The Great Gatsby: Chapter I / pages 1-21

Summary:

Nick Carraway introduces the chapter by briefly talking about his father's advice to reserve judgment on other people and goes on about how he is both highly moral and highly tolerant. He then talks about Gatsby, whose personality he describes as “gorgeous”. Although, Gatsby represented everything Nick scorned he was still the exception. After graduating from New Haven in 1915, he participated in the Great War and came back restless. In 1922, he went East to study the bond business and began to look for a place to live in. He finds a place at West Egg, next door to Gatsby’s mansion, and then goes to East Egg to have dinner with his cousin Daisy, her husband Tom Buchanan, and Jordan Baker. During the dinner many events occur, such as Tom’s racist remarks concerning the book "The Rise of the Colored Empires" and Baker telling Nick that Tom is having an affair. After dinner, Nick goes back to West Egg and notices Gatsby outside reaching out towards a green light.

 

Tom Buchanan:

• “It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body” (7).

• Tom Buchanan is arrogant, cocky, egotistical, racist, wealthy, and unfaithful. He has had many physical accomplishments, such as being one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven. Tom's racism is shown through his comments on the book "The Rise of the Colored Empires"; he states, "It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things" (13). His arrogance is illustrated through Nick's description of Tom's "two shining arrogant eyes" (7). In addition, they way he carries himself emits an arrogant feel. His unfaithfulness is depicted through him having an affair with another woman in New York while married to Daisy. And his wealth is displayed by his luxurious house and how he came East; he had brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest.

• Tom is the total opposite of Nick and seems to be the type of person Nick dislikes; he is dishonest, flaunts his wealth, and only cares about himself. He is an egoist and in the eyes of Nick, it is not surprising that he has another woman in New York.

Quote:

“This isn’t just an epigram – life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all” (4).

Sometimes, we get so caught up in what other people think and what the media tells us that we forget about our own opinion. The “single window” Nick mentioned is how we view the world and the one path we choose to follow. By fully committing ourselves to this one path we become more successful. We should not let others influence our decisions; sure they can give us perspective, but in the end we must make our own choices.