American Literature books summary

McKee and her husband, who is an artist. They gossip about Gatsby, and

Myrtle discusses her husband, claiming that she was crazy to marry him, and

how she met Tom. Later, Myrtle and Tom argue about whether or not she has a

right to say Daisy's name, and he breaks Myrtle's nose.

Chapter Three: Nick Carraway describes the customs of Gatsby's weekly

parties: the arrival of crates of oranges and lemons, a corps of caterers

and a large orchestra. On the first night that Carraway visits Gatsby's

house, he was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. When he

arrives, he sees Jordan Baker, who had recently lost a golf tournament.

They hear more gossip about Jay Gatsby he supposedly killed a man, or was

a German spy. Jordan and Nick look through Gatsby's library, where she

thinks that his books are not real. Later in the party, a man who

recognized Nick from the war talks to him Nick does not know that it is

Gatsby. Suddenly, after he identifies himself, Gatsby gets a phone call

from Chicago. Afterwards, Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan Baker alone. When

she finishes talking to Gatsby, she tells Nick that she heard the most

amazing thing and says that she wishes to see him. Guests leaving the party

have a car wreck in Gatsby's driveway. This was merely one event in a

crowded summer. Carraway, who spent most of his time working, began to like

New York. For a while he lost sight of Jordan Baker. He was not in love

with her, but had some curiosity toward her.

Chapter Four: At a Sunday morning party at Gatsby's, young women gossip

about Gatsby (he's a bootlegger who killed a man who found out that he was

a nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil). One morning

Gatsby comes to take Nick for lunch. He shows off his car: it had a rich

cream color and was filled with boxes from Gatsby's purchases. Gatsby asks

Nick what his opinion of him is, and Nick is evasive. Gatsby gives his

story: he is the son of wealthy people in the Middle West, brought up in

America and educated at Oxford. Carraway does not believe him, for he

chokes on his words. Gatsby continues: he lived in the capitals of Europe,

then enlisted in the war effort, where he was promoted to major and given a

number of declarations (from every Allied government, even Montenegro).

Gatsby admits that he usually finds himself among strangers because he

drifts from here to there, and that something happened to him that Jordan

Baker will tell Nick at lunch. They drive out past the valley of ashes and

Nick even glimpses Myrtle Wilson. When Gatsby is stopped for speeding, he

flashes a card to the policeman, who then does not give him a ticket.

At lunch, Gatsby introduces Carraway to Meyer Wolfsheim, a small, flat-

nosed Jew. He talks of the days at the Metropole when they shot Rosy

Rosenthal, and proudly mentions his cufflinks, which are made from human

molars. Wolfsheim is a gambler, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series.

Tom Buchanan is also there, and Nick introduces him to Gatsby, who appears

quite uncomfortable and then suddenly disappears. Jordan Baker tells the

story about Gatsby: Back in 1917, Daisy was eighteen and Jordan sixteen.

They were volunteering with the Red Cross, making bandages, and Daisy asked

Jordan to cover for her that day. She was meeting with Jay Gatsby, and

there were wild rumors that she was going to run off to New York with him.

On Daisy's wedding day to Tom, she nearly changes her mind, and goes into

hysterics. According to Jordan, Gatsby bought his house just to be across

the bay from Daisy. Nick becomes more drawn to Jordan, with her scornful

and cynical manner. Jordan tells Nick that he is supposed to arrange a

meeting between Gatsby and Daisy.

Chapter Five: Nick speaks with Gatsby about arranging a meeting with Daisy,

and tries to make it as convenient for Nick as possible. Gatsby even offers

him a job, a "confidential sort of thing," although he assures Nick that he

would not have to work with Wolfsheim. On the day that Gatsby and Daisy are

to meet, Gatsby has arranged everything to perfection. They start at Nick's

home, where the conversation between the three (Nick, Gatsby, Daisy) is

stilted and awkward. They are all embarrassed, and Nick tells Gatsby that

he's behaving like a little boy. They go over to Gatsby's house, where

Gatsby gives a tour. Nick asks Gatsby more questions about his business,

and he snaps back "that's my affair," before giving a half-hearted

explanation. Gatsby shows Daisy newspaper clippings about his exploits, and

has Ewing Klipspringer, a boarder, play the piano for them. One of the

notable mementos that Gatsby shows Daisy is a photograph of him with Dan

Cody, his closest friend, on a yacht. As they leave, Carraway realizes that

there must have been moments when Daisy disappointed Gatsby during the

afternoon, for his dreams and illusions had been built up to such grandiose

levels.

