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Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
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The Prophet
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
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2010
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4 comments:
(Rachel)
In Chapter One, the reader is introduced to Nick Carraway, the narrator. Nick tells the reader about his family and how he is from the northwest. He also gives the reader an insight on his education. He graduated from Yale University. Nick tells the reader that he will not expose everything that he knows, and that he will not give a judgmental narrative. Nick lets the reader know that he fought in World War I, then went through a time of restlessness. He moved to Long Island where he lives on West Egg.
The reader meets Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy when Nick attends a dinner party thrown by the couple at their house on East Egg. The two are friends with Nick: Tom and he attended Yale University together and Daisy is Nick’s cousin. Nick also is introduced to Jordan Baker, a professional golfer. After a dinner in which Tom spoke nearly the whole time, Nick leaves to go back to his house on West Egg. When he gets home he observes Gatsby for a few seconds, without saying anything and sees him practically disappear.
(Andrea)
Chapter 2
Half way between West Egg and New York City lies the Valley of Ashes- a place where “ashes take the forms of houses and chimney” (23). Above this land are the all seeing eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. His eyes are blue and gigantic with a pair of enormous yellow glasses that pass over a nonexistent nose. Tom and Nick go up on the train one day to the Valley of ashes so Nick could meet Tom’s mistress. Nick follows Tom into a garage owned by George B. Wilson and Tom whisks his wife, Myrtle, to New York. While in New York, Myrtle decides that she wants a dog so Tom buys her a dog with no protest at all.
Myrtle then takes them to a small apartment owned by her sister Catherine. Here Nick meets Catherine and Mr. and Mrs. McKee. On the elevator on the way up Tom takes out a bottle of alcohol, whereupon Nick says that he has only been drunk just twice in his life before. At the apartment, they discuss the infidelities of Myrtle and Tom, saying that neither of them can stand their marriages but Daisy is the one who won’t divorce Tom because of her religion. Myrtle says that she was never happy with her marriage and that it was a mistake. Even Myrtle’s sister approves of her affair with Tom. She believes that Tom is good for her and that she should get away from George.
Myrtle tells the story of how she met Tom on the train when she was going up to New York to spend the night with Catherine. While on the train Mrs. Wilson couldn’t keep her eyes off of Tom, and she didn’t even realize that she was getting into the same cab as him instead of her usual trip by subway; she just kept on thinking “you can’t live forever” (36).
Later that night, Tom and Myrtle argue over whether she has the right to mention Daisy’s name. As Mrs. Wilson blurts out Daisy’s name repeatedly, Tom breaks her nose out of anger. Then Tom and Nick leave the apartment and end up waiting for the train back to their homes.
(Nisha)
Chapter Three starts out with Nick observing Gatsby’s parities that occur on summer nights. He describes the men and girls as moths, and he talks about some guests at Gatsby’s beach and diving off the tower of his raft. While people had fun, Gatsby’s Rolls-Royce, from 9 until midnight, carried people to and from the city. The next day, eight servants would come and clean up the messes that the rich left the night before. Nick has always observed these parties from afar until one day when Gatsby’s chauffeur comes to his house with a formal note, asking Nick to attend his “little party” that night. Nick dresses up in white flannel and walks over the lawn at seven, only to realize that most people attend this party uninvited, and that he was one of the few people invited. However, when he arrives he did something differently from the others; he tries to find Gatsby since he was the host. But when he asks people, they stare at him with amazement, and don’t know what to tell Nick. After walking around for a little bit, Jordan Baker comes out of the house, and Nick proceeds towards her. First, Jordan Baker has to attend to two girls who had come up to her expressing their apologies for her loss in the golf tournament. The talk continues and soon enough Gatsby comes into the conversation. The two girls talk about how they always have a good time at these parties. One of the girls, Lucille, tells a story of how she tore her dress last time she was here, and a week later she got a new dress mailed to her from Gatsby. Because of this gesture, the girls talk about how Gatsby doesn’t want any trouble with anyone. They continue their conversation and talk about a rumor that Gatsby has killed a man. Jordan invites Nick to sit at her table. Soon, however, they get up once again in order to find Gatsby. They go into the library where they see a middle-aged man with glasses who gets excited when they enter and starts talking to them. He tells them about the book shelves, asking them what they think of them. They talk about the books for a while and then go outside. At the bar, Nick is then questioned by another man about his experience in the war, to which Nick replies that he was in the Third Division. The man asks if Nick would like to try out his hydroplane with him the next morning. Nick says he’d to, and continues the conversation by talking about how Gatsby sent him an invitation. The man tells Nick that he is actually Gatsby, and smiles at him with “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance” (48). After Gatsby’s butler tells Jordan that Gatsby would like to speak with her. When she returns from speaking with him she says she has just heard something extraordinary. Nick waits a little to apologize to Gatsby about not knowing who he was when they spoke, and then proceeds to walk down the steps. As he walked down, he sees a car stuck in a ditch, the wheel detached. The middle-aged, spectacled man – Owl-Eyes – crawls out from the wreckage and says the accident happened because he knows very little about driving. The driver comes out, drunk, and reasons that the car ran out of gas, while the slightly more sober guests try to tell him that the wheel fell off. The chapter ends with Nick stating that he “one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (59)
Thank you for posting these summaries. I think that chapter three looks good; however, I do have some concerns about chapter one and two.
Chapter One: I think that this is one of the most important chapters of the book and you need to round out the response--we need to know more about Tom, more about Jordan, and more about Daisy. Also where is the the end in this response...where is the green light and where are the thoughts about Gatsby the title character of the book.
Chapter Two:
Where is the information about the strange ending of the chapter where Nick wakes up in Penn station. Also, think about how you can extend the importance of the relationship between Tom and M. Wilson.
Please let me know what I can do in order to be of help to you and these summaries.
Best,
AK
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