Chapter 2

summary

We learn…pg 9 • Between West Egg/East Egg and New York City,

there is a small area of land that is covered in ash. The ash is everywhere and make things grey and depressing. The ash is what is left over from the industrial life in NY city.

Symbolism:

You have the glamorous NY and the rich EE and the party-filled WE and between them all is this dark, grey valley filled with ashes…so you have the ‘fun’ world full of parties and color and life and then the ‘real’ world where the trash goes – what is left after people pursue wealth and excitement.

Valley of Ashes

We learn…pg 9 • On a hill overlooking the ash valley is a large

billboard (sign) that has a pair of yellow glasses with blue eyes. These eyes are huge (they were an advertisement for an eye doctor) but now they are a bit old and faded. (they are called the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg)

Symbolism:

Different characters see the eyes as meaning different things but think about them for yourself – a giant pair of eyes ‘watching over’ everything, maybe ‘judging’ everything…

Dr. T.J. Eckleburg (sign)

We learn…pg 9 • Nick and Tom are on their way to NY when

Tom insists that they get off in the Valley of Ashes and meet Tom’s girlfriend. It becomes obvious that Tom feels no shame or guilt over having a mistress.

• There is a garage run by George Wilson (this is the husband of Myrtle – Tom’s mistress). George doesn’t seem to know about the affair. The garage and the Wilsons are not very rich/happy.

We learn…pg 10 • Nick describes George as a “spiritless man”.

• George is expecting Tom to sell him a car, that’s why he thinks Tom comes to the garage so often.

• Myrtle is described as stout and curvy (in contrast to Daisy who is thought to be almost too thin).

• Tom secretly tells Myrtle to meet him in NY.

• Tom, though he doesn’t seem to mind people knowing he has a mistress (he takes her to restaurants and places in NY), won’t sit with Myrtle on the train (Nick says it is because Tom is afraid of what other people from EE might think).

We learn…pg 10/11 • Myrtle is an interesting person. Once they get

to NY, she buys (probably with Tom’s money), a gossip magazine, some lotion, and some perfume. Then, she waits for a new taxi not wanting to take just any old one.

• She then makes the taxi stop because she sees a man selling puppies on the side of the road. She gets Tom to buy her one. Tom doesn’t want to but he does it anyways.

We learn…pg 11 • Nick wants to leave the couple but Tom insists that Nick come

to the apartment he rents in NY for him and Myrtle.

• Nick describes Myrtle’s attitude when they get to the neighborhood with the apartment as “haughty” – as she feels she belongs in that richer area and not back in the Valley of Ashes.

• Myrtle invites another couple and her sister up to the apartment as well.

• The apartment is on the top floor but it is small. The furniture is described as being very large (too big for the size of the rooms) so that people are always tripping over it.

Symbolism:

It’s the idea that Myrtle doesn’t really fit with ‘rich’ society – that she would have picked furniture that doesn’t make sense in the room but picked it just because it is expensive.

We learn…pg 12 • Myrtle changes her outfit and now wears a cream

colored dress (like the white one Daisy was wearing in the first chapter) and her personality changes as well. Nick says she gets much louder and starts acting like a right snob – moving about the room with elaborate gestures.

Symbolism

• Remember both Daisy and Jordan were wearing WHITE dresses but again Myrtle gets it wrong and wears CREAM (cream is sometimes seen as dirty white, or not as good as white).

We learn…pg 12 • Myrtle is not very smart…she says appendicitis

(which is the surgery) when she means appendix (which is the part of the body).

• Myrtle tries to make everyone believe she is the proper rich hostess and acts like a snob.

• One of the guests, Mr. McKee, is a photographer. He tries to get people to be interested in his conversation about photos but Tom doesn’t care about art or anything like that.

• Myrtle’s sister, Catherine, asks where Nick lives and when she finds out it is WE she says that she was at one of Gatsby’s parties and that she heard that he is related to a German emperor.

We learn…pg 13 • Mr. McKee says that he wishes he could take photos of

richer people but that he needs someone to introduce him to those people.

• Tom makes a snobbish and rude joke that Myrtle knows fabulous people – like her husband in the Valley of Ashes. (he demonstrates again how is a rude jerk).

• Catherine tells Nick that both Myrtle and Tom hate their spouses (George and Daisy). She then tells Nick about a lie (maybe one that Tom is telling Myrtle): she says that it is Daisy’s fault that they aren’t divorced because Daisy is Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce (Nick tells us that Daisy is not Catholic). Catherine says that eventually Tom and Myrtle plan to get married and move out west (we know this isn’t true because Tom said in Chapter 1 that he wouldn’t move out west).

• We have to wonder if Tom is lying to Myrtle or if Tom & Myrtle are lying to everyone else.

We learn…pg 13 • Myrtle admits that she only married George

because she thought he had class (was a gentleman) but that she was wrong.

We learn…pg 14

• Nick keeps trying to leave but isn’t allowed to OR doesn’t want to. He says that he is both “enchanted” (likes) and “repelled” (dislikes) by the people and their lives.

• Myrtle starts saying “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy” just to prove that she has every right to know about her and dislike her.

We learn…pg 14 • Tom gets upset with Myrtle because she keeps

saying Daisy’s name and he hits Myrtle and breaks her nose.

• The other women help Myrtle but Nick and Mr. McKee (who are both really drunk) leave the party.

• Everything that happens after that is unclear because Nick is so drunk. He leaves Mr. McKee at his apartment and then ends up sleeping at the train station.