Chapter Six: On a vague hunch, a reporter comes to Gatsby's home asking him

if he had a statement to give out. The actual story of Gatsby is revealed:

he was born James Gatz in North Dakota. He had his named legally changed at

the age of seventeen. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm

people, and the young man was consumed by fancies of what he might achieve.

His life changed when he rowed out to Dan Cody's yacht on Lake Superior.

Cody was then fifty, a product of the Nevada silver fields and of the Yukon

gold rush. Cody took Gatsby in and brought him to the West Indies and the

Barbary Coast as a personal assistant. When Cody died, Gatsby inherited

$25,000, but didn't get it because Cody's mistress, Ella Kaye, claimed all

of it. Gatsby told Nick this much later.

Nick had not seen Gatsby for several weeks when he went over to his house.

Tom Buchanan arrived there. He had been horseback riding with a woman and a

Mr. Sloane. Gatsby invites the group to supper, but the lady counters with

an offer of supper at her home. Mr. Sloane seems quite opposed to the idea,

so Nick turns down the offer, but Gatsby accepts. Tom complains about the

crazy people that Daisy meets, presumably meaning Gatsby. On the following

Saturday Tom accompanies Daisy to Gatsby's party. Tom is unpleasant and

rude during the evening. Tom suspects that Gatsby is a bootlegger, since he

is one of the new rich. After the Buchanans leave, Gatsby is disappointed,

thinking that Daisy surely did not enjoy herself. Nick realizes that Gatsby

wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should tell Tom that she never

loved him. Nick tells Gatsby that he can't ask too much of Daisy, and that

"you can't repeat the past," to which Gatsby replies: "Of course you can!"

Chapter Seven: It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that

he failed to give a Saturday night party. Nick goes over to see if Gatsby

is sick, and learns that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house

and replaced them with a half dozen others who would not gossip, for Daisy

had been visiting in the afternoons. Daisy invites Gatsby, Nick and Jordan

to lunch. At the lunch, Tom is supposedly on the telephone with Myrtle

Wilson. Daisy shows of her daughter, who is dressed in white, to her

guests. Tom claims that he read that the sun is getting hotter and soon the

earth will fall into it or rather that the sun is getting colder. Daisy

makes an offhand remark that she loves Gatsby, which Tom overhears. When

Tom goes inside to get a drink, Nick remarks that Daisy has an indiscreet

voice. Gatsby says that her voice is "full of money." They all go to town:

Nick and Jordan in Tom's car, Daisy in Gatsby's. On the way, Tom tells Nick

that he has investigated Gatsby, who is certainly no Oxford man, as is

rumored. They stop to get gas at Wilson's garage. Mr. Wilson wants to buy

Tom's car, for he has financial troubles and he and Myrtle want to go west.

Wilson tells Tom that he "just got wised up" to something recently, the

reason why he and Myrtle want to get away.

While leaving the garage, they see Myrtle peering down at the car from her

window. Her expression was one of jealous terror toward Jordan Baker, whom

she took to be his wife.

Feeling that both his wife and mistress are slipping away from him, Tom

feels panicked and impatient. To escape from the summer heat, they go to a

suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom begins to confront Gatsby, irritated at his

constant use of the term "old sport." Tom attempts to expose Gatsby as a

liar concerning Gatsby's experience at Oxford. Tom rambles on about the

decline of civilization, and how there may even be intermarriage between

races. Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy doesn't love him, and never loved him

the only reason why she married him was because Gatsby was poor and Daisy

was tired of waiting. Daisy hints that there has been trouble in her and

Tom's past, and then tells Tom that she never loved him. However, she does

concede that she did love Tom once. Gatsby tells Tom that he is not going

to take care of Daisy anymore and that Daisy is leaving him. Tom calls

Gatsby a "common swindler" and a bootlegger involved with Meyer Wolfsheim.

