The Great Gatsby Chapter 3 Summary
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Setting
Chapter 3 of the great gatsby is set in Gatsby's mansion on a summer evening of the 1920s.
Main Characters
Nick Caraway- he is the narrator, a thirty-year-old moralist who lives next door to Jay Gatsby and becomes Gatsby’s link to his cousin, daisy.
Jay Gatsby- is a romantic idealist who devotes his life to accumulating wealth which he believes will win Daisy and thus fulfill his dream.
Jordan Baker- she is daisy’s friend from Louisville. A young and compulsively dishonest professional golfer,
Plot Summary
Every Saturday night, Gatsby throws incredibly luxurious parties at his mansion. Nick eventually receives an invitation. At the party, he feels out of place and notes that the party is filled with people who have not been invited and who appear "agonizingly" aware of the "easy money" surrounding them. The main topic of conversation is rumors about Gatsby. Nick hears from various people that Gatsby is a German spy, an Oxford graduate, and someone even claims Gatsby once killed a man.
Nick runs into Jordan Baker at the party. While spending time with her, he observes all the amazing luxuries of the party: a live orchestra, a cornucopia of food and imported fruits, and endless reserves of alcohol. Nick and Jordan decide to find their mysterious host and wander into Gatsby's library. There they meet a short, somewhat drunk man who wears owl-like glasses. Owl Eyes is amazed by Gatsby's books: the vastness and "realism" of Gatsby's book collection astounds him.
Later, as Nick and Jordan sit outside watching the party, Nick strikes up a conversation with the man sitting next to him. The man thinks Nick looks familiar. They realize they may have crossed paths during World War I. The man introduces himself: he is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby has a dazzling smile, and refers to everyone as "old sport." Gatsby also interests Nick because he remains apart from the party, as if his pleasure derives from observing the spectacle, not participating in it
At almost two in the morning, a butler approaches Jordan and asks her to come and meet Gatsby. She returns a while later from this meeting and tells Nick that she has just heard a story that is "the most amazing thing." After saying goodbye to Gatsby, Nick leaves the party. As he walks home, he sees a crowd gathered around an automobile accident. A drunken man has driven his new car into a ditch, with Owl Eyes in the passenger seat. The car is now missing a tire, but the driver nevertheless tries to reverse out of the ditch. After very little effort, he gives up and walks away, leaving the car where it is.
Nick then describes his everyday life that summer to the reader: he wants it clear he does more than just go to parties. He works each day in the city, has a brief relationship with a woman from New Jersey, and then begins to date Jordan Baker. Yet though he's attracted to Jordan, he doesn't like her because she's dishonest and even cheats at golf. Nick then says that he is one of the only honest people he's ever known
Themes
- Past and future. Nick and Gatsby are continually troubled by time; the past haunts gatsby and the future weighs down on Nick. When Nick tells Gatsby that he can't repeat the past, Gatsby says "Why of course you can!" Gatsby has dedicated his entire life to recapturing a golden, perfect past with Daisy. Gatsby believes that money can recreate the past. Fitzgerald describes Gatsby as "overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves." But Gatsby mixes up "youth and mystery" with history; he thinks a single glorious month of love with Daisy can compete with the years and experiences she has shared with Tom. Just as "new money" is money without social connection, Gatsby's connection to Daisy exists outside of history.
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