The Great Gatsby Ch2 with quotes

Chapter 2:

What happens?

The eyes of Dr T.J. Eckleburg and the valley of the ashes are introduced, the presence of eyes that are always watching over them: similar to the eyes of God. Morality.

Nick is dragged by Tom to meet Myrtle: his Mistress: exploring moral decay

Theme of disillusionment: Nick gets drunk and the chapter ends at the train station.

Tom break Myrtle’s nose.

Hedonism, American dream, Myrtle attempts to be of a higher status and put on a façade to seem much more privileged than she is.

Nick’s inability to leave things as is, they have to be perfect in his eyes. He feels the need to ‘[Wipe] from his cheek the remains of the spot of dried lather that had worried [him] all afternoon’

Setting:

• Valley of the ashes: Decay, grotesque description, corruption, foreshadows tragedy and explores the secretive world of the characters. ‘You can’t live forever, you can’t live forever’ Proleptic of her death. ‘Grotesque gardens’ ‘Yellow spectacles’: Yellow: Hazardous, warning, yellow is associated with fake gold, deceit.

• Garage: In comparison to the ‘colonial mansion’of the Buchannan’s, Wilson is seen as very poor and shown to be of a lower class. ‘Unprosperous and bare’ ‘romantic apartments’ Nick attempts to make everything bad seem better by romanticising the garage.

• House party with Myrtle: Shows the escape of the people from East Egg, however it is temporary as it ends in violence. There is only a matter of time that they are able to keep a façade up.

• Myrtles change going from the…