Chapter VIII begins with this
passage:
I
couldn't sleep all night; a fog-horn was groaning incessantly on the Sound, and I tossed
half sick between grotesque reality and savage frightening dreams. Toward dawn I heard a
taxi go up Gatsby's drive and immediately I jumped out of bed and began to dress--I felt
that I had something to tell him, something to warn him about and morning would be too
late.
There is a strong sense
of danger in the passage; Nick can't sleep because he feels that Gatsby is somehow
endangered. Nick has "something to tell him, something to warn him about," something so
important it cannot wait until morning.
The clue in the
passage that suggests the reasons for Nick's distress is the reference to "grotesque
reality" and Nick's "savage frightening dreams." To understand these references, this
passage has to be considered in the context of what had just happened and what Nick had
seen and heard.
On the drive back from the city, Daisy had
run over Myrtle Wilson, killing her, while driving Gatsby's car. The sight of Myrtle's
body had been shocking. Nick had told Gatsby shortly after the accident that his car had
"ripped her open." This is no doubt at least a part of the "grotesque reality" that
troubles Nick, but the bizarre reality of what he had witnessed extends
further.
In a terrible irony, Gatsby's car driven by Tom's
wife has killed Tom's mistress. Nick had been with Tom shortly after the accident and
had observed Tom's behavior; Nick knows that Tom has been shaken by Myrtle's death and,
very importantly, assumes that Gatsby had been driving. Tom had said to Nick, "The God
Damn coward . . . He [Gatsby] didn't even stop his
car."
Nick had also been troubled by another thought
shortly after Myrtle's death:
Suppose Tom found out that Daisy had been
driving. He might think he saw a connection in it--he might think
anything.
Nick tries to
imagine what Tom might be thinking. If he finds out that his wife had been driving, he
might think that Daisy had run over Myrtle on purpose. Nick is deeply worried because
Tom "might think anything," and Nick has no idea what Tom will do. This fear fuels the
"savage frightening dreams" that Nick experiences.
Nick
can't sleep because he is "half sick" with the shock of what he has seen and heard and
with a terrible dread of what may come of it. He must warn Gatsby about Tom Buchanan and
what Tom might do.
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