The Great Gatsby : Chapter II and Chapter III

Chapter II.

• Narrative Style:

Written from Nick's point of view, he is the narrator of the whole book. In Chapter II, Nick is looking back at one day in his life, the day when he not only met Tom's mistress, but got drunk as well, he says "I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon". Gatsby is not mentioned in this chapter, so spectator is still left wondering why the book is named "The Great Gatsby". Not much of a progress in action, but we get to know that Tom has some respect for Daisy, because he brakes Myrtle's nose when she is repeating Daisy's name.

• Characters:

Chapter II introduces us to few new characters - Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, George B. Wilson and Myrtle Wilson. Doctor T. J. Eckleburg is described to have blue and gigantic eyes, "their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose." George B. Wilson was "a blond, spiritless man, anaemic and fairly handsome" with "light blue eyes". He was the proprietor of a garage, located in a valley of ashes, right outside New York. By the description, we can tell that he is quite poor and definitely not living the life as Tom did. His wife, Myrtle Wilson, is Tom's mistress, as we find out when Tom wants Nick to meet her. She had a "thickish figure", but "she carried her flesh sensuously as some women can", her face "contained no face or gleam of beauty". Later in the chapter, two other characters appear - Catherine, Myrtle's sister, who is "a slender, worldly girl of about thirty, with a solid, sticky bob of red hair, and a complexion powdered milky white", and Mr McKee - "a pale, feminine man", and a photographer.

• Themes:

The relationship between Tom, Myrtle and her husband. The life of a privileged and the life of a poor. Nick getting drunk. Two different world's - Daisy's and Myrtle's.

• Settings:

Part of the chapter is set in Wilson's garage, which is described as "unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in dim corner" showing that his business is probably not going well. There's an interesting description of the place where Myrtle's and Tom's New York apartment is - "one slice in a long white cake of apartment-houses" which leads to think that the location is quite prestige and contrasting to Myrtle's and George's ordinary lives. However, the apartment itself appears to be small and crowded.

• Language:

At the end of the chapter, some ellipses are used to get the feeling of a drunkenness and not remembering everything that happens. It's like some information of a film is missing, because at one moment Nick was "standing beside his (Mr McKee's) bed" and at the other he was "lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station" and it doesn't say anything about how he got there. The writing is very descriptive when talking about characters or settings. Nick as a narrator and Fitzgerald as a writer mentions things which would normally get unnoticed by others or said in a less poetic way, like when Nick is talking about Doctor T. J. Eckleburg's eyes and face - "their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose". A sense of realism can be felt, but there are also hyperboles and those are used so that the reader can build up an image in his own way which would differ depending on his understanding of things. For example, everyone knows that retinas cannot be one yard high, but each person will imagine the real size differently. Opposite words are used to create a speed, like when saying "scolding and consoling" side by side.

Chapter III.

• Narrative style:

Chapter III starts with a description of Gatsby's party which is attended by Nick himself, he meets with Jordan(who is later brought to Gatsby by his request) and she is an important character in the second part of this chapter, as well. There's a massive description of a car crash right at the end of the first part. We finally get to know more about Gatsby as Nick meets him for the first time. In second part of the Chapter III, Nick tells us about his summer and relationship with Jordan.

• Characters:

Some party guests, most of them were not invited and didn't even know Gatsby. It's obvious that they cannot control theirselves because there are lots of fights, like when some girl explained to Nick "She had a fight with a man who says he's her husband" and then he writes "I looked around. Most of the remaining women were now having fights with men said to be their husbands". The guests were probably using Gatsby and coming to his parties just because they are for free and there are lots of alcohol, which was banned at that time. We finally get introduced to Gatsby, though he still remains a mysterious person, no one knows what he does and whether the rumors like "he killed a man" are true. He is mostly not recognized by his guests, and one of the girl says "He doesn't want any trouble with anybody". In the second part Nick reveals some things about himself which, perhaps, he reveal. "I began to like New York," he says, "I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me", which seems quite a strange thing to do. Nick also tells about his feelings with Jordan and how he thought he loved her, "I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires". He says that "Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply" and for a moment calls himself a fool. We get to know more about Jordan Baker, too, as Nick writes about her - "Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men", "She was incurably dishonest."

• Themes:

Gatsby's party. Lifestyle of the rich. Gatsby's and Nick's friendship. Nick's and Jordan's relationship. A summer in New York. Car crash.

• Settings:

Gatsby's "blue gardens", a Gothic library, "panelled with carved English oak".

• Ideology:

Carelessness, loose morality. The rich can do whatever they want.

• Language:

In page 47, Nick repeats "I had actually been invited" for two times, to prove that he is standing higher than the other guests and is proud of it. Very poetic ways to express feelings, like when Nick says "At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes". The way he talks about Jordan is unusual, too, he uses phrases such as "bored haughty face", "incurably dishonest", "grey sun-strained eyes" though he appears to have some feelings with Jordan. "A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors" - again, a very poetic description that builds up an image of a picturesque house and garden. There's a little description of Gatsby, which lets the reader create his own image.

A short passage.

Page 65-66.

Starting with "But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules" and ending at "I am one of the few honest people I have ever known".

It's like a moment of truth where Fitzgerald not only reveals that Nick is meant to be slow-thinking but also arrogant, though Nick's honesty is doubtful. At the beginning, Nick told that he isn't judgemental, however, reading through the three chapters, it's clearly seen that Nick does judge.