Saturday, June 21, 2008

Quotation 3

Explain the following,
"So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval of her eyes."
(Nick after Daisy had come to Gatsby's party)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Card house is used as a metaphor to show how fragile Gatsby's career was. All of his efforts from working for a senator to distributing alcohols for money would easily be razed if Daisy did not approve its significance. If Daisy did not approve of it, everything would fall as a card house.

Min Jae said...

I agree with Kyle. The whole purpose of Gatsby's parties was just to get Daisy to know his grandeur. But as she didn’t seem to have fun at the party, Gatsby didn't see any purpose in the parties anymore. The only reason he hosted them was just to please Daisy. Everything lost its purpose, his image and his parties didn’t matter to him.

kristeena said...

All along, Gatsby had been hosting all these big, festive, rich parties hoping that Daisy one day would attend one and be impressed by their splendor. When he realizes that Daisy doesn't enjoy his parties all the meaning in them falls apart. Gatsby's whole meaning in life is to impress Daisy in order to buy her back. The day she goes to one of his parties and doesn't like it, everything falls apart for Gatsby because he finally realizes it's impossible to go back to having his loved one.

Young Eui Hong said...

During the parties, Gatsby sat by himself and let the guests have fun by themselves. This was because all Gatsby wanted to gain from his luxurious parties was Daisy's satisfaction. With that one person not enjoying the party, everything would fall like a card house. Gatsby would be undone with Daisy's disapproval. So, the card house may also represent Gatsby himself, not only his career. By providing the party, Gatsby is also a caravansary because without him, there is no party.

dani.k said...

Unlike Kristeena, I do not believe that Gatsby “finally realizes it's impossible to go back to having his loved one [Daisy]” for he never truly grasps this concept. Part of him truly believes he’s got her throughout the rest of the story. Instead, I think that once you find out the true reason that Gatsby fell in love with Daisy was because he wanted to have and be everything she was you realize that he discontinues the parties because she disapproves (obviously), in other words, that the person that he aspired to be didn’t ‘do’ that kind of parties, and him wanting to be that kind of person, he saw it as he had to not ‘do’ those kind of parties, either. Plus, the parties had already served their purpose; they had brought Daisy to him (through Jordan and Nick, but they still did).