Digging into Chapter 3

In Chapter 3, we finally meet the mysterious Gatsby. We also get to attend his very extravagant and decadent party. As you read, keep in mind that we are seeing everything through Nick's eyes.



Your job is to closely examine Nick's observations; dig closely under the glittering surface to discover the truth. Read all five passages below and choose one to comment on. As you reflect on the selected passage, comment on what you think is really happening. Tip: Look out for euphemisms: a figure of speech that substitutes a nicer word for a harsher but truer reality.

Please write your responses as a post on your page, not as a comment. Also, be sure to create a clear title for your post!

Passage 1
"In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars"

Passage 2
"In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up , and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another. "

Passage 3
" I was immediately struck by the number of young English men dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry and all talking in low earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans"

Passage 4
" There was dancing now on the canvas in the garden, old men pushing young girls backward in eternal graceless circles, superior couples holding each other tortuously, fashionable and keeping in the corners-and a great number of single girls dancing individualistically or relieving the orchestra for a moment of the burden of the banjo or the traps. By midnight the hilarity has increased....A pair of stage "twins" -who turned out to be the girls in yellow did a baby act on costume and champagne was served in glasses bigger than finger bowls...I was enjoying myself now. I had taken two finger bowls of champagne and the scene has changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound".





Passage 5
"He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished—and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care."