Contents
Chapter II
Overview
Nick follows Tom through the bleak valley of ashes to George Wilson’s garage, where Tom arranges to meet Myrtle. In New York, a drunken gathering at Tom and Myrtle’s apartment exposes Myrtle’s aspirations and contempt for her husband, plus salacious gossip about Gatsby and Daisy.
When Myrtle provokes Tom by chanting Daisy’s name, Tom breaks her nose, revealing his brutality and the squalid reality beneath their affair. Nick leaves disillusioned and detached.
Summary
Nick describes the desolate valley of ashes between West Egg and New York, overseen by the fading eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. On a train with Tom, Nick is forced off at George Wilson’s garage, where Tom arranges a rendezvous with Myrtle Wilson, George’s wife.
Tom, Myrtle, and Nick travel separately to New York. Myrtle buys magazines, toiletries, and an ill-bred puppy, signaling her desire for luxury. They go to Tom and Myrtle’s upper-Manhattan apartment, where drinking begins and guests arrive: Myrtle’s sister Catherine and the McKees from downstairs.
As the afternoon wanes, Myrtle transforms into an affected hostess, boasting and posturing. Catherine gossips about Gatsby’s origins and lies that Daisy is Catholic to explain Tom’s failure to divorce. Myrtle derides George, recounting her first meeting with Tom and declaring her determination to seize pleasures—“You can’t live forever.”
Nick, increasingly drunk, feels “within and without,” both drawn to and repelled by the scene. Conversations fray; the dog whimpers; guests drift in and out while plans dissolve. The party exposes class pretensions, marital resentments, and careless cruelty.
Near midnight, an argument erupts when Myrtle insists on saying Daisy’s name. Tom responds violently, breaking Myrtle’s nose, and chaos follows as women tend to her bleeding face. Nick leaves with Mr. McKee, later finding himself drowsing in Pennsylvania Station, waiting for the early train home.
Who Appears
- Tom BuchananDrags Nick to meet Myrtle, flaunts the affair, hosts the apartment party, and breaks Myrtle’s nose.
- Myrtle WilsonTom’s mistress; adopts grand manners, scorns her husband, recounts meeting Tom, taunts with Daisy’s name, is assaulted.
- Nick CarrawayNarrator; reluctantly accompanies Tom, observes the sordid party, feels both enchanted and repelled, departs at dawn.
- George B. WilsonSpiritless garage owner; unknowingly cuckolded, hopes Tom will sell him a car.
- CatherineMyrtle’s sister; gossips about Gatsby, lies that Daisy is Catholic to justify the affair.
- Mrs. McKee (Lucille)Shrill, handsome guest; trades fashion talk and social pretensions amid the drunken gathering.
- Mr. McKee (Chester)Pale photographer neighbor; seeks Long Island commissions, drifts through the party and leaves with Nick.
- Doctor T. J. Eckleburg (billboard)Faded oculist’s eyes brooding over the valley of ashes, emblem of moral desolation.