The Great Gatsby Chapter 2 Summary

This chapter opens with a reporter at Gatsby’s door asking him if he had anything to say and wants to interview at random. It is explained that rumors are constantly going around New York about Gatsby. Nick knows mostly all about Gatsby’s personal life so he does not believe many or all of the rumors he has heard. Nick then begins to explain Gatsby’s personal life. It is explained that his legal name is James Gatz. He changed his name when he was 17 when he saw Dan Cody drop the anchor of his yacht into Lake Superior. It is also explained that Gatsby’s parents were “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people”. He actually had attended a small Lutheran college called St. Olaf’s in Minnesota. He only ended up staying there for two weeks then left.

Skipping ahead of where we left off last chapter, chapter 6 starts by giving us more background on Gatsby through Nick. We find out that Jay Gatsby is actually a made up persona from James Gatz, and his actual background seems to be in sharp contrast with that of Jay Gatsby’s. He spent his childhood in Minnesota where he met who seems to have played a major impact on Gatsby’s character, and older man named Cody, who took Gatsby under his wing and essentially brought Jay Gatsby to life. Another downside to Gatsby's American dream is that it has, in essence, stunted his growth, intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.

Chapter seven starts with Gatsby changing his whole life around. He no longer hosts parties every week, he doesn't need to anymore because he has Daisy. He also fires his past servants and replaces them with workers of Meyer Wolfsheim, since he does not want any gossip around him. To Nick’s surprise, Gatsby was headed over to Tom’s house to have lunch. It is the hottest day of the year when this lunch is happening. The group hears Tom yelling at Mr.Wilson on the telephone. Gatsby sees Pammy, Daisy’s daughter and is somewhat irritated because he realizes how much more complicated the situation had become and the fact that there is living proof of Tom and Daisy’s love. Tom finds out about the affair when Daisy’s tone shifted when she spoke to

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 1 Read the beginning of the novel chapter 1 up to page 12 “Tom Buchanan in his riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.” How effective do you find this as an introduction to Great Gatsby. In your response you should pay close attention to voice, language and style. The Great Gatsby was written by F Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, and is set during 1922, a period tinged with moral failure of a society obsessed with class and privilege.

The plot of The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is driven by Jay Gatsby's

Acting as if he is superior to others is a trait that makes Tom Buchanan’s sporadic appearance in the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a laudable part of the plot. This twentieth-century novel is told through the eyes of Nick, the narrator, and set in New York. Nick lives next to a wealthy man, known as Jay Gatsby. Unfortunately, Gatsby’s love for Daisy Buchanan, who had a history with Gatsby before he went to war, becomes a problem when she is married to Tom Buchanan. As if this isn’t already complicated, Gatsby wants Nick to invite Daisy, who happens to be his cousin, over to his house so Gatsby can see her for the first time in a long time.

Chapter 4 starts off with Nick providing a list of all the guests who attended Gatsby’s parties in the summer and the irony is that none of them actually knew him. When Nick accompanies Gatsby on a trip into the city for lunch, he reveals the truth about his past. Gatsby states that he is from a wealthy family from the Midwest town of San Francisco, he graduated from Oxford, and declared himself a hero in the war. During lunch, Gatsby introduces Nick to his former business partner, Meyer Wolfsheim who apparently fixed the 1919 World Series. Based on the conversation, Nick begins to think that Gatsby is involved in an organized crime. When they leave the restaurant, they come across Tom Buchanan and as Nick introduces Gatsby to him, Gatsby becomes

The beginning of chapter four starts off with Nick giving a list and describing the guests that come to Gatsby’s parties. The tone of this passage seems to be casual but amused. Nick starts ranting a list of endless names, each with a description about that person, while seeming very interested in who these people are and why they are at Gatsby’s party. He says it as if he has had a lot of time to analyze and group the different kinds of people at the party. He is able to group them apart from East Egg and West Egg. He tells a lot of background information about each person,like the fact the “young Brewer, who had his nose shot off in the war” or “Edgar Beaver, whose hair turned cotton-white one winter afternoon for no good reason at all” (Fitzgerald

