Chapter 2- p. 22-38

Summary: Nick Carraway takes the train up to New York with Tom Buchanan but halfway between the West Egg and New York they get off the train in a gloomy town where the ashes are dumped. Tom Buchanan announces to Nick that he wants to introduce him to his mistress, who is married to a car mechanic in the area. Tom goes and picks up his mistress, Myrtle, who is nearly the exact opposite of Daisy, and brings her and Tom to his apartment in New York. Myrtle’s personality changes as the night goes on and she feigns the glamourous life Tom allows her to have. The three invite over the couple from the apartment underneath them and Myrtle’s sister. Nick gets drunk to overcome the awkward situation leaving the rest of the night to be describes mostly as a blur. The party goes late into the night until Myrtle say’s Daisy’s name and it upsets Tom so much he breaks her nose. Nick then takes the 4 a.m. train home.

1. Myrtle Wilson
2. “ I married him because I thought he was a gentleman” she said finally. “I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe” p.34
3. Myrtle is in her thirties and stout, however she holds her extra weight in a sensuous way. She was not beautiful but had a sultry appeal to her. Unlike Daisy who pulls people in, Myrtle pulls things away from people. Although she comes from a modest home Myrtle is extremely self entitled and haughty.
4. It is clear Myrtle is serving the story as Daisy’s binary opposition. She is the complete opposite of Daisy and yet is the woman that Tom has chosen to have his affair with. Myrtle feels over entitled and this obviously causes conflict with Tom who is extremely harsh with her and actually hits her across the face. Myrtle role as mistress immediately implies that she will be a matter of conflict.

“Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” p. 35

This quote stuck out to me at first simply because of the enchanting writing Fitzgerald used to express his idea. Nick is acknowledging that the people he is with are extremely wealthy. They are the people that other people are interested in and he wants desperately to watch the glamour from a far yet can not bring himself to leave the toxic situation.

Chapter 1- p.1-21

Chapter 1- p.1-21

In the first chapter of the book the reader is introduced to the narrator, Nick Carraway, who talks about his father’s advice to not be judgmental or hold people to the standard he has been raised with. Nick briefly explains his past, explaining he comes from a prominent family,went to Yale, spent time in the Great War, and then ended up in the less refined West Egg part of Long Island to become involved in the Bonds Business. Nick travels to the East Egg to have dinner with his second cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan. A competitive golfer named Jordan Baker is also there and during dinner, when Tom gets up to take a phone call, Jordan informs Nick that the call is actually from Tom’s lover in New York. After dinner ends Daisy and Nick sit on the porch and Daisy shows more emotion. After talking, Jordan goes to bed and Daisy talks about how she plans on setting Nick and Jordan up. Nick returns to his home where he finds the mysterious silhouette of his wealthy neighbor Gatsby standing outside of his mansion and looking at the stars.

1. Daisy Buchanan
2. “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” p.17
3. Daisy Buchanan is described in a very detailed and admirable way. Almost the entire chapter rotates around Nick’s description of Daisy. He comments on her charming laugh as well as her overall charming demeanor and her ability to make people feel important. Nick takes time to describe her thrilling voice that seems to make everything she says into an exciting secret. Physically, Daisy is described as having bright eyes and lips and an overall glowing radiance. Her face as a whole is described as lovely. Later in the chapter, it becomes apparent that Daisy has a depth to her that was not initially apparent.
4. So far in the novel, it is apparent that Daisy Buchanan will prove to be a very important part in the novel. Her flawed relationship with her husband Tom, as well as Nicks apparent admiration for her provide interesting possibilities for where the story may go. Her description almost causes the reader to fall in love with her right from the start allowing for extreme emotional connection to her character, especially when she shows her sadder and more serious side. Daisy Buchanan is an extremely magnetic character and although it is impossible to determine what her part in the story will be from only this slight glimpse, it is obvious that she will play an important part in the novel.

“No -- Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it was what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elation's of men." p.2

This quote stuck out to me because Nick seems to have given the reader a brief preview of the story. While Nick is telling us the fate of one of the principal characters in the novel, he is also mounting curiosity rather then spoiling it. This quote makes it clear that it is not the result of Gatsby journey that is important but the journey or struggle itself.