Great Gatsby – Chapter 4

Obsession is freaky and Gatsby has proven sketchy because of it. I hate to use such loose, slang terminology, but those are the only words that come to mind at this point. He is grimy. If I were Daisy I would worry what Gatsby would do to me if we were alone or if I wanted to be with him, too. He’s such a “creeper!”

“‘Gatsby bought that house so Daisy would be just across the bay.” (78)

How many nights had Gatsby just looked out across the bay, like at the end of Chapter One? How many attempts did he make to see her? How many plans had gone astray? How sick in the head is he really?

I love that after Jordan Baker confides Gatsby’s secret to Nick he is shaken by the “modesty of the demand” (78). What about the absurdity and intensity of Gatsby’s infatuation? Wouldn’t that scare you witless? I wouldn’t have mind capacity left to be shaken by modesty. My mind would be consumed by worry for my cousin. Gatsby may seem all quiet and proper, but we all know it’s the quiet ones you have to worry about. He may have some panther in him.

In a pretty world, what Gatsby did is romantic. But we’re not in a pretty world. We’re in a real world, far from pretty and safe. Gatsby is doing one act short of stalking. He’s an obsessive man compelled by a distant memory five years past. He can’t move on. Can’t think clear. Can’t be his own person minus Daisy. Clearly, something is wrong.

According to Dana Peach, Infatuation has stages:

1) Love Stricken … Gatsby was there 5 years ago (and still is)

2) Intrusive Thinking …

Every experience you now have seems interwoven with their qualities, every shared moment weighted with new meaning. When apart from them, you review and relish each moment spent in their presence and ruminate on their flavor. In fact, many infatuation informants report spending 80 to 100 percent of their time compulsively trying to crystallize the vision of their new love, living in vigilant expectation of the next contact. (Peach, Infatuation)

3) Idealization … Gatsby is quite blind to Daisy and her faults.

4) Roller Coaster of L-O-V-E … “combination of hope and uncertainty” (Peach, Infatuation).

So just in case you didn’t believe that Gatsby was sketchy or infatuated, here’s all the proof you need. He really is in a state of awe, but the kind that leads people to live for someone else. Not good.