Reading Journal - Chapter 7 - The Great Gatsby

Perspective/Voice:

• Like the rest of the novel, this chapter is told through the perspective of Nick Carraway in the first person.
• What's odd, however, is up til now, Nick had always been in the places to see first hand all the things that have happened to people. Now he's re-telling what he's heard from other people about certain events. 
• This makes Nick seem like a slightly unreliable narrator as he's telling us things second hand.
• Unreliable narrator? - "relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me"
• Conversation between Gatsby and Nick reveal Daisy had been driving the "'death car'"

Setting:

• Using season/weather again to inform about the natural state of the day.
• Mr Wilson's garage.
• Buchanans' house

Structure:

• There are a few chunks of description but it is all mainly speech in this chapter.
• A gap before and after to bring significance to Myrtle Wilson's death - explained in a big passage which goes on for a page or two. 

Style:

• Autobiographical but then switches to biographical as he explains Mrs Wilson's death.

Language:

•  "they saw her left breast swinging loose like a flap..." - Explicit and quite graphic imagery. 
• Shows how Gatsby wants to see the best in people - stays outside Daisy's house.