"He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn't bear to shake him free."
In this sentence, the author is transferring some of Gatsby's sorrows into the reader as well as Nick. He was showing how pathetic Gatsby's behavior was, waiting for Daisy to give him a sign to rush over to her house to save him. But the girl showed no signs. She was perfectly fine with her own husband and Gatsby stays up all night, yearning over at the view of her house instead of getting his sleep. Nick wants to help because he found his friend is that position but he couldn't tell Gatsby that Daisy was getting along fine without him. He didn't want to be that one to break his friend's dream. All Gatsby's life, he has worked to get rich just so he could show Daisy what he was capable of. He worked so hard to earn her love and now he will never receive it(148).
"She was the first 'nice' girl he had ever known."
The author adds quotation marks around the word "nice" because Nick was telling the readers what Gatsby had called Daisy. This shows that Nick never believed that his cousin was ever nice since Daisy was trailing along multiple guys all her life. Even when she claimed she loved Gatsby when she was very young, she could not stay with him despite his financial and school issues. Instead of waiting for him with faith, she started dating half a dozen of guys at once to help her get over Gatsby. Soon, she met her husband and married him instead. Since Gatsby has so much love for Daisy, Nick could not bear to bring this out (114).
"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."
In this quotation, Gatsby officially wins Nick's heart. From the beginning, Nick had always disliked him. But after seeing him go through all this for a girl that he would never have, he feels sympathy. Nick had reached the age of thirty the previous day and he explained how lonely he felt. He has not found a wife after so long. He says at least he has Jordan, but even so, he did not feel for her what is meant to be felt. So having this stamped in his mind, he is able to connect with Gatsby and compliments him with his whole heart. This means a lot because Nick is a very judgmental person and does not easily like people (121).
"S. Wilson was reduced to a man 'deranged by grief.' in order that the case might remain in its simplist form. And it rested there."
The police is trying to convince the community that there was no story behind the murder scene of Gatsby. They are trying to lie and say that Wilson, the man who killed Gatsby, was just messed up due to the recent death of his former wife. The police wanted to keep people from pestering the issue and keep bringing it up because Gatsby was no one extremely special. No one knew him, so he was a hopeless case. He would be wasting time and energy to be researched over, in the police's opinion (93).
"'Well, the fact is -- the truth of the matter is that I'm staying with some people up here in Greenwich, and they rather expect me to be with them to-morrow. In fact, there's a sort of picnic or something. Of course I'll do my very best to get away.'"
This quote was said by a man by the name of Klipspringer. He called the Gatsby household and Nick gets his hopes up that Gatsby actually had friends. He wanted close people to come to his friends funeral, not just strangers who get excited over the mere death of someone so popular. Unfortunately, this guy was not a real friend. Klipspringer tries to convince Nick that he would totally go to the funeral but he had another engagement to go to that would be more important. He lies and says he will try to go to the funeral if given the chance. After this quote, he proceeds to ask for his shoes that he had left over at Gatsby's (119).
