The Great Gatsby: Chapters 1-3

Mr. Heape, I used the online textbook which does not give page numbers, but I can give you the chapters..

(1) "Why they came East I don't know. They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together." (Chapter 1)

Fitzgerald suggests that Nick Carraway's second cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her football all-star husband, Tom Buchanan, were uneducated in their decision to move east to the area in New York. He questions the couple's actions by saying "Why" and "I don't know" in the same sentence. Then, the author backs up his assumption by telling the reader what they had done with their times and life before they settled East. They lived in France for a year for "no particular reason", which concludes that Nick does not understand why they would live in such a marvelous place and act like it is no big deal to have lived there then come back to a place that would supposedly be a "downgrade" in the narrator's mind.

(2) "If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it — indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in." (Chapter 1)

The still, mysterious person Nick is referring to is a woman friend of Daisy’s who lives at the Buchanan's house, Jordan Baker. Here, the author tries to give off the impression that when Nick enters the room, he is disturbing to her peace or that she is too good to move herself for a person like him. Nick almost feels like apologizing, partly because he feels he has disturbed her focus, but also because of his uncertainty in himself. If Jordan does not want to acknowledge that he has entered the room and will not even look at him, he feels he should be sorry for even coming in her range, as if he is not worth the interruption.

(3) "But immediately she turned sharply from the window and, leaning forward, tapped on the front glass.
'I want to get one of those dogs,' she said earnestly. 'I want to get one for the apartment. They’re nice to have — a dog.' " (Chapter 2)

The author demonstrated how Myrtle Wilson is a very abrupt and hard-headed type of person. She wanted a dog. She had made up her mind on the spot. She set her mind to it and Tom, while not being as excited about the new pet as she was, let her have her way and were choosing a dog instantly. Later, after they had picked the dog they wanted because, as Wilson would say, "it's cute", Tom did not even think twice about buying his lover that dog. This suggests that not only is Myrtle the type of person you don't want to fight with and it's easier to give in before hell raises, but that Tom is head-over-heels for this woman. A woman who has to get her way.

(4) "With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air." (Chapter 2)

Nick's thoughts about Myrtle are now based on how she acts toward other people. She has "undergone a change" and is now acting differently than she ever has. Carraway is discovering that she acts different around different people and now is acting annoying by being loud, and the room seems to shrink and contain things only about her. These thoughts and the negative language towards this lady suggest that the author wants the readers to have a view of Myrtle as a fake woman. She is obviously fake to her so-called 'husband' back home at the garage and does not speak of her other lover to him, but this reinforces the fact that it is second nature to her and it does not bother her to be a mischievous, lying woman like that.

(5) "It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor." (Chapter 3)

Nick was in love with this man, obviously. The way the author's words of Nick's thoughts were put forth made the narrator feel so warm, secure, and welcome. After meeting Gatsby, and not even knowing this down-to-earth man  he was talking to was him at first, Nick gained so much respect for the party host. The fact that Gatsby had given Carraway a "rare smile" with "reassurance in it" that "concentrated on you" makes the readers accept Nick's thoughts about him as their own. Gatsby being a killer seems almost silly after their casual meeting, and Nick has doubts about that rumor being reality.