1. ‘The Great Gatsby’ Chapter Three Notes

2. Chapter Summary Nick details the excessive preparations undertaken for each of Gatsby’s nightly gatherings. He is invited to attend one of these parties, The parties are clearly lavish and offer a negative comment on the debauched lifestyles of the wealthy. At the party, rumours about the host abound. Nick enters into a conversation with a man who recognises him from the war. This man is the host, Jay Gatsby.

3. Summary Continued Gatsby summons Jordan Baker for a private audience. She emerges from this saying that she has heard something ‘amazing.’ The evening ends with a car crash outside Gatsby’s mansion. Nick remembers his previous knowledge of Jordan- she cheated to win a golf tournament.

4. Gatsby’s Parties The description of the party accurately captures the excesses, debauchery and wasteful hedonism which characterised the Jazz Age. Gatsby’s parties spare no expense and are attended by parasitic and destructive guests who often do not even know the host. The host himself is separate from the drunken behaviour as he is physically detached (isolated) and behaves differently.

5. Parasitic Guests ‘… men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars…’ The moth image symbolises the guests moving towards Gatsby’s ‘light.’ Just as moths cause damage by eating fabric, so too do the guests cause extensive damage to Gatsby’s garden through their debauched behaviour. ‘People were not invited – they went there… and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour associated with an amusement park.’

6. Parasitic Partygoers This is symptomatic of the artificial ‘rush’ required by these people in order for them to enjoy life: like those waiting in line at a roller coaster, they breathlessly anticipate the ‘game’ of social interaction and its attendant levels of hilarity and hysteria. They trash Gatsby’s backyard, endlessly consuming and regurgitating food, drink and opportunities for mindless and empty conversation.

7. Waste Since Gatsby is interested in presenting pure theatre for his guest, no expense is spared. Nick details the trails of food, drink and décor processed on the weekends of these parties, subtly documenting the wastefulness on show: ‘Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruitier in New York – every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves.’ The process of consumerism – and its corrupting effect - is clearly shown here. The crowd at the party is again portrayed as a relentless machine which devour everything. The piles of fruit peel therefore come to represent more than mere rubbish heaps – they stand for waste and greed.

8. Gatsby Arrives on the Scene! Fitzgerald builds towards a climax by delaying the introduction of the protagonist to this point. We expect Gatsby to announce himself in a spectacular way! His actual entrance is a slight anti-climax. Nick speaks with a man who recognised him from the war. He does not know that this man is Gatsby until he complains that he has not met the host.

9. Nick’s First Impressions Nick first notices Gatsby’s magnetic smile. He describes the protagonist in glowing terms which suggests instant affinity: ‘It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it … it faced - or seemed to face – the whole eternal world for an instant … it understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would to believe in yourself and reassured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished.’

10. Gatsby’s Smile The smile captures Gatsby’s capacity for hope as it locks onto a path towards something positive. At same time, it seems to inspire confidence in the person to whom it is directed. This suggests that he has a magnetic and alluring personality. Consequently, our initial impressions are positive despite his role as an enabler of the wanton hedonism of his parasitic guests.

11. Jay Gatsby- An Enigma Wrapped in a Mystery More rumours are shared about Gatsby prior to his introduction: ‘I don’t think it’s so much of that,’ argued Lucille sceptically; ‘it’s more that he was a German spy during the war.’ ‘You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody’s looking at him. I’ll bet he killed a man.’ The second quotation is particularly interesting as it suggests that Gatsby’s warmth and his engaging smile are a front which disappears when he is no longer performing. This is the first of many hints that Gatsby’s personality is an artificial construct.

12. Artificiality ‘… whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Sometime before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he as picking his words with care.’ Gatsby forces himself to speak in a particular way. The phrase ‘elaborate formality’ suggests that he is trying to create the impression that he is well-educated. That this may be part of a deliberately crafted false persona is further hinted by Jordan’s scepticism regarding his claims of having been educated at Oxford: ‘I just don’t think he went there.’

