The Great Gatsby Dialectical Journal Chapter 1

Importance: George Wilson is oblivious to his wife’s affair. Also, Tom is cheating on Daisy, portraying that Tom is characterless.

Scene Three: Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson have a party at their apartment and Nick Carraway and Catherine meet. Catherine sits in front of Nick Carraway.

Nick is travelling on the train with Tom, who insists that Nick meet Myrtle. They visit a place between West Egg and New York, called The Valley of Ashes. Tom takes Nick over to a garage there, right next to the huge billboard of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which is where his secret mistress, Myrtle and her husband, George Wilson live. While George goes to retrieve chairs, Tom secretly tells Myrtle to get on the next train so they could meet up, without George/ so that George does not find out about their relationship. The three of them go their separate ways, and meet up in New York, wandering about on the streets. Nick says that he should leave, but Tom insists he stays and Myrtle

These quotes describe two of maybe three important symbols in the book. The Valley of Ashes signifies the open road ahead which civilization is going for, yet the ashes symbolize the decay of society, where the pursuit for wealth leaves behind a mark. This mark could be considered a mark of poorness that the non-pursuers have to deal with. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg signify the watchful eyes of God upon what America did in the 1920s. The American's blindness of the time resulted in industrial problems throughout the country.

Mrs. Wilson sat discreetly in another car” (26). Because Tom is still married, he must hide his mistress, although the reader is led to believe that he does not love Daisy and may leave her for his mistress. However, Myrtle’s sister adds, “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in

Because Daisy was driving and (accidentally?) struck Myrtle. Myrtle saw Jordan Baker in the yellow car and thought she was Tom’s wife. She recognizes the yellow car as she’s running away and tries to speak to who she thinks is Jordan but it is in fact Daisy, the actual wife of Tom, who accidentally kills her.

4.) Jordan Baker was a professional golfer. Nick meets her when he meets his cousin Daisy. He finds it appealing that Bakers life was luxurious and was proud of herself. Nick was more modest.

2)Nick describes himself as a victim of not a few veteran bores. He was accused of being a politician because he was privy to unknown men. He is also afraid of forgetting what his father snobbishy suggested "a sense of the fundamental decenies is parcelled out unequally at birth."

Nick takes a train with Tom to New York and on their way they stop at a dealership where George B. Wilson is working on his car. This where we are introduced to Myrtle Wilson, whom is George’s wife and Nick’s mistress and she joins them on their journey to New York. Once in New York, they go to Myrtle’s sister’s apartment, where they spend the rest of the day and evening having a party and where Nick is introduced to her sister Catherine whom knows about the affair. Catherine describes that neither Tom nor Myrtle can stand the person they are married to. The evening ends with Tom punching Myrtle in the nose for tauntingly saying Daisy’s name and Nick half asleep in the Pennsylvania station where he is drunk and waiting for the 4am train.

I notice that Nick is inquisitive and quiet. Chapter one really describes his tolerance and open-mindedness, along with being highly moral. Nick took his father’s advice “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…” “just remember that all the people in this world haven;t had the advantages that you’ve had.” to heart and that this comment is important to him.

2. Tom meets Nick on a train to New York, and while the train is stopped at a crossing, he takes Nick to the garage where she lives.

Shortly after learning about Toms mistress Nick decides to travel to New York with the two of them. Tom takes them to a secret apartment that he has for him and Myrtle to be together. While at this apartment Myrtle starts to taunt Tom about Daisy. This makes Tom angry and he responds by slapping her and breaking her nose.

These traits can be seen at the end of the novel for when he punches his mistress, breaking her nose, and thinking nothing of it. This action is not considered “normal” but in Tom's eyes, it was an action that needed to be taken. Some of Tom's best qualities are hard to find, for he is described as a cruel man. His dominance can be seen as outstanding towards others, for Tom can easily prove himself as a strong, overseeing, character. One can infer that his dominance will be used later in the novel to spring up action and fear into other characters.

Although never openly discussed in the book, the characters’ habits and morals are a prevalent issue to Nick. Everything they do shows their values and beliefs and not all of them may be parallel to Nick’s values and beliefs. With regards to Tom, his arrogance is the greatest adversary to many characters, and one might argue, including to himself. According to Professor Emeritus of Psychology, or Albert Mehrabian, in the University of California and Los Angeles, who studies the relative importance of verbal and nonverbal communications, deduced that 7% of language is spoken words, thirty-eight percent in voice and tone, and fifty-five percent in body language. Notwithstanding, such qualifications are subjective, and Professor Emeritus cautions that this study is only applicable if the speaker is speaking of their feelings (likes/dislikes) or attitude (personal habits) and it cannot rule all contexts. When studying Tom Buchanan’s body language, it is easy to see why “there were men in New Haven who hate his guts.” (9). In this quote, the men from New Haven dislike Tom and that is because of the tone of his voice: “His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, adds to the impression of fractiousness he conveys. There [is] a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward the people he likes-” (9) and the way “...his eyes [establish] dominance over his face and [give] him the appearance of leaning aggressively forward.” (9). In this quote, Tom’s voice is an important part of his

After this incident, one afternoon Nick gets an invitation to his house for a party at Mr. Gatsby’s house. This is very unusual because no one ever gets a personal invite to Gatsby’s parties, they just show up to his extravagant parties. At the party he sees Jordan Baker and intentively meets Mr. Gatsby himself. Gatsby takes Jordan aside and tells her something that astonishes her. Nick and Jordan meet on a