Great Gatsby: Chapter 2 (Pages 23-38)

Chapter 2

In chapter 2 we meet new characters the most important one being Myrtle, Tom's mistress. Ironically, Myrtle is also married to a man by the name of George B. Wilson who is a friend of Tom. The whole chapter really explains what happens when Tom goes to see Myrtle. All of the characters are having a good time in the apartment and they start mentioning people of West and East Egg such as Gatsby and Daisy. They say that Gatsby gained his wealth because he is related to Kaiser Wilhelm. Then they get to Daisy and as Myrtle starts repeating her name and making fun of her Tom breaks her nose.

George B. Wilson

"He was a blonde spiritless man and faintly handsome. When he saw us a gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes."

George is a man who loves his wife, Myrtle very much and we see this when she asks him to bring in the chairs. He agrees without hesitation and is back as fast as possible. This shows that George would do anything for his wife.

George B. Wilson is the husband of Myrtle Wilson who is the mistress of Tom Buchanan. George owns a car shop but as we find out when entering the garage he is not having the success one would think George would have. Especially when they say "the dust covered wreck of a Ford."

"When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes."

This quote really expresses the hardships that many people had to go through at that time. Not everyone was like Gatsby or the Buchanan's and not everyone was able to afford the things that they needed. It is these small details that can really show a reader how it was at a certain time period.

Great Gatsby: Chapter 1 (Pages 1-22)

Chapter 1

In this chapter the first character we meet, Nick Carraway, who is the narrator of the novel. The chapter starts out with a lesson from his father about not criticizing anyone because they do not have the opportunities that he would have. Most likely, in my opinion, the single most important quote I have seen in the novel as of now. We find later on that Nick had decided to go into the bond business and situates himself in a house right next to the famous Gatsby himself who at the start of the novel praises him. "Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away."

Tom Buchanan

"Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven- a notional figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax."

In the first chapter, Tom Buchanan seems like a very negative man. Countless times they describe as a very cold character. "Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward."

"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

This quote really hit me because it felt like something my own father would tell me. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have certain things such as a phone or mp3 products. We do not stop and consider that there are those that are freezing in the cold with an empty stomach. If they had half of the things we have today they would consider it a gift from God. To us, it's just another thing we had to have.