'The Great Gatsby' reading jorunal, chapter three

At the start of the chapter, we get the impression that we are finally going to get a face to face description of Gatsby as Nick has been invited to attend one of his parties. He describes the invitation that he receives as being of a 'majestic hand' meaning that appears quite formal and striking. This, however, creates a different impression as what Gatsby's parties are actually like. The sentences 'floating rounds of cocktails', 'introductions forgotten on the spot' and 'nine in the morning and long past midnight' suggest that Gatsby's parties are rather wild ones. Alcohol just happens to be there, in endless supplies, people have no idea who they are talking to and the parties last all night long. However, given the state of Nick's trustworthiness previously, there is always the possibility that he is over-exaggerating this. Nick makes the parties sound even more out of hand when he says 'People were not invited - they went there'. No invitations are required at Gatsby's parties - the host is a generous one and it seems as if he is fine with have a large number of strangers in his home. However, is there a reason for this? Surely he is not that careless?

Even though we have not seen Gatsby's face directly yet, we are under the impression that he is heavily wealthy, attracting people from outside of town, some of which are collected in his Rolls-Royce - a very expensive automobile at the time. The fact that he has obtained a large amount of alcohol, thought, in a decade prohibition makes us suspicious as to where he got it all from. More suspicions arise when Nick is involved in a conversation with Jordan and two other girls, who share a rumor that Gatsby 'killed a man once' or a 'German spy during the war'. After this discussion, they all look around for Gatsby, as if he would not be happy to hear people talking about him in this way. But is that why he is yet to show his face? his he afraid that he will be questioned about this? The scene then changes, when Jordan decides that her Nick are going to look for Gatsby. They eventually stumble upon a 'high gothic library, panelled with carved English oak' which in terms of imagery, further indicates Gatsby's wealthy status, without even seeing him. In this room, however, is a man who is, according to Nick 'stout' and 'middle-aged'. In his drunkenness, he shows a lot of enthusiasm towards the books on display but, untill later in the chapter, the relevance to this part of the story is unclear.

Next, the reader is met with a moment that has been long-awaited - we are introduced formally to Gatsby. Once Nick discoveries who he is, he goes on to give quite an interesting description about him. Nick sates that Gatsby's smile 'concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour.' Nick has become totally absorbed by it and, within seconds of learning who he is, has become fascinated by him. As soon as Gatsby has been called away by his butler, Nick starts asking Jordan questions about him - he wants to know more. Jordan says that Gatsby was educated at Oxford, in England, which could be an explanation as to why he uses the phrase 'old sport' when talking to Nick. the accent is false, and maybe he only does it to appear more sophisticated. We learn later in the novel that Daisy had left Gatsby as he was not wealthy enough for her. This could be why Gatsby throws these extravagant parties and why he has taken on the accent - he hopes that she will show up at one, and when she talks to him, she will see that he has become more 'sophisticated'. Still, by not showing his face for a large portion of the party, Gatsby is quite the reclusive host. However, when Jordan then describes large parties as being "intimate" and that small parties contain no privacy. With this in mind, it makes it sound as if it is easier for Gatsby to shadow himself in the midst of a thousand people, rather than in a small, secluded space that contains fifteen people only.

Nick earlier commented that at this party, he was 'actually invited'. Gatsby does not think of him as another person through the door. When Gatsby learned from Jordan that Nick was related to Daisy, he may have hoped that if he invited Nick, there may have been a better chance of her showing up. Just as Nick is about to leave Gatsby's party, he learns that the evening was 'not quite over'. a coupe had fallen into a ditch as a result of a crash, which had left things in a 'bizarre and tumultuous scene'. It is then revealed that one of the men in the car was the man who Nick and Jordan had stumbled upon in the library earlier ('the late patron'). I find that there are two possible reasons as to why Nick has included this in the story - one is to represent Gatsby's inner feelings of distraught. He may charming on the outside, but inside, he is deeply upset by Daisy's on-going absence, and is wreck, like the crashed car. The second reason could be for foreshadowing purposes - a car crash occurs later in the story, which has quite a devastating effect on many of the main characters...

In the closing section of this chapter, Nick reveals that the vents that have occurred in the past three chapters were all 'casual events in a crowded summer'. He reveals that these three events were quite distant from each other, but they stand out to him. H reveals that he worked most of the time during this summer, and even had 'a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey city' suggesting that, over the course of the summer, Nick has been keeping secrets from the reader. Why would he only share this information now? Because he worked a lot, Nick creates the impression that he was lonely for a lot of time over this summer, and had nothing better to do than 'walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd...' It appears that, as Nick had become so lonely by his work habits, he nothing better to do let his imagination run wild for entertainment.

He admits that he is not in love with Jordan Baker, but feels a 'tender curiosity' towards her. He simply wants to know more about her, what she doing, her thoughts ect. but he does not want to confess romantic feeling towards her. He makes it clear that he is interested in becoming romantically involve with her, but before he can do so, he has to get himself 'out of that tangle back home'. Upon reading this, I was instantly drawn back to a moment in chapter one, where Nick had denied rumors of being engaged to a girl back in the mid-west. This sentence suggests, however, that Nick has been unfaithful this whole time, and that he really was engaged back home. He goes on to say that 'I am one of the few honest people that I ever know' and this is subject to much argument. Because he had possibly been engaged to a girl in the mid-west, he appears as being very dishonest - to Jordan, to himself and to the reader. However, by admitting that he has to clear things up back home 'before I was free' and able to pursue his relationship Jordan further, he creates the impression that he has the ability to be honest. He wants to show the reader evidence of his honesty, and maybe this is why he has chosen to share something that makes him appear dishonest.