Journal Entry #2

Chapter 2: Pages 23-38

Chapter Summary:

In Chapter 2 of the Great Gatsby, Nick and Tom are on the commuter train passing through the valley of ash, the sprawling plains between New York and West Egg. Tom forces Nick to get off at the same stop on the edge of the valley and takes him to George Wilson’s garage. There, Nick meets Myrtle, George’s wife and Tom’s mistress, and Tom takes them into New York City to the apartment he uses for his affair. Myrtle decides to throw a party and invites her sister, Catherine, and the McKees. Later in the night, after Myrtle’s nose is broken by Tom because she started chanting Daisy’s name, Nick leaves, drunkenly, with Mr. Mckee and ends up at the Pennsylvania Station waiting for the 4 am train back to Long Island.

Character Name:

a) Myrtle Wilson

Most Defining Quote:

b) “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman. I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoes.” (Myrtle 34)

Characteristics:

c) “She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering.” (25)

Role in the Book:

d) In the book, Myrtle is Tom’s mistress. Through his commentary of her and the way she acts with her husband and with Tom, it is evident that she is a spoiled gold digger with no redeeming qualities. At the party, when Catherine tells Nick that Tom and Myrtle should get divorced and marry each other, it seems like a perfect idea because they seem in love until the end of the chapter when Tom slugs her in the nose for disgracing Daisy’s name. Although he is a good for nothing jerk, when Tom gets upset with Myrtle for chanting Daisy’s name it seems as though he still loves Daisy, if not more than Myrtle.

Quote:

“You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.” (Myrtle 36)

This is a significant quote because it allows the reader to question whether or not the affair between Myrtle and Tom is acceptable. This quote bothers me because when something like cheating is so morally wrong, how is it that people believe it can be justified and not see it as something they should not be doing? What else are people doing that they think is ‘ok’ because they ‘only live once’? Coming from Myrtle, this quote makes her seem even more of a spoiled brat. She did not begin her affair with Tom because she thought he was a nice person through all the conversation on the train, but rather because she thought he looked wealthy in his suit and patent leather shoes.