Daisy's Past

Daisy was the debutante of our small town, Louisville, Kentucky.  Always the socialite she had the heart of so many men.  But I never met any of them until Gatsby, and it was totally by chance that I did.  Daisy is two years older than me and I rarely saw her unless my golf circle ran into her debutante circle.  Gatsby was only in Kentucky as a military man; their relationship came to an end when Gatsby was deployed.  I never understood how this girl could survive without a man she was completely inseparable from just days before but before the summer was over she had been engaged to the rich Tom Buchanan. 

            There was one note that Gatsby sent her, and by chance she received this letter on the morning over her wedding.  Breaking the pearls that Tom gave her, she would not let go of that note.  But she would never tell me what that letter said. 

            I have always regretted not prying into her life.  I could’ve helped her to find Gatsby, Lord knows I travel enough, but she was always so full of herself and I could never bring myself to ask if she needed my help.  

Of Nick

Recently I have been spending more time in Nick’s presence, we mainly talk of Daisy and Tom although I have the feeling that he really wishes that we would talk of more. 

            He still views his life as though outside of it but he does it less when he’s around me.  We went to tea the other week to discuss inviting Daisy to tea but I fear that he thought it was going to lead to a relationship between us instead of the request I was really asking of him to host tea for Daisy and Gatsby. 

            He seems tame enough, and if you ask me he seems plain simple.  I don’t mean this is a rude way, you see, it’s just that he is quite a drag to be around in loud social settings.  And I believe that he sees me as highly haughty, I wish I could change this and maybe it is also that he cannot express himself in the way that he would like just as I cannot. 

            We have attended one more of Gatsby’s parties, this time Tom and Daisy were with us.  We took company in the same people we had seen the time before but now they struck us as more infuriating.  Managing to only stay for half of dinner we left them to talk on our own.  This may even work; I do believe I could see a relationship here.

Gatsby's Death

The events which have fallen on us in the last summer are beautifully tragic and unfortunately accidental.  With all of our consciences in question we look back on Gatsby’s death with sorrow and regret.  His death is the result of Tom’s mistakes and Daisy’s unwillingness to acknowledge her role in the lives of the men around her. 

            Gatsby, although he was a just man, he had his secrets.  Many of them were spilled on the floor the day that we all went to the city, Gatsby attempting to show Tom that Daisy was and always had been.  All of this would eventually lead to his death, and from talking to Nick I’ve found that I really did like Gatsby more than I thought I did.  At the funeral Nick was given a journal of Gatsby’s by his father and it showed a detailed plan that Gatsby had for himself to gain money and Daisy.  I only wish that this plan wouldn’t have been affected by Tom and the sin that invaded this hopeful man’s life. 

            He sin that I speak of is the means by which he made his fortune.  His bootleg business and friendship with Wolfshiem made him prone to judgment but he really had a golden heart.  It’s just that his personality made him seem impersonal and even godly.

It’s completely unfair to this man that no one chose to attend his funeral.  He hosted to so many in this city but was such a controversial figure that only three shared his company at his grave.  Not only Daisy and Tom attended.  I know that Daisy cried for months, I was there almost every time she did.  But Tom despised the man, and forbade Daisy from

going to this affair.

Tom's Affair

Undoubtedly I regret allowing this to happen but why should it fall to me to solve the issues of our group?  Tom’s affair is not so all of a sudden and completely expected from a man of his background but I fear that Daisy is choosing to love him despite his disloyalty. 

            Daisy is one of my closest friends but I don’t feel close enough to her to pry into the business between her and Tom.  I just feel that they deserve to keep the illusion of their marriage together.

            The only part of this whole affair that I feel guilty for is their daughter

Daisy and her daughter, Pammy, she’s so incredibly sweet and I just don’t know how she would take it later in life if she knew that her parent’s life failed so tragically so early on.

            Myrtle, as I’ve heard Tom say, is (in my opinion) one of the vilest people that I’ve ever heard of.  She has no morals and just takes what she wants.  In one instance a few weeks ago she even called Tom in the middle of dinner.  It must be the new morals of the decade that she is embracing but I see it as wreck less and indecent.

Gatsby's Party

Gatsby’s parties were the best kind of wild “anyhow he gives large parties, and I like large parties.  They’re so intimate.  At small parties there isn’t any privacy” (49).

            Arriving at Gatsby’s parties always thrills me, I just adore the way everything sparkles and this time around I had the pleasure of attending one of these gatherings with Nick Carraway.  He met me while I was on my way from inside the house, looking a little lost I took pity on him and we stayed together the whole night.  This party was particularly over the top, it being one of the first of the season and I couldn’t keep straight the number of people we saw during dinner alone.

During dinner I became bored with sitting in the company of the undergraduate whom was my escort that night, so Nick and I stole away to the house.  Gatsby’s house was, as some would put it, overly extravagant and in all unnecessary.  This led to the rumors about how he gained the money and truth be told many people believed that this house wasn’t even real.  The library in which we found ourselves was filled from floor to ceiling with books, and in one corner a man who seemed to have huge owl eyes and who was thoroughly intoxicated. 

            After our time in the library we went back to the garden, where inevitable Nick met Gatsby, who apologized profoundly for being such a “horrible host” of all things.  I swear this man could interrupt a fly and he would be sore about it for a week.  When Nick and Gatsby were finished talking Gatsby pulled me into his office and he told me that he needed a favor, and since I was a sportsman I could be trusted with the secrecy and importance of it.  I tried my hardest to act unimpressed and uninterested in this affair while in Gatsby’s presence but as soon as I agreed to help Gatsby meet with Daisy again I was electrified with my mission.  I couldn’t help but to tantalize Nick with the information while setting up a tea date with him, “I’ve just heard the most amazing thing, But I swore I wouldn’t tell it” (52).  

Upon Meeting Mr. Nick Carraway

I was with Daisy the day I met Nick, he was her second cousin once removed and all I knew was that he was going to share dinner with us.  Daisy and I were enjoying the sun room when he and Tom arrived, barely looking at him out of the corner of my eye I saw him standing there; it seemed in awe of us, timidly glancing in every direction and shifting his weight as if deciding which direction to move. 

            When we finally moved onto dinner he sat, observing the time more than participating in it.  I talked quickly with Daisy, feeling it a burden to let the men in on our discussions, but then Tom’s woman called and Daisy swept herself out of the room.  So I took pity on Nick and let him in on the obvious scene that he seemed lost in.  “You mean to say you don’t know?  I thought everybody knew.  Why- Tom’s got some woman in New York.” (15)  a look of surprise and then confusion as to why Daisy allowed it came over his face. 

            As of this first meeting Nick strikes me as extremely passive, and always a little behind on the occurrences of the moment.  I think that it may be his confusion with the new big city as opposed to his time spent in the Midwest, but I suppose anyone would need time to adjust.