The Great Gatsby - Chapter Reviews

Reviews from each chapter 

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Chapter 1

Introductions - Characters

  • Nick Carraway - He characterizes himself as both highly moral and highly tolerant. 
  • Jay Gatbsy - Gatsby represented everything Nick scorns, but Nick exempts Gatsby completely from his usual judgments. Gatsby’s personality was nothing short of “gorgeous.”
  • Dasiy Buchanan - Tries hard to be shallow, even going so far as to say she hopes her baby daughter will turn out to be a fool, because women live best as beautiful fools.
  • Tom Buchanan - A powerful figure who is arrogant and dishonest, advancing racist arguments at dinner and carrying on relatively public love affairs.
  • Jordan Baker - Her cynicism, boredom, and dishonesty are at sharp odds with her wealth and beauty.

Introductions - Setting

  • West Egg - "the less fashionable of the two" - Home to 'new rich', like Gatbsy. (Also Nick lives here.)
  • East Egg - A more conservative and astrocatic area, where those with 'old money' live - like the Buchanans

Symbolism

  • Green light - Gatbsy is alone and staring at the green light - this represents hope and peace. Green is known to be soothing to the eyes and calming to the heart and mind.
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Chapter 2

Nick and Tom going into the city, having met Mrytle along the way, where Tom continues his affair and there is a party in Myrtles apartment Tom bought for her. 

Introduction - Characters 

  • George Wilson - A lifeless yet handsome man, colored gray by the ashes in the air.
  • Myrtle Wilson - Has a kind of desperate vitality; she strikes Nick as sensuous despite her stocky figure.

Introduction - Setting

  • The Valley of Ashes - A desolate plain, a gray valley where New York’s ashes are dumped.
  • New York - It is loud, garish, abundant, and glittering. To Nick, New York is simultaneously fascinating and repulsive, thrillingly fast-paced and dazzling to look at but lacking a moral center.

Symbolism

  • The Valley of Ashes - Symbolises the waste product of luxury. It was the industrial dump and all the money wasted and consumed ended up here. It symbolised the poor living among the garbage of the wealthy.
  • Doctor T.J. Eckleburg's eyes - Represent God's eyes, his face and his nose have faded away and only the eyes remain, looking through yellow spectacles. Both the faded image and the yellow spectacles are conveying the message of the corruption of this world. The people have lost the connection with God and do not value morals and what is right anymore. The eyes can see what is underneath the cover.
  • Blood - Tom breaks Myrtle's nose - "...there were bloody towels upon the bathroom floor..." - Shows how Tom, as a rich man, has enough power to anything he wants without punishment. 
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Chapter 3

Nick is invited to one of Gastby's parties, where we finally meet the man himself. 

Introduction - Characters

  • Party crowd - Speculate and rumour about Gatsby and his past.
  • 'Owl Eyes' -  Owl Eyes suggests that Gatsby’s whole life is merely a show, believing that even his books might not be real. He spends his time in the library during Gatsby's party. He ended up in the library thinking it would sober him when he found out that the books were real. He says several times, "they're real... absolutely real" and that they "have pages and everything... thought they'd be a nice durable cardboard... they're absolutely real"

Introduction - Setting

  • Gatsby's parties - Brings 1920s wealth and glamour into full focus, showing the upper class at its most lavishly opulent.

Symbolism

  • 'Owl Eyes' - He symbolising what he can see beyond what other's see. He saw the truth and the reality of the environment; that the books were real. Even though other's will try to hide their corruption in their hearts, it is all just a façade and soon will be revealed.
  • Jordan Baker - When Jordan was driving with Nick, Nick calls her a careless and "rotten driver". She argues that it doesn't matter because "it takes two to make an accident". This is symbolising where if one does not have any responsibility, later there will consequences to such actions. You cannot live a life by relying on others to do the work for you. This was also foreshadowing the death of Mrytle where she dies because of a car accident.
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Chapter 4

Nick and Gasby go into the city for lunch, where they meet Wolfshiem, but also Nick leans of Gatsby's supposed past. 

Introductions - Characters

  • Jay Gatsby - We learn of Gatsby's supposed past - but his story seems highly improbable. Also, we learn of his connections with Daisy and their relationship.
  • Meyer Wolfshiem - A shady character with underground business connections. He gives Nick the impression that the source of Gatsby’s wealth might be unsavory, and that Gatsby may even have ties to the sort of organized crime with which Wolfshiem is associated.

Symbolism

  • Green Light - Nick realises that the green light is at the end of Daisy's dock - and that is why Gatsby stares and reaches out for it. 
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