In Chapter 4 Nick has tea with Jordan Baker at the request of Jay Gatsby. Jordan informs him that once when they were younger she saw his cousin Daisy completely smitten over a lieutenant. She remembers seeing the two sitting outside of her house, ” They were so engrossed in each other that she didn’t see me until I was five feet away.” Jordan states how she looked up to Daisy because she was one of the ‘most popular of all the young girls in Lousville.’  She remembers the meeting even more..

” The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every youn girl wants to be looked at some time, and becuase it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since. His name was Jay Gatsby, and I didn’t lay eyes on him again for over four years-even after I’d met him on Long Island I didn’t realize it was the same man.” pg. 75

WOW, I have to say I was not expecting Gatsby to be in love with Daisy Buchanan. I thought he had feelings for Jordan Baker and that’s why he spoke to her privately at his party and wanted Nick to have lunch with her. It all makes sense now.  I feel bad for Daisy it seems like everything would be perfect for her except her marriage (Tom Buchanan’s continuous relations with other women from day one of their marriage) and Gatsby’s been across the water all along. I also don’t think anything good can come from their meeting again, I’m sure their past was special but I don’t think Daisy is the type of person who would ever leave her husband for another man and the whole thing just seems like it is going to cause trouble. 

Another thing I found interesting in Chapter 4 was after Jordan and Nick had finished their conversation and left the Plaza they were walking out side and heard little girls singing:

” I’m the Sheik of Araby.

Your love belongs to me.

At night when you’re asleep

 Into your tent I’ll creep” pg. 78

I wonder if this mention of Araby has something to do with the short story written by James Joyce. To read the story click here.   In the story a young boy becomes infatuated with the idea of love. He thinks he has fallen in love with his next door neighbor’s sister when really he creates an idealized version of the girl who he is to be in love with. I think Gatsby is similar to Araby in this way because they both treat their “loves” as objects of desire. Gatsby works hard to possess material items for Daisy to admire in hopes that it will somehow help show his admiration of her. I think just like Araby, Gatsby is going to be disappointed with reality and the strong “love” or idea of love that he has thought of Daisy will be proven wrong. Also, because of the way that Jordan described Daisy I doubt that she and Jay Gatsby would have even dated that logn anyways, so I think over all of the years they have been separated Gatsby has been picturing a love that is very different from the one that he may have had or will ever have will Daisy.