Nick realizes that today is his thirtieth birthday.

The young Greek, Michaelis, who ran the coffee joint next to Wilson's

garage was the principal witness at the inquest. While Wilson and his wife

were fighting, she ran out in the road and was hit by a light green car.

She was killed. Tom and Nick learn this when they drive past on their way

back from the city. Tom realizes that it was Gatsby who hit Myrtle. When

Nick returns home, he sees Gatsby, who explains what happened. Daisy was

driving the car when they hit Myrtle.

Chapter Eight: Nick cannot sleep that night. Toward dawn he hears a taxi go

up Gatsby's drive, and he immediately feels that he has something to warn

Gatsby about. Gatsby is still there, watching Daisy's mansion across the

bay. Nick warns him to get away for a week, since his car will inevitably

be traced, but he refuses to consider it. He cannot leave Daisy until he

knew what she would do. It was then when Gatsby told his entire history to

Nick. Gatsby still refuses to believe that Daisy ever loved Tom. After the

war Gatsby searched for Daisy, only to find that she had married Tom. Nick

leaves reluctantly, having to go to work that morning. Before he leaves,

Nick tells Gatsby that he's "worth the whole damn bunch put together." At

work, Nick gets a call from Jordan, and they have a tense conversation.

That day Michaelis goes to comfort Wilson, who is convinced that his wife

was murdered. He had found the dog collar that Tom had bought Myrtle hidden

the day before, which prompted their sudden decision to move west. Wilson

looks out at the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg and tells Michaelis that "God sees

everything." Wilson left, "acting crazy" (according to witnesses), and

found his way to Gatsby's house. Gatsby had gone out to the pool for one

last swim before draining it for the fall. Wilson shot him, and then shot

himself.

Chapter Nine: Most of the reports of the murder were grotesque and untrue.

Nick finds himself alone on Gatsby's side. Tom and Daisy suddenly left

town. Meyer Wolfsheim is difficult to contact, and offers assistance, but

cannot become too involved because of current entanglements. Nick tracks

down Gatsby's father, Henry C. Gatz, a solemn old man, helpless and

dismayed by news of the murder. Gatz says that his son would have "helped

build up the country." Klipspringer, the boarder, leaves suddenly and only

returns to get his tennis shoes. Nick goes to see Wolfsheim, who claims

that he made Gatsby. He tells Nick "let he learn to show our friendship for

a man when he is alive and not after he is dead," and politely refuses to

attend the funeral. Gatz shows Nick his son's daily schedule, in which he

has practically every minute of his day planned. He had a continual

interest in self-improvement. At the funeral, one of the few attendees is

the Owl-Eyed man from Gatsby's first party. Nick thinks about the

differences between the west and the east, and realizes that he, the

Buchanans, Gatsby and Jordan are all Westerners who came east, perhaps

possessing some deficiency which made them unadaptable to Eastern life.

After Gatsby's death the East was haunted and distorted. He meets with

Jordan Baker, who recalls their conversation about how bad drivers are

dangerous only when two of them meet. She tells Nick that the two of them

are both 'bad drivers.' Months later Nick saw Tom Buchanan, and Nick scorns

him, knowing that he pointed Wilson toward Gatsby. Nick realizes that all

of Tom's actions were, to him, justified. Nick leaves New York to return

West.

Fitzgerald concludes the novel with a final note on Gatsby's beliefs.

It is this particular aspect of his character his optimistic belief in

achievement and the ability to attain one's dreams that defines Gatsby, in

contrast to the compromising cynicism of his peers. Yet the final symbol

contradicts and deflates the grand optimism that Gatsby held. Fitzgerald

ends the book with the sentence "So we beat on, boats against the current,

borne ceaselessly into the past," which contradicts Gatsby's fervent belief

that one can escape his origins and rewrite his past.

