The first quote is Daisy speaking to Nick the first day he
walks into her home on East Egg to greet her after not seeing her for such a long time.
Daisy and Nick are distant cousins but he was in the war when she married Tom and was
unable to attend the wedding. She is telling Nick she is happy to see him, but the words
"paralyzed with happiness" are a strange choice. I think it means that she is happy to
see Nick, but her unhappy marriage has left her "paralyzed" in a way. It is an ironic
play on words.
The second quote is Daisy as well. She is
talking to Jordan. Jordan has mentioned casually that Gatsby is a man that gives
parties. Daisy immediately recognizes the name as someone she used to know. Later, she
tries to find out more. Nick is not sure later that Daisy has learned about Gatsby
living so close to her and Tom, but even if she knows he lives there, she never visits
him on her own until Nick helps Gatsby arrange a meeting. This comment signifies that
she still remembers Gatsby.
The last one is Nick. He and
Gatsby have been having lunch with Meyer Wolfsheim in New York and Nick has learned a
lot more about Gatsby's history. After lunch, Nick spots Tom across the room and goes
over to greet him. He introduced Tom to Gatsby and Gatsby recognizes Tom as Daisy's
husband because a strange look came over him. Tom asks Nick why he has not visited him
and Daisy, and he says that he has just been having lunch with Gatsby, but when he turns
around, Gatsby has left. This is significant because Gatsby is in love with Tom's wife
and probably is uncomfortable being around Tom.
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