English resources/The Great Gatsby/Chapter 2
The Great Gatsby, Chapter 2
Tom takes Nick through the valley of ashes to meet Myrtle. They throw a party in the city. Tom hits her.
The Great Gatsby has 9 chapters. Chapter 2 comes after Chapter 1 and before Chapter 3. The 2 key lines here come from Nick.
This chapter in five words
NickmeetsMyrtleinashes
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What happens, in more detail
Between West Egg and New York lies the valley of ashes, a grey wasteland of dust watched over by the giant painted eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on an old billboard. George Wilson runs a run-down garage there.
Tom Buchanan drags Nick off the train to meet Wilson's wife, Myrtle, who is Tom's lover. Tom takes Myrtle and Nick to an apartment he keeps for her on 158th Street in New York, where they have a drunken party with Myrtle's sister Catherine and a couple called the McKees. Myrtle buys a dog, changes into an expensive dress and acts as if she belongs to Tom's world.
Late in the night Myrtle shouts Daisy's name, and Tom breaks her nose with his open hand. Nick ends up waiting for a train at Pennsylvania Station at four in the morning.
Why it matters: Chapter 1 showed the rich in East Egg. This chapter shows the people who serve them, and it shows Tom as he really is, careless and violent.
The quotes
2 quotes in this chapter.
the valley of ashes
Nick · Chapter 2 · class · death
The dump between West Egg and the city. The people who serve the rich live in the dust.
the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg
Nick · Chapter 2 · honesty · death
A faded billboard. A dead oculist. Wilson later talks to it like God.
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