Long Day's Journey Into the Night

Act I, Part One The play begins in August, 1912, at the summer home of

the Tyrone family. The setting for all four acts is the family's living

room, which is adjacent to the kitchen and dining room. There is also a

staircase just off stage, which leads to the upper-level bedrooms. It is

8:30 am, and the family has just finished breakfast in the dining room.

While Jamie and Edmund,Tyrone enter and embrace, and Mary comments on being

pleased with her recent weight gain even though she is eating less food.

Tyrone and Mary make conversation, which leads to a brief argument

about Tyrone's tendency to spend money on real estate investing. They are

interrupted by the sound of Edmund, who is having a coughing fit in the

next room. Although Mary remarks that he merely has a bad cold, Tyrone's

body language indicates that he may know more about Edmund's sickness than

Mary. Nevertheless, Tyrone tells Mary that she must take care of herself

and focus on getting better rather than getting upset about Edmund. Mary

immediately becomes defensive, saying, "There's nothing to be upset about.

What makes you think I'm upset?" Tyrone drops the subject and tells Mary

that he is glad to have her "dear old self" back again.

Edmund and Jamie are heard laughing in the next room, and Tyrone

immediately grows bitter, assuming they are making jokes about him. Edmund

and Jamie enter, and we see that, even though he is just 23 years old,

Edmund is "plainly in bad health" and nervous. Upon entering, Jamie begins

to stare at his mother, thinking that she is looking much better. The

conversation turns spiteful, however, when the sons begin to make fun of

Tyrone's loud snoring, a subject about which he is sensitive, driving him

to anger. Edmund tells him to calm down, leading to an argument between the

two. Tyrone then turns on Jamie, attacking him for his lack of ambition and

laziness. To calm things down, Edmund tells a funny story about a tenant

named Shaughnessy on the Tyrone family land in Ireland, where the family's

origins lie. Tyrone is not amused by the anecdote, however, because he

could be the subject of a lawsuit related to ownership of the land. He

attacks Edmund again, calling his comments socialist. Edmund gets upsets

and exits in a fit of coughing. Jamie points out that Edmund is really

sick, a comment which Tyrone responds to with a "shut up" look, as though

trying to prevent Mary from finding out something. Mary tells them that,

despite what any doctor may say, she believes that Edmund has nothing more

than a bad cold. Mary has a deep distrust for doctors. Tyrone and Jamie

begin to stare at her again, making her self-conscious. Mary reflects on

her faded beauty, recognizing that she is in the stages of decline.

As Mary exits, Tyrone chastises Jamie for suggesting that Edmund really

may be ill in front of Mary, who is not supposed to worry during her

recovery from her addiction to morphine. Jamie and Tyrone both suspect that

Edmund has consumption (better known today as tuberculosis), and Jamie

thinks it unwise to allow Mary to keep fooling herself. Jamie and Tyrone

argue over Edmund's doctor, Doc Hardy, who charges very little for his

services. Jamie accuses Tyrone of getting the cheapest doctor, without

regard to quality, simply because he is a penny-pincher. Tyrone retorts

that Jamie always thinks the worst of everyone, and that Jamie does not

understand the value of a dollar because he has always been able to take

comfortable living for granted. Tyrone, by contrast, had to work his own

way up from the streets. Jamie only squanders loads of money on whores and

liquor in town. Jamie argues back that Tyrone squanders money on real

estate speculation, although Tyrone points out that most of his holdings

are mortgaged. Tyrone accuses Jamie of laziness and criticizes his failure

to succeed at anything. Jamie was expelled from several colleges in his

younger years, and he never shows any gratitude towards his father; Tyrone

thinks that he is a bad influence on Edmund. Jamie counters that he has

always tried to teach Edmund to lead a life different from that which Jamie

leads.

Act I, Part Two Tyrone and Jamie continue their discussion about

Edmund, who works for a local newspaper. Tyrone and Jamie have heard that

some editors dislike Edmund, but they both acknowledge that he has a strong

creative impulse that drives much of his plans. Tyrone and Jamie agree also

that they are glad to have Mary back. They resolve to help her in any way

possible, and they decide to keep the truth about Edmund's sickness from

her, although they realize that they will not be able to do so if Edmund

has to be committed to a sanatorium, a place where tuberculosis patients

are treated. Tyrone and Jamie discuss Mary's health, and Tyrone seems to be

fooling himself into thinking that Mary is healthier than she really is.

