F. Scott Fitzgerald
This section relies mainly on the utilization of foreshadowing to warn the reader of unfortunate events to come. While the suspicion at the end of the chapter that Gatsby might only love Daisy for her access to family wealth leaves the reader worrying for his future, the weather at the beginning of the next chapter and an awkward encounter hint at a more immediate tragedy.
After Gatsby's party, Daisy and Gatsby created a mutual relationship which ironically established a mutual lack of fidelity between Daisy and Tom. However, this did not stop Daisy from inviting Gatsby, Nick, and Jordan to the Buchanan house. The reader knows that the occasion will be less than pleasant from the very start of the sweltering day. The heat seemed to be inescapable. On the train, Nick observes that a woman near him is not only uncomfortable, but in distress from the heat. Even when he arrives at his cousin's house, the women remained stationary on the couch, pinned down by the temperature. The reader surely expects that some tense situation is sure to come because of Daisy's and Tom's extramarital romances. As everyone was sweating on the morning of the rendezvous, the characters of the story will be sweating from nerves because of a confrontation among the interlopers. Also, the universal suffering and suffocation of the heat signifies that this eventual confrontation will oppress more than those directly involved in the affairs.
Another portent of tragedies to come emerges when a woman on a train, because of the oppressive heat, drops her money. Nick defends himself by saying, "I picked it up with a weary bend and handed it back to her, holding it at arm's length and by the extreme tip of the corners to indicate that I had no designs upon it- but every one near by, including the woman, suspected me just the same" (Fitzgerald, 115). This scene suggests that, in the upcoming scourge already foreshadowed, Nick will attempt to intervene according to his character, but others will accuse him of trying to capitalize on the struggles of others. Even though his intentions will be pure, the suspicion already evinced by social status will take precedent over his desires to alleviate the situation.
Not only does foreshadowing hint at upcoming confrontations, it reminds the reader of the ever-present cause of those confrontations: money.
Foreshadow...
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