Give me a hand, will you, old sport?The Great Gatsby · 2013 — Chapter 18 of 18 · 3'13" · B2
Gatsby Keeps Vigil Until Dawn, Explained: made something of myself
After the accident, Gatsby refuses to leave Daisy's house and insists she will call by morning, while Nick tries to make him run. Then comes the request, "Wait up with me," and as the sun rises he finally tells the truth about his past—and why every house and party existed.
What happens
Dawn, outside Daisy's house. Gatsby won't leave and keeps saying Daisy will call in the morning, brushing off the warning that his car will be traced. Nick stays with him. As the light comes up, Gatsby finally tells the whole story: growing up poor, meeting Dan Cody, the war, Oxford, and the business he joined, all of it aimed at one woman.
Listen for
figure outthink things throughthe truth ismake things up
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Phrase of the scene
figure out
弄明白；想清楚；算出
盖茨比在黎明回忆自己如何盘算和黛西结婚后的生活。
I finally figured out why the printer wasn't working.
Also in this scene
- think things through
把事情想清楚；考虑周全
- the truth is
事实是；说实话
- make things up
to invent stories or facts that are not true
Everything marked in this scene
36 notes across 55 lines
liaison
Give me a hand, will you, old sport?I should have told him what I had just seen, but...perfect modal
I should have told him what I had just seen, but......all I could manage was:You know, Jay, with everything that's happened......you ought to go away.Go away? No, I can't leave now.Jay, do you understand that a woman has been killed?Daisy's going to call in the morning.Then we'll make plans to go away together.- Yeah. - Daisy, she- She just needs time to think things through. Herzog...She just needs time to think.Wait up with me.liaison
Wait up with me.The sun's almost up.That was the night he finally told me the truth.elision
That was the night he finally told me the truth....I had a lot of things, but the truth is I'm empty.to invent stories or facts that are not true
I suppose that's why I make things up about myself.See, I grew up terribly, terribly poor, old sport.- My folks were... NICK: He revealed his humble beginnings......that I became aware of Gatsby's extraordinary gift for hope.I can't describe how surprised I was to find out that I loved her.I never realized how extraordinary...And which it is not likely I shall ever find again.I thought out my life with Daisy in it......trying to figure out how we could marry...noun clause
...trying to figure out how we could marry......and struggle along on so many dollars a month.What was in the letter?The reason why after the war I hadn't been able to return.I asked her to wait until I made something of myself, but she was...until clause
I asked her to wait until I made something of myself, but she was...See, I felt married to her.It was all for her.Gatsby Keeps Vigil Until Dawn, explained
What's really going on
Gatsby's vigil is denial dressed as patience. A woman is dead, the car can be traced, and the only thing he will say is that Daisy will call; the warning bounces off him because the future he is protecting has no room for consequences. The confession that follows reframes everything: he did not inherit his fortune, he assembled it, and every piece was built for one woman. "I had a lot of things, but the truth is I'm empty" is the tell—the house and the parties were never a life, they were a courtship staged on a scale big enough to reach her. Nick's narration also names the quality that makes Gatsby both admirable and doomed: his extraordinary gift for hope. The closing line, "It was all for her," is admiration and diagnosis at once.
Theme
DreamsGatsby's confession reveals that the fortune, the house and the parties were all scaffolding for one dream of reclaiming Daisy.
LiesHe admits he invented his own past to cover his poverty, and keeps the last lie going: Daisy will not call, but he insists she will.
What you'll learn
- Use figure out when you need a plan
- Hear wait up as stay awake with someone
- Catch think things through as careful deciding
- Know make things up means invent a story
- Hear I'm empty as a hollow confession
Listen for
- Give me a hand — liaison
- Wait up — liaison
- told me the truth — elision
That was the night he finally told me the truth.A narrator's marker: after the worst thing has happened, the withholding finally breaks and the version of the man built on invention gives way to the real one.
I suppose that's why I make things up about myself.It links his lying to a sense of emptiness. Because his actual life feels insufficient, he keeps authoring a grander past to fill it in.
A gift that I have never found in any other person.The line singles out hope as Gatsby's rarest quality, and the narration frames it as something precious, not merely naive.
It was all for her.The whole enterprise—money, house, parties—is reduced to a single motive. It reads as devotion, though the scale of it also shows how much of reality was edited out.
Questions about this scene
Why won't Gatsby leave after Myrtle is killed?
He is waiting for Daisy's phone call and treating the accident as something the two of them can still outrun. The warning that his car will be traced does not land, because leaving would mean admitting the future he wants is gone.
Did Daisy ever call Gatsby?
No call is shown, and the film moves on to Gatsby dying at his own pool. His all-night certainty that she will ring is the last illusion the scene sets up, one he never lets go of.
Why does Gatsby say he makes things up about himself?
He admits he invented a past grand enough to deserve Daisy, because the real one—poverty and struggle—felt like something to hide. Inventing himself and inventing his fortune come from the same impulse.
Where did Gatsby's fortune actually come from?
Not from any inheritance. Here he traces it to meeting Dan Cody, serving in the war, going to Oxford, and joining Wolfshiem in a business that is never fully spelled out, which is exactly the point.
The Great Gatsby · 18 chapters
All chapters →
Chapter 1reserve all judgmentsNick Begins His Story
Chapter 2have the decencyNick Dines with the Buchanans
Chapter 3sit on the sidelineTom's Secret Apartment Party
Chapter 4old sportNick Searches for Gatsby
Chapter 5a pack of liesGatsby Tells Nick His Life Story
Chapter 6keeps his mouth shutGatsby's Lunch with a Gambler
Chapter 7pomp and circumstanceJordan Tells Gatsby's Backstory
Chapter 8acting like a little boyGatsby's Awkward Reunion with Daisy
Chapter 9If it wasn't forGatsby Shows Daisy His Mansion
Chapter 10to your likingTom and Daisy Join Gatsby's Party
Chapter 11make a point ofDaisy Wants to Run Away
Chapter 12repeat the pastGatsby Refuses to Let the Past Go
Chapter 13Have it your own wayGatsby Meets Tom at Lunch
Chapter 14Nobody From NowhereTom Calls Gatsby Nobody From Nowhere
Chapter 15in our bloodTom Exposes Gatsby at the Hotel
Chapter 16pull yourself togetherThe Yellow Car After the Crash
Chapter 17keep your voice downGatsby Waits Outside Daisy's House
Watching · Chapter 18made something of myselfGatsby Keeps Vigil Until DawnThat's all 18 chapters of this film