Jamie mentions that he heard her walking around the spare bedroom the night

before, which may be a sign that she is taking morphine again. Tyrone says

that it was simply his snoring that induced her to leave; he accuses Jamie

once again of always trying to find the worst in any given situation.

Between the lines, we begin to learn that Mary first became addicted to

morphine 23 years earlier, just after giving birth to Edmund. The birth was

particularly painful for her, and Tyrone hired a very cheap doctor to help

ease her pain. The economical but incompetent doctor prescribed morphine to

Mary, recognizing that it would solve her immediate pain but ignoring

potential future side effects, such as addiction. Thus we see that Tyrone's

stinginess (or prudence, as he would call it), has come up in the past, and

it will be referred to many more times during the course of the play.

Mary enters just as Tyrone and Jamie are about to begin a new

argument. Not wishing to upset her, they immediately cease and decide to go

outside to trim the hedges. Mary asks what they were arguing about, and

Jamie tells her that they were discussing Edmund's doctor, Doc Hardy. Mary

says she knows that they are lying to her. The two stare at her again

briefly before exiting, with Jamie telling her not to worry. Edmund then

enters in the midst of a coughing fit and tells Mary that he feels ill.

Mary begins to fuss over him, although Edmund tells her to worry about

herself and not him. Mary tells Edmund that she hates the house in which

they live because, "I've never felt it was my home." She puts up with it

only because she usually goes along with whatever Tyrone wants. She

criticizes Edmund and Jamie for "disgracing" themselves with loose women,

so that at present no respectable girls will be seen with them. Mary

announces her belief that Jamie and Edmund are always cruelly suspicious,

and she thinks that they spy on her. She asks Edmund to "stop suspecting

me," although she acknowledges that Edmund cannot trust her because she has

broken many promises in the past. She thinks that the past is hard to

forget because it is full of broken promises. The act ends with Edmund's

exit. Mary sits alone, twitching nervously.

Act II, Scene i The curtain rises again on the living room, where

Edmund sits reading. It is 12:45 pm on the same August day. Cathleen, the

maid, enters with whiskey and water for pre-lunch drinking. Edmund asks

Cathleen to call Tyrone and Jamie for lunch. Cathleen is chatty and flirty,

and tells Edmund that he is handsome. Jamie soon enters and pours himself a

drink, adding water to the bottle afterwards so that Tyrone will not know

they had a drink before he came in. Tyrone is still outside, talking to one

of the neighbors and putting on "an act" with the intent of showing off.

Jamie tells Edmund that Edmund may have a sickness more severe than a

simple case of malaria. He then chastises Edmund for leaving Mary alone all

morning. He tells him that Mary's promises mean nothing anymore. Jamie

reveals that he and Tyrone knew of Mary's morphine addiction as much as ten

years before they told Edmund.

Edmund begins a coughing fit as Mary enters, and she tells him not to

cough. When Jamie makes a snide comment about his father, Mary tells him to

respect Tyrone more. She tells him to stop always seeking out the

weaknesses in others. She expresses her fatalistic view of life, that most

events are somehow predetermined, that humans have little control over

their own lives. She then complains that Tyrone never hires any good

servants; she is displeased with Cathleen, and she blames her unhappiness

on Tyrone's refusal to hire a top-rate maid. At this point, Cathleen enters

and tells them that Tyrone is still outside talking. Edmund exits to fetch

him, and while he is gone, Jamie stares at Mary with a concerned look. Mary

asks why he is looking at her, and he tells her that she knows why.

Although he will not say it directly, Jamie knows that Mary is back on

morphine; he can tell by her glazed eyes. Edmund reenters and curses Jamie

when Mary, playing ignorant, tells him that Jamie has been insinuating

nasty things about her. Mary prevents an argument by telling Edmund to

blame no one. She again expresses her fatalist view: "[Jamie] can't help

what the past has made him. Any more than your father can. Or you. Or I."

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