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Fitzgerald uses colors to symbolize many things throughout the story. In this sentence, the color grey means unimportant, lifelessness, and forgotten.
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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
The blank is the center of an archery target. “Since it helps you see better, let me remain here as the target of your angry looks.”
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Daisy and Gatsby are both enamored with each other, and as a result, have tuned out the rest of the world.
Nick doubted that this experience could live up to Gatsby’s expectations, but readers can never be exactly sure if it did or not. From this final glimpse of Daisy and Gatsby, it appears that they are in bliss.
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The owl-eyed man appeared in Chapter 3, and he is notable because Fitzgerald associates him with a sort of accidental wisdom.
‘See!’ he cried triumphantly. ‘It’s a bona fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too—didn’t cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?’
He appreciates the effort Gatsby takes to create his façade—using real books rather than cardboard. But this man notices that none of the pages are cut i.e. Gatsby hasn’t read any of the books. This man drunkenly seems to understand the superficial social game that everyone plays at Gatsby’s party.
The use of the word “ghostly” creates an ominous mood. Nick picks up on the significance of this moment. Everything Gatsby has worked towards for five years has come down to this, and it’s almost underwhelming in how silent and empty Gatsby’s house is. Was the chase better than the prize?
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Nick is referring to Henry Clay’s Economics: An Introduction for the General Reader, which is probably one of the “volumes on banking and credit and investment securities,” Nick referred to in Chapter 1.
Ray C. Fair offers an interesting consideration of Fitzgerald’s inclusion of this book here. As it turns out, this book wouldn’t have been used at Yale while Nick attended.
Henry Clay is a famous supporter of the American System.
Gatsby is keeping himself busy while he anxiously waits for Daisy.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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Another reference to Gatsby’s famous smile. Gatsby may try to win people over and manipulate them a little, but he doesn’t do it by force. This is why he remains likeable even when he is kind of forcing people into helping him.
He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.
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