Story journals- The Great Gatsby 2

Chapter 2

Metaphors used such as the ‘valley of ashes’. Reference of time and date, its Sunday, he does not enjoy himself so time seems  to pass slower, Sunday is a slow moving day, it is the day that people usually go to church, it’s a restful day, but Tom is meeting his mistress and they are getting drunk at her house- ironic. We are introduced to his mistress- Mrs Wilson/Myrtle who Nick describes very harshly as ‘a thickish figure of a woman’ he is prejudging again. Tom is very rude; he mocks Mr Wilson/ George for his ignorance of his wife having an affair. He is described as ‘anaemic’ and ‘spiritless’ by Nick. They go back to Myrtles’ apartment and more characters are introduced: Catherine, Myrtles sister, Mr and Mrs Mckee, he is a photographer, not a very good one as Nick points out by the photo in Myrtles living room, that he could not place an image for. Every little thing that is mentioned about Gatsby attracts the reader’s attention, Catherine mentions that she went to a party of his, she tells Nick of the rumours that Gatsby became so rich because he is a relation of the ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’s’. Nick loses grasp of time, as he is drunk, and reality. He focusses on superficial things to describe. By being drunk is Nick a reliable source? We learn more about Daisy and Tom’s relationship through Catherine, as she talks about how Myrtle and Tom should get married and divorce their partners.  We rarely hear what they think of each other, as before Miss Baker tells Nick of Tom’s mistress in the first place- it interests me. The idea of hearing the truth from a different source. The most important parts are not described so detailed, this could be to give the shock factor- ‘Making a short deft hand movement, Tom Buchanan, broke her nose with his open hand’.  Tom clearly has a temper. At the end of the chapter Nick finds himself at the train station in the middle of nowhere and is confused about how he got there, again this is odd as he usually is so aware of his surroundings and the people as he is very observant, again we question the reliability, is this real side of Nick?