing how the world has changed. How the old world of morals and values has disappeared and now, everyone prides themselves on their possession and have become seriously materialistic. ''

Nick says this when he realizes how Tom, Daisy, Gatsby and the other characters pooped themselves and have lost themselves and live and boast about possesions.

'''"'God sees everything,' repeated Wilson." '''(page 160)

''These were the last words that George Wilson had said before he murdered Gatsby in the end of the chapter. It is showing the madness that came from his realization of the affair and the death of his wife, but maybe this could be indicating that he was the only sane one of all the characters in the end.'' ''With the rough life that George had, he did not experience the immorality of society in the 1920s. The abuse of money, the new crimes developed, and the other aspects of life were not able to corrupt his lifetyle in the Valley of Ashes. Being a poor man, it was his dream to be rich and make a life for himself and his wife in New York City, but living, isolated, in the Valley of Ashes kept his morals.''

''All of the characters seemed to be blinded by the lifestyle that surrounded them. They were rich, or wanted to be in George's case, and were blinded by the corruption of society. They could not see what harm they were doing to each other and themselves and started keeping secrets, having affairs and causing unneeded destruction. God was the only one that could see their flaws and lies; he could look past their secrets and see the real people on the inside - the bad people they had become.''