How is the story told in Chapter 2 of the Great Gatsby?

Chapter two of ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald is told through the various aspects of narrative, for instance – the aristocratic setting of East Egg is a juxtaposition to the 'valley of ashes', which is created from the superficial lives of the people living in both East and West egg, as well as New York. It is somewhat of a wasteland and the dire condition of this setting is widely overlooked by the people in the Eggs and the city.

 The valley of ashes is home to the only poor characters in the story, and yet the destruction that surrounds them is a by-product of the upper class lifestyle. The ashes, which are a main feature of the wasteland, are described as to some extent as organic - “ashes grow like wheat”. This gives the idea that the ashes are integrated into the lives of the inhabitants of the valley. The setting has no colour except 'grey' which is used to describe the men and the cars (as well as the ashes), this contrasts the whiteness in Tom and Daisy’s house - where previously everything was described as clean and white as if it were pure, everything in the valley of ashes seems dirty and tainted. The only other colour mentioned are the eyes of Dr Eckleburg, “blue and gigantic” but also  “dimmed a little by many paintless days”, which could represent the loss of morality, or perhaps the loss of hope for the valley of ashes if we perceive the eyes to symbolize the gaze of God. Nick states how they are constantly under the 'stare' of Eckleburg, as if the figure is judging the characters, and the fact that Nick notices or at least feels the pressure of the stare shows that he could be feeling guilty.  

In this chapter, we also gain a better understanding of the character of Tom as he ‘shows off’ Myrtle, his mistress, as if his marriage to Daisy is obsolete – even in front of Nick, who is Daisy’s cousin. The fact he shows Myrtle off, almost as a ‘Trophy’ shows his character as arrogant and someone who prides himself on his possession of women, relating to his suggested violence towards Daisy with her “bruised finger” and confirming our suspicions of his violence by breaking Myrtle’s nose at the end of chapter 2.

In this chapter, we are also introduced to the character of Myrtle and her husband, George. We quickly come to realise that Myrtle wants to be better than she is in terms of social status whereas her husband is decidedly working class. The fact that she “[walks] through her husband as if he were a ghost” implies that she feels that her husband is dead to her, as later on she makes it very clear that she finds him unworthy of her. Nick's description of Myrtle states that she “holds her flesh sensuously”; although it is made very clear that she is not particularly ‘pretty’.  His description of her is very judgemental, as he critically describes her as having, “rather wide hips”, compared to Daisy's delicate description.

Furthermore, we may also compare colours and clothes associated with both Daisy and Myrtle, as Daisy is presented as ‘fluttery and girlish’ in her white clothes that give an overall vacuous effect, whereas Myrtle is a lot more diverse. She changes her clothes a lot throughout the chapter and each time she does so, her personality changes with them. Her clothes are not at all similar to the white purity of Daisy’s, more bright and “earthy”, although when she changes into a ‘cream dress’, she becomes a lot more obnoxious and judgemental.

George Wilson is described as “anaemic”, “faintly handsome”, as well as “spiritless” and most definitely “naïve”. Although his house is described as being “bare”, when Tom asks him how he is doing he replies that “he cannot complain”, which shows that Wilson may be acceptant of his bare minimalistic living, although he may not be happy with it - whereas Myrtle has trouble even accepting that she lives in the valley of ashes and so she decorates her apartment lavishly, almost to the extent of it being inappropriate.

The story then moves on to Myrtle shopping, she buys a dog on a whim – because she wants to “get one for the apartment” which again emphasizes how materialistic and perhaps naïve Myrtle’s character might be. When they finish shopping, Myrtle and Tom insist Nick comes back to the apartment with them, even though Nick obviously doesn’t want to. The flat is crowded with extravagant furniture which reflects Myrtle’s own characteristics - compared to Wilson's “bare” home. This highlights Myrtle's desire to become part of the upper classes. It is at this point within the chapter that we are introduced to three more characters; Myrtle’s neighbours, Mr. and Mrs McKee and Catherine, Myrtle’s sister. Each of these characters emits a certain sense of artifice, the McKee’s for their clearly fractured marriage, and Catherine for her over-the-top makeup and her gossipy nature.

"I have been drunk just twice in my life" demonstrates the naivety of Nick as he is trying to re tell the events that occurred, even when he has no real depth of experience in them. This is also an example of his unreliability. Although it was stated quite clearly at the beginning of chapter one that Nick does not reserve judgements on people, his opinionated nature is exposed by his descriptions of the each character as he meets them, describing Mrs McKee as “shrill, languid, handsome and horrible” while he notices that her husband has forgotten to entirely rid his face of shaving cream. Surely a completely neutral person would not pick up on such superficial attributes of people, once again proving Nick’s unreliability and lies.

Near to the end of the evening, Fitzgerald drops a substantial hint at Nick being a homosexual, “… I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear”. Nick’s homosexuality has no concrete evidence and it is only hinted; this could be because Fitzgerald did not want to focus on this aspect of Nick or it could be argued that Fitzgerald did think that this was an important aspect of Nick; however he only hinted at it because homoeroticism was still taboo in the 1920’s.