Over For Tea

When first reading that Gatsby asked Nick be apart of his plan to have Daisy over for tea and to reunite the long lost relationship, I initially didn't think that it had a instilled meaning or that it might be detrimental to Daisy leaving Tom. I just thought that Nick was being nice in providing a way to help out his friends. I also was naive enough to believe that they would both just catch up and continue on with the lives they lead and not dwell with the past.

But as I read on and backed away from the text, I contemplated the whole situation in full as well as to remember/recognize that Jay Gatsby is a man of intentions and he wouldn't just have this get together for nothing to come from it but casual friends. Why would Nick want to be involved with this arrangement other than he is a catalyst because Daisy is his cousin and he can provide an excuse for the setting? Nick is supposed to be this full-fledged honest-to-good man and now he is providing the terms for chaos.

I think that realistically Nick idolizes Gatsby's lifestyle. He contradicts himself when he puts on this face to say that he doesn't judge or take into consideration the lifestyles of others. It's also ironic that Nick is said to be the man of the honest moral, and yet everything he is involved with is contradictory with other social and moral values in full. Nick admires Gatsby's status and he is personally intrigued with his life. This is why he attends the parties, is curious about where and what Gatsby is always doing, and is interested so much in his past. He even looks past all the lies Gatsby tells him at the start even though dishonesty is totally against Nick's nature (so it is said). In the 1920's Jay Gatsby is living the American Dream and Nick fantasizes his life in the shadow of Gatsby's own. He helps with this meeting of the couple because he is utterly captivated by how and why Gatsby lives and obtains the life that he wants.