3.3.1

Chapter Three

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Chapter Three - Summary (Part One)

Chapter Three begins with Nick describing the extravagant and luxurious parties that Gatsby throws frequently throughout the summer.

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Gatsby's parties

  • Nick describes 'guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking sun on the hot sand of his beach' while servants 'toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before'.
  • It seems that guests arrive from all over New York to enjoy Gatsby’s hospitality, and Nick paints a picture of a vibrant and lively atmosphere with 'floating rounds of cocktails' in the garden and 'enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.'
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Nick's first invitation

  • After observing from a distance for some time, Nick is eventually invited to one of the parties, where he felt as if he was 'one of the few guests who had actually been invited'.
  • Nick seems to feel somewhat out of place at the party as he observes 'a number of young Englishmen' who are 'selling something' and seem to be ready to take advantage of the ‘new money’ Americans at the party as they are 'agonisingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity.'
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Rumours about Gatsby

  • Most of the guests hardly seem to know Gatsby at all, as several of them are heard to be speculating about the source of Gatsby’s wealth, just like Myrtle’s sister, Catherine, did in the previous chapter.
  • Various guests gossip that he was a 'German spy', a former student of Oxford University, and even that 'he killed a man once'.
  • People clearly just use Gatsby for his parties. His mysterious nature continues to be the source of much gossip and speculation.
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Second meeting with Jordan

  • At the party, Nick meets Jordan Baker for the second time. They spend some time together, and Nick describes some of the incredible excesses of the party: 'champagne was served in glasses bigger than finger-bowls', 'a celebrated tenor had sung in Italian' and 'vacuous bursts of laughter rose towards the summer sky'.
  • Jordan leads Nick away so they can go and 'find the host' of the party, and they enter Gatsby’s library.
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Meeting Owl-Eyes

  • In the library, they encounter a 'short, middle-aged man with enormous owl-eyed spectacles' who appears to be 'somewhat drunk'.
  • Nick later nicknames him 'Owl Eyes'.
  • Owl Eyes is admiring Gatsby’s expansive collection of books and seems surprised to find that the books are not made of 'nice durable cardboard' as he had expected, and are actually real.
  • He compares Gatsby to 'Belasco', referring to David Belasco, a renowned theatre set designer.

Chapter Three - Summary (Part Two)

Later on in the evening, Jordan and Nick are sitting at a table observing the extravagant party. Nick begins talking to the man who is sat next to him, who thinks Nick’s 'face is familiar'.

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Meeting Gatsby

  • After some discussion, they realise that they had probably met each other during World War I, as they both fought.
  • Feeling more comfortable at the party, Nick tells his new friend that he hasn’t yet met the host. To Nick’s embarrassment, the man reveals that he himself is Gatsby.
  • This exchange reminds the reader that, just a few years before, the world was a very different place and both Nick and Gatsby were fighting in the most violent conflict the world had ever seen.
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Jordan's private meeting

  • Late in the night, a butler comes to Jordan and tells her that Gatsby would like to speak with her in private.
  • When she returns, she tells Nick that she has heard 'the most amazing thing', but that she cannot tell him what it is.
  • She does suggest that she will reveal more information if Nick goes to visit her at the house of her aunt, 'Miss Sigourney Howard'.
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Nick leaves the party

  • Nick feels 'rather ashamed' when he realises that he is one of the last guests at Gatsby’s party, and so he says good night.
  • Gatsby is summoned by his butler because he has received a phone call from Philadelphia.
  • As Nick leaves the party, a crowd is gathered around a 'tumultuous scene' as one of the guests has crashed their car into a ditch.
  • Owl Eyes, the man from the library earlier in the evening, staggers out of his car and is clearly too drunk to understand what has happened.
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Nick's summer in New York City

  • Nick then changes the tone of his narrative slightly and informs the reader that there was much more to his life that summer than Gatsby’s parties.
  • He describes his everyday life of going to work in the city each day, how he had 'a short affair with a girl from Jersey City' and how he has begun to feel settled in his new city, growing to like the 'racy, adventurous feel' of New York City.
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Nick's relationship with Jordan

  • Then Nick describes his developing relationship with Jordan Baker. He is attracted to Jordan and 'flattered to go places with her' since she is very well-known as a champion golfer.
  • But he also dislikes the fact she is 'incurably dishonest'. Nick, on the other hand, feels that he himself is 'one of the few honest people' he has ever encountered.

Jump to other topics

1Specification Overview

1.1Specification Overview

2Context

3Plot Summary

4Character Profiles

5Key Ideas

6Writing Techniques

7Love Through the Ages - Thematic Analysis

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