13. Gatsby’s Surface In addition to learning of Gatsby’s formal manner of speaking, we also gain insight into his proclivity for excess. Substantial evidence can extracted from the chapter to highlight this excess: ‘signed Jay Gatsby in a majestic hand’ (Connotations of royalty.) ‘At least once a fortnight a corp of caterers’ ‘Enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden’ ‘the orchestra had arrived, no thin five piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and …’

14. Gatsby’s Isolation It is clear that Gatsby wants to ensure that his parties achieve renown and are widely celebrated. His attention to detail is so meticulous that it seems absurd that he himself does not indulge in the behaviours he enables: While others socialise and engage in inane conversation with other guests, Gatsby cuts an isolated figure: ‘standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another’ His behaviour is also radically different as he neither flirts or drinks. As the night progresses, his separateness becomes more pronounced:

15. Gatsby’s Isolation ‘I wondered if the fact he was not drinking helped to set him off from his guests, for it seemed to me that he grew more correct as the fraternal hilarity increased.’ Despite hosting the party, Gatsby stands on its periphery. This distinction from his parasitic guests paints a positive impression of his character. Nonetheless, we are encouraged to question his motivations for hosting parties in which he is a non-participant. By the end of the evening, the description provided of the protagonist suggests utter isolation: ‘A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure o the host…’

16. Further Mystery Gatsby’s eventual appearance not only raises questions about his authenticity and motivations, it also adds to the mystery surrounding the character. He invites Jordan Baker to visit him alone. When she emerges she exclaims that Gatsby has told her something which is ‘simply amazing.’ Jordan’s sudden taciturnity leaves the this potentially important information undisclosed. Gatsby remains enigmatic despite his presence at the heart of this chapter.

17. Gatsby’s Library Gatsby’s library is “panelled with carved English Oak” to make his house appear more like the older mansions of established aristocratic families. This is an early hint that there is something unreal about both Gatsby’s house and his life. This idea of perception differing from reality is further reinforced by the introduction of ‘owl-eyed man’ in this chapter.

18. Owl Eyes Owls are a symbol of wisdom. Fitzgerald draws attention to his over-sized glasses to suggest that this character is capable of greater sight and perceptiveness. ‘Absolutely real- have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard.’ Owl eyes is the only character who further investigates his doubts about Gatsby at this point. He finds (to his delight) that the books are authentic. This suggests support for Gatsby’s claims that he is an educate man.

19. Owl Eyes However, the man camped in Gatsby’s library investigates further and fully understands what he observes: ‘This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph! What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too- didn’t cut the pages.’ Gatsby buys books to substantiate his claims that he is an educated man. Owl eyes admires this attention to detail but notes that the book are unread (he hasn’t cut the pages to gain access to the content). In comparing Gatsby to the theatre director David Belasco, he suggests Gatsby is an expert in creating an illusion of reality. The fact that he does not need to open the books in order to complete the illusion tells us that his intended audience (the partygoers) are just as false as he is.

20. Nick Gatsby is not the only lonely and isolated character in this chapter. Nick is clearly detached from those around him. ‘forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes and… imagining that I too, was hurrying towards gaiety and sharing their intimate excitement, I wished them well.’ Nick is reduced to mere reporter rather than an active participant in this extract. His discontent with his situation is highlighted by his obvious desire to be part of this crowd. ‘Most of the time I worked’ - Nick’s loneliness is further emphasised by the fact that his life is far different from those of Gatsby and the other characters Nick possibly empathises with Gatsby as he perceives of them both as outsiders.

21. Nick’s Narration Again claims attributes which suggest that he is an ideal narrator: ‘Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.’ This sentence is positioned at the end of the chapter in an attempt to make Nick’s claim of unshakeable honesty prominent. However, evidence which can be drawn from his narration in this chapter contradicts his claims of virtue.

22. Nick’s reliability as a narrator Despite his claims of honesty, Nick is attracted to Jordan who is a congenital liar and a cheat- ‘I felt a sort of tender curiosity…for a moment I thought I loved her’ He acknowledges that she is dishonest ‘a suggestion that she moved her ball from a bad lie’; ‘she was incurably dishonest.’ Yet, ‘It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply’ Is Nick a trustworthy narrator or is he, like Gatsby and Myrtle, constructing a desired self?

23. Foreshadowing This is another technique used in this chapter. We will explore this further later in the book at a point when exploration of this technique does not give away the ending!