The Great Gatsby: Two and Three

Chapter Two and Three.

Chapter Two:
Chapter two is quite similar to chapter 1 as it shows some of the characters behaving exactly how you would expect them to behave. It also introduces some new characters, who we have to make our own opinion on because of the situations they are put in and the people they actually are changes the circumstances that we are put in to judge them.
We start the chapter with Nick describing a place that is half way between New York and West Egg , he describe this place as very dismal and colourless , nick mainly describes the place as being grey. This place turns out to be the place where tom other woman turns out to live with her own other half.
Here is the first introduction to Mrs. Wilson, toms other woman, nick describes her as being a voluptuous woman who over powers her own nerves and is slightly intimidating , she completely ignores her husband when she sees tom and goes straight over to him and interacts with him rather then with her husband. Nick also describes how everything within the town and the shop is covered in dust except for Mrs. Wilson, its like she’s trying to make her self better then she is, which the town has given up on. “Mutton dressed as lamb” is the phrase associated with women like this, this also shows within her apartment that tom has bought her there is lots of gossip magazines and other trash that you wouldn’t find is Daisy’s house. She knows that tom is better then her and is trying to live up to the image of his wife
Tom in this chapter becomes more of a brute and lives up to what his wife said about him being hulking. At the start of the chapter he forces nick to come with him to New York, and tells Mrs. Wilson where to meet him he doesn’t ask her he tells her. He also intimidates Mr. Wilson because Tom gets him cars to fix up and so this allows his business to keep going. I think this is also the reason why Mr. Wilson doesn’t bat an eyelid because he may know about the affair that his wife and Tom are having. Towards the end of the chapter Tom hits Mrs. Wilson . “ making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” I think the way he breaks her nose is very significant because its like he isn’t putting any effort into it. Also he does it with an open hand which shows how powerful he is.
The language used in this chapter is very complex as it brings in lots of different ideas. Nick when describing situation or characters very often relates them to colours. I think this is important because the colours he chooses to very widely relate to the characters themselves for example he says that the place where Mrs. Wilson lives is grey, and grey is such a boring and dull colour it reflects the way that Mrs. Wilson and Daisy’s life are completely different. Nick also says how daisy and Jordon are wearing white like in chapter one, “they were both in white, and their dresses rippling and fluttering” this reflects back to the characters being airless and like life-like angels pure and simple. In chapter three he says that a lot of the stuff Gatsby has is yellow. “ a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains” “yellow cocktail music” “two girls in yellow dresses” yellow is often seen as a nice colour but the denotation for the colour yellow is cowardly and can distort the truth. I think this is important as a lot of the facts about Gatsby are untrue and made up.
Chapter Three:
Chapter three is based very firmly around the main character Gatsby, it starts off by showing you just how wealthy and excessive he is. It starts of with Nick describing how much preparation Gatsby puts into his parties he gets people from New York to deliver his fruits and how he gets caterers to come and light his gardens and to feed his guests with “glistening hors-d’oeuvres, spiced bakes hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold” I think also the way he describes the food is very captivating it shows the reader how exquisite Gatsby is and how well he treats his guests. It makes you want to go to one of these parties and makes you want to feel like your part of the party to be able to eat these fantastic foods. Gatsby also has a bar in his main hallway, considering that the time the book was written there was a ban on drinking and no-one was allowed to sell or to have alcohol in their house, this shows that although Gatsby seems like a respectable man due to the wealth and size of his house and life but he is willing to break the law and not get caught out on it.
When Nick says “ I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who has actually been invited” I think this is important because he says few and the denotation for few is that there are not many or hardly any people or things . That means that only a few people in comparison to the many people that were there. So considering that Gatsby doesn’t actually invite these people to his parties they all turn up anyways, and he doesn’t mind them being in his own house either he chooses to cater for them. Also how Gatsby invites him is very informal , he doesn’t go to his house and invite him, he sends a messenger but the way Nick describes the letter is important because it says “ signed Jay Gatsby , in a majestic hand” showing that Gatsby signs his letters in eligible writing, connotations of majestic are royal and grand, I think this relates to the person we expect Gatsby to be.
During the party because nick doesn’t know anyone and cannot bare the people at the party he decides to get very drunk “ I was on my way to getting roaring drunk from sheer embarrassment when Jordan baker come out of the house and stood at the head of the marble steps” the way he is embarrassed to be at this party and not to be enjoying himself and to be alone is important and it is like he is looking for a saviour. This is where Jordan comes in, she saves him from getting out of hand, this also relates to the colour issue that nick brings into the novel quite a lot he always explains daisy and Jordan as being dressed in white, like angles, ready to save people, and she does. This also coincides with the next line “she held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she’d take care of me in a minute” .
I think the moment when Nick meets Gatsby was very well planned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it shows how unknown Gatsby is, although nick quite openly says he doesn’t know Gatsby , the other guests at the table don’t reveal him either which shows that they don’t him either. He says himself that he isn’t a very good host. I think the next paragraph is very key into understanding Gatsby “ he smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly…………some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care” he knows he’s a bad host he knows that not a lot of people actually know who he is, but he makes you understand that its okay for you not to know who he is for he doesn’t really know who he is himself, and then you get to see Gatsby and Nick sees that he isn’t much older then him and he is slightly a-jar but he now seems comfortable being around Nick as it says before this I thought he was choosing his words.
We also learn that Gatsby is a very important person because twice in the chapter he gets called away by his butler because of “Chicago” and “Philadelphia”, this makes the reader asks quite a few questions why is he getting called away by other quite widely known states of America and why and how is he important to them and what do they need from him. This chapter poses a lot of questions about Gatsby and makes the reader to read onwards to find the answers to this question.
I think this chapter is also very well structured in how it is the start of relationships, between Nick and Gatsby and then Nick and Jordan. I think this is important because these relationships have had time to grow, they don’t start straight away or get forced, they are grown into and more relaxed. Although Nick pushes himself onto Jordan, by sticking with her without her permission, she appreciates the company of Nick because he is a careful person, he puts care and planning into everything he does. She says this herself “ I hate careless people. that’s why I like you”. He started the connection between them but she made it official. Nick figures out some interesting facts about Jordan, the fact that she is a liar, although he doesn’t approve of her lying he takes it on board and still likes her for who she is. At the end of the chapter he says how “ I am one of the few honest people that I have eve known” I think this is also why Jordan likes him because he is an honest person, he wouldn’t start a relationship with Jordan until he had finished what he had going with another girl. He is honest with both tom and all the other characters in the book, and he hasn’t lied in the book so far, so why should we not believe this statement although it is very boastful.