Gatsby's Connection to the Epigraph

 I am choosing to analyze and compare this epigraph by means of dissecting the text line by line. The first line reads, “Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her,” which introduces a character by using the pronoun in the line reading “her.” In the case of The Great Gatsby, “her” may very well be Daisy, as she is the subject of arguable obsession in Jay Gatsby’s mind. In discussions in our class, we discussed the acronym “WWDD,” standing for what would Daisy do? This was a comparison, of course, in different situations. Like when we asked WWDD in the context of Myrtle, or in the context of Gatsby’s party he throws to impress her. On a more materialistic level, discussing the “gold hat,” I believe that this is a representation of Gatsby’s riches. Or what is shown to be his riches, that is. My skepticism reaches to the “...factual imitation of some Hôtel…” being that the imitation means it isn’t really authentic and the dodgy ways of how he speaks about his fortune as well as how he came into it doesn’t help his case. In chapter 5 we can see the materialism in his outfit with nice clothing “and gold-colored tie.” Gold being mentioned really sealed the deal for the use of that quote in that it directly plays in with the epigraph. Beyond this in a further stretch of thinking, in the application of the epigraph to Gatsby, it reads “will move her;”. This interested me in the keyword of the “move” because, while Daisy is in fact married to Tom Buchanan, she is hesitant to move all the time as Tom does. He was mentioned to be “restless,” and this is quite telling of how Daisy has been feeling in her life currently since she does not have the same mentality as her husband by any means. The epigraph comes into play since instead of wanting to shift positions physically, mentally, and emotionally, Daisy feels forced, causing her to be steadfast in being stagnant, whereas Gatsby can be the driving force to help her along to move on her own terms, her own way.     

    The next line of the epigraph reads “If you can bounce high, bounce for her too.” “You” would again apply to Gatsby, and “her” applied to Daisy. The use of the word “bounce” is quite unordinary as usually when you are in the context of doing an action for a woman you are protecting her, or maybe even chasing her. But in this case, the word “bounce” is used. I interpreted this as a level of power in a way. When we see Gatsby preparing and thinking about this day of seeing Daisy; he is nervous and wants to impress her. He wants to be on her level of grace and power, and to do this he prepares for her. When you bounce you must prepare yourself and then move upward rapidly. In the same way, Gatsby prepares to soar to Daisy’s level in the organization of his “palace” and makes sure that everything is how it should be to impress Daisy. In this act of bouncing, Gatsby tries to reach her level with everything he can, his personality, speech, and materialistic virtues. This started off quite shaky at the beginning of their conversations, with Nick having to interject nonsense like “‘It’s an old clock.’” This tension is broken after a pep talk from Nick to Gatsby in the kitchen of Nick’s cottage takes place.    

    In our third and fourth line of the epigraph, we read “Till she cry, ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you.” These final lines show the whole reasoning for which Gatsby must bounce and be dressed in gold hats, so to speak. It is all, as we know, to get the girl he is so in love with. He effectively wore the gold tie even prematurely to his genuine ownership of one, with Gatsby who “bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” He had wanted to show her how great he was, almost in play to the title of The “Great” Gatsby. He’s had more than just materialistic ideals to show for his love too with his reading of Chicago papers so that he might end up “catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name.” He is truly bouncing high and wearing the gold hat as he does want Daisy to love him and has done what he believed was necessary to obtain her love.