Chapter Three

CHARACTERS Nick Carraway - Gatsby's neighbor, who goes to one of his first parties at Gatsby's house. He is also the narrator.

Jordan Baker - The only person Nick knows at Gatsby's party. Later we are told that she cheats at golf and is a very bad driver.

Jay Gatsby - In Chapter Three we hear a lot of rumors of who Gatsby really is. He also gets a lot of suspicious phone calls from various cities.

Owl Eyes - A fellow that hangs around Gatsby's house. He is also the suspected driver in first bad driver incident that occurred outside the house.

SETTING The setting of Chapter Three is mostly at Gatsby's home. Later, when Nick is describing the rest of the summer, it is in various places in the New York City or on a road.

SUMMARY The main event in Chapter Three is Nick's first party at Gatsby's. Nick is immediately surprised that he is one of the few invited guests there as well as one of the few looking to meet his host. Nick meets Jordan Baker for the second time at the party. After the two of them have a conversation with two yellow clad twins named Lucille and the "other girl," Jordan and Nick are seated with the rest of Jordan's party. At one point in the conversation, Gatsby's name comes up. Wrapped up in a shroud of mystery, his past is discussed. Some speculate that he killed a man, or was a German spy while others think he had served in the American Army during World War I. The gossip continues until Jordan decides it is time to meet Gatsby. Then she and Nick stop in the library, where they meet Owl Eyes. Owl Eyes is the weird man that had retreated into the library to sober up. There he describes the library--filled with books (real ones) with uncut pages. Afterward, Jordan and Nick sit down with a girl with incessant laughter and a man who recognizes Nick from the 3rd division in the war. After speaking for a while, the man invites Nick to go up in his hydroplane. The man turns out to be Gatsby himself. As suddenly as they had met, Gatsby disappears with a message of a wire from Chicago. Jordan picks up the gossip line and informs Nick of Gatsby's "going" to Oxford University. As Tostoff's Jazz History of the World is playing, Gatsby calls to speak with Jordan, leaving Nick alone. To escape an offer from two chorus girls to dance, Nick ends up going inside also. With the end of the party slowly arriving, out comes Jordan who is tired after being with Gatsby for an hour. She tells Nick to call her at her aunt's house. After Nick says goodbye to Gatsby and with "old sport" ringing in his head, he starts the trek home. On the way, the first bad driver incident comes to light. A wreck on the side of the road is placed on the shoulders. The crowd does not realize that the driver is still in the car, drunk. After this incident, Nick goes over the rest of the summer describing his adjustment to New York along with his "romantic stalking fantasies": i.e., he visualizes introducing himself to various women and then going home with them. Sometime within this commentary, Jordan Baker returns, in the midsummer to be exact. Nick then remembers a story the he had tried to remember at Daisy's house. In this particular story, Jordan was accused of cheating in a golf tournament. Then, the second inference to bad driving is mentioned. This time Jordan's horrible skills are alluded to. At this moment, Nick suspects he is almost in love with Jordan. He ends the chapter with a smart statement on how he is the only honest person he knows.

SYMBOLS,MOTIFS, AND THEMATIC ELEMENTS
Chapter 3 is filled with the freedom and wild partying of the 1920s. Gatsby's parties have the richness shown by the exotic fruit and the wastefulness of the postwar generation. The frequent partying reflects the nights of the 1920s, which were filled with raucous music, and the neglect of Prohibition. Along with 1920s came the increasing extravagance and lavishness portrayed by Gatsby's and the Buchanans' excesses. In Gatsby's house, the millions of "real" books with pages yet to be cut are an example of this. Additionally the twisted thinking of the Twenties is portrayed through Jordan's claim that small parties have no privacy while big ones are "nice and cozy." The inference to bad driving and mistaken identity needs to be noted for they are imperative to the end of the book. Additionally, Nick's candidness and stereotypes develop his character to the point of giving him a bit of a personality while Gatsby is still a bit of a mystery.

CHAPTER QUOTATIONS

• " 'You don't understand,' explained the criminal. 'I wasn't driving. There's another man in the car' " (59).
  This is a key quotation that has a major reference to the end of the novel. While the crowd thinks that Owl Eyes (the criminal) was the one driving, it is really a case of mistaken identity.
  
• "Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known" (64).
  This is an example of how Nick's character is slowly developing. Nick portrays himself to be virtuous when in reality he lies to himself about how he feels for Jordan as well as what he really thinks of Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Nick's opinions constantly change, which makes this statement appear all the more ambiguous.
  
• "I believe that the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People weren't invited- They went there" (45). This quotation is an example of how the era of the 1920s displayed ignorance. In the years before, one did not dare to show up to a party without invitation, but in this era it was the latest trend. The fact that Nick is in awe that he was invited shows that it was a rare thing.
  
• " It was on that same house party that we [Nick and Jordan] had a curious conversation about driving...'You're a rotten driver' [Nick] said. 'Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn't drive at all...
  'They'll keep out of my way' [Jordan] insisted.' It takes two to make an accident'" (63).
  The second inference to bad driving is a prime example of the "smoking gun theory." At first glance this conversation would be considered of little value but when carefully examined, one would realize its importance to developments later on.

Page last updated on March 5, 1999.
Curator: Priya Chhaya