'The Great Gatsby' Epigraph

    The epigraph at the beginning of The Great Gatsby states that “Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry, ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!” Which is advising the lover to impress the girl until she can’t resist. As the book progresses through each chapter, the epigraph starts to become more understandable. In chapters four through six we see this epigraph come more into light. 

    Towards the end of chapter four, we learn that Gatsby and Daisy used to be in a relationship before the war. Soon after he went overseas she moved on. “After that she didn’t play around with the soldier any more, but only with a few flat-footed, short-sighted young men in town, who couldn’t get into the army at all.” After years of not hearing anything about Gatsby, when Nick comes over and says that he lives next to Gatsby and Jordan said that she had been to some of his parties, Daisy started to wonder if it was the same man. Jordan said that “she came into my room and woke me up, and said: “What Gatsby?” and when I described him…...she said in the strangest voice that it must be the man she used to know.” After years of not seeing Daisy, Gatsby had arranged for Jordan and Nick to meet up so Nick could have Daisy over for tea and he could join them. While Nick is arranging to have Daisy over, Gatsby sends over a man to cut his grass so it looks more presentable and nice for Daisy. Gatsby also wanted it to be at Nick’s house so that he could show Daisy his house. 

    When the day comes, Gatsby comes over dressed in a fancy suit. “The front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold colored tie hurried in.” In the epigraph it says “Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her.” and this can be seen in Gatsby as he is trying to look fancy to try and impress Daisy. After Gatsby and Daisy talk for a while, the three of them head over to Gatsby’s house. To try and impress Daisy more, Gatsby has them walk around the front of his house instead of the short-cut between the houses. Daisy was in awe and “admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils”. Once they finished the tour, Gatsby and Daisy were reconnecting and had forgotten about Nick so he went home, leaving them there together. 

In chapter seven, Gatsby invites Tom and Daisy to the next part he has. Since Daisy is there with her husband, Gatsby tries to make Tom seem lower by introducing him to people at the party as “the polo player”. Even though Tom tries to object and say not me, “the sound of it pleased Gatsby” and he remained “the polo player” for the rest of the evening. Gatsby tries to show Daisy a good time, like dancing a fox-trot with her, but at the end of the party Gatsby tells Nick:

“She didn’t like it,”

“Of course she did”

“She didn’t like it,.... She didn’t have a good time…… I feel far away from her, It’s hard to make her understand.”

    Although Gatsby tries to wear the gold hat for her, and he tries to bounce high for her too, even though Daisy wants to be with him, she is still married and there will always be that barrier between Gatsby and Daisy.