Saturday, November 7, 2015

In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, what is the significance of "Blocks" Biloxi?

Daisy is recounting her wedding when marrying Tom, and she is trying to think of who fainted that day for then, as at that moment, it was very hot.  “Blocks Mississippi” had attended their wedding, fainted, stayed at Daisy’s father’s house for three weeks, and the day after he left her father died. The reference is significant in several ways. First, the name suggests that Daisy’s family had unsavory connections, for it connotes the world of gangsters rather than a world of wealth; second, reference to him and Daisy’s father’s subsequent death foreshadows the death that ends the chapter, that of Myrtle as a result of Daisy hitting her while driving Gatsby’s car.  Third, after recounting the incident, Daisy says “there wasn’t any connection” between Blocks’ visit and her father’s death, but there is a connection in her mind, for one thought clearly links itself to the other. To remember the death of her father through thoughts of her wedding casts a pale over that event, making it a less than joyous occasion in her mind—something that presages unhappiness and disruption.

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