English resources/The Great Gatsby/Chapter 3
The Great Gatsby, Chapter 3
Gatsby throws a party. Nick is invited. He meets Gatsby and cannot quite believe he is real.
The Great Gatsby has 9 chapters. Chapter 3 comes after Chapter 2 and before Chapter 4. The 3 key lines here come from Nick, Jordan and Gatsby.
This chapter in five words
NickgoestoGatsby'sparty
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What happens, in more detail
Nick receives a formal invitation to one of Gatsby's parties, which most of the guests never needed because they simply turn up. He describes the orchestra, the caterers, the crates of fruit, the cars coming and going, and the crowds who drink Gatsby's champagne while trading rumours about him: that he killed a man, that he was a German spy, that he went to Oxford.
Nick finds Jordan Baker, and in the library they meet a man in owl-eyed glasses who is amazed that the books on the shelves are real. Later Nick chats to a man about the war and only realises after a while that the man is Gatsby, who has a smile that seems to understand you completely. Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone.
As the party ends, a new car ends up in a ditch outside with a wheel torn off. Nick then describes his ordinary weeks in New York, and his growing interest in Jordan, even though he knows she is careless and dishonest, and he calls himself one of the few honest people he has ever known.
Why it matters: Gatsby is surrounded by people and known by nobody, and the chapter starts the novel's question of who in it can be trusted, including Nick.
The quotes
3 quotes in this chapter.
I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known
Nick says this about himself. Watch whether it stays true.
I hate careless people. That's why I like you.
Jordan · Chapter 3 · honesty · class
Jordan likes Nick because she thinks he is careful. She is not.
Want to go with me, old sport?
Gatsby's favourite tag. It is how he tries to sound like he always had money.
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