Daisy and Tom live on East Egg along with other families that have inherited their massive wealth. They live a very calm and elegant lifestyle compared to the newly rich that live on West Egg. Gatsby lives on West Egg and his lifestyle is very different from that of Daisy and Tom. Gatsby lives extravagantly, always throwing large and outrageous parties and buying unnecessary things such as the incredible mansion Gatsby lives in. Fitzgerald also, uses Daisy and Tom to exemplify the flaws in the moral values of those who have inherited their wealth. For example, Tom seems almost proud of his infidelity to Daisy. He even goes out of his way to take Nick to meet Myrtle, his mistress, and spend time with her. There is one instance where Tom forces Nick to stay at a party with Myrtle even though Nick is uncomfortable with the situation. Nick says “Hold on. I have to leave you here.”(28) To which Tom responds “No you don’t, Myrtle will be hurt if you don’t come up to the apartment. Wont you Myrtle?”(28) Later in the chapter Fitzgerald also shows the violent side of Tom, when he smacks Myrtle across the face and breaks her nose. “Making a short movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”(37) Clearly through Tom’s actions Fitzgerald is trying to demonstrate the hypocrisy of men of the upper class. When a person is part of the upper class it is logical to think that they would conduct themselves in a proper manor, which Tom does

In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the jealousy of man and what it can make a person do is clearly shown through the possessive tone of Tom. The first example of this comes in the following quotations from Tom himself: “‘You think I’m pretty dumb, don’t you?’ he suggested. ‘Perhaps I am, but I have almost a second sight, sometimes, that tells me what to do. Maybe you don’t believe that, but science----’” and further down the page, “‘I’ve had an investigation of this fellow[Gatsby],’ he continued. ‘I could have gone deeper if I’d known----’”(109). In this quote, it is clear from the diction of his diatribe that Tom is angry, not at those around him but at Gatsby. This is shown in the above quote by Tom refusing to mention Gatsby by name but rather just calls him fellow. Another aspect that works in tandem with diction in the above quote to create the tone is punctuation. This is shown in the dashes that fall at the end of the above quotation. These dashes show that Tom is so frustrated and angry that he actually cannot finish the sentence. Another example of Fitzgerald's use of punctuation falls in his use of a question mark and a rhetorical question rather than openly making the

1.I believe that when Nick first meets Gatsby for the first time is the most crucial point in Chapter One. I believe that it sets that tone for Gatsby. I also believe that this is most crucial because even though Nick finds Gatsby impressionable, he is everything he hates about New York. This beginning chapter hooked me to the book from the start.

Throughout the course of the novel, there are many parties Nick attends, some are Gatsby’s and one is Tom’s. In both scenarios the sadness and chaos created from the increased sexual craze are apparent in lovers’ spats. After Nick first meets Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, they head into New York City and have a party in a hotel room. Towards the end of the party, after copious amounts of alcohol has been consumed, Tom and Myrtle engage in an argument over Myrtle’s right to mention Tom’s wife: “‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai---’ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.” (Fitzgerald 37). This scene clearly illustrates the problems created by affairs, which were very common in this era due to the sexual craze and the consumption of alcohol. When Tom escalates to violence, he represents the chaos of the Roaring Twenties as he embodies the virulent spirit many people had as they try to not just survive but have fun in the changing world. Towards the end of one of Gatsby’s parties, likewise after copious amounts of alcohol has been consumed, a woman is found crying while singing after it was said “She had a fight with a man who says he’s her husband.” (Fitzgerald 51). The common thread between these scenes is an argument between lovers after the

This novel expresses nothing more than irony. Gatsby, a young soldier, meets Daisy and they fall in love. He would then leave for the war and not return for five years. Daisy is tired of waiting, so she marries a wealthy man by the name of Tome Buchanan. Gatsby will then join the mob, become a man “richer than god”, build a mansion just across the bay from Daisy’s home, and throw extraordinary parties in hope that she would wonder in. They were hopelessly in love, and when they meet again at Nick’s home, Daisy will realize that she never stopped loving him. Her dreams of running away will soon be shattered when Gatsby wants her to live in the mansion that he built for her. Tom is very much aware of what is going on between Gatsby

In the novel The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald did not provide us with chapter titles. If I were to name some of the chapters, I would title, chapter 3 "The Introduction". I would also title, chapter 5 "The Big Day", and chapter 6 "Disturbed air".

This close analysis is based around the passage at the beginning of chapter II of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.