Chapter 2 continues the story by Tom and Nick’s travel on the train and Tom forcing Nick to come with him to the valley of ashes – “a fascinating farm where ashes grow like wheat” (pg. 16), the exact opposite of what West Egg is. Poverty and desperation take over the valley. In this chapter we get introduced to even more characters, but most importantly we meet Tom’s “girl” and basically his second life when away from Daisy. We also see how his life, actions and habits change with the environment he is in and also shows the narrator the other side of Tom. After forcing Nick out of the train with him, Tom leads Nick to a garage owned by George B. Wilson. During the short time they have in the garage, “the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in her middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh sensuously” (pg. 18.) The woman described by Nick is Myrtle, the wife of George Wilson. ,
After Myrtle is ready Nick, Tom followed by Myrtle goes to the train where Myrtle does not sit in the same car as them. After going off the train they all together go to Tom’s apartment, which he keeps for his affair with Myrtle. Nick gets dragged in the apartment with them even though he doesn’t really want to be a part of this. After some time inside the apartment I liked the part where Nick tells the reader that Ms. Wilson was switched to Myrtle after one drink, showing that this kind of life style is different from what they are used to, informal, not as polite and less demanding than what they, especially what Nick is used to. Myrtle also calls his sister Catherine and Mr. and Mrs. McKee to the party.
Catherine has bright red hair and lives with a girl friend in a hotel. She tells Nick more about Gatsby’s family, where she thinks the money comes from and tells Nick that she has met him in a party. As more time passes in the party, Nick gets more and more repulsed by this life style as to the people and their actions. More people get drunk and Myrtle starts talking about Daisy angry, Tom tells her she is not speak off Daisy and this makes Myrtle more furious and starts repeating the name of Daisy which leads the conflict to Tom accidentally breaking Myrtle’s nose with his open hand. This is the last straw for Nick. He leaves the party with Mr. McKee who falls a sleep during the party and ends up waiting for the train at 4.00 o’clock.
The second chapter introduces a different perspective of people and life styles, showing the reader the two opposite lives that are present in the novel. This also shows why Tom might me different from Daisy and Nick. It also shows the reader two different dinner/parties with different types of people. It also shows how Tom acts differently to Daisy than Myrtle. He treats him more harshly as compared to Daisy. But even though Nick is Daisy’s cousin he doesn’t seem to mind Tom’s secret affair even though it’s not really discreet. He is just confused slightly by Catherine’s comment on Tom wanting to divorce Daisy but she says she can’t because Daisy is a Catholic but Nick knows that she is not. So this might mean that Tom is not ready to leave Daisy and loves her so much that he had to lie to Myrtle about why he can’t divorce her. He is protective of Daisy toward his “family” and “friends” there.
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