The Great Gatsby
(Narrative poem 1-3 chapters)
There's a story to be told about everyone
A life story about who they are
Where they came from
What kind of house do they live in
And drive what type of car
This is part of Jay Gatsby's story
He had a neighbour named Nick
Who narrated this story
This Carraway fellow introduces us to the setting:
New York City and the twin villages of West Egg and East Egg
West Egg, where Carraway lives
It is not as fancy as East Egg
But it's still pretty fancy
Compared to the rest of the place
Nick heads over to East Egg to have dinner
With Tom Buchanan, his second cousin Daisy
The Buchanans have tons of money
We then meet two women dressed in white
Daisy, of course, and her friend, Jordan Baker
In friendly conversation
Nick mentions Gatsby, who is his neighbour
Daisy gets particularly interested
The following is a rather dramatic scene:
Tom gets a phone call
Daisy freaks out and goes to yell at him
He's messing around with his mistress
The mistress call his house all the time, which is tactless
Turns out that Jordan is an athlete
Nick feels like he's heard about her before
But he can't remember the story
When Nick finally gets home to West Egg
He notices that his neighbour, Mr Gatsby
He would look across the lake he lived by at night
Just staring at the dock with the green light
Nick is travelling to the city with Tom
who insists on stopping to show Nick, his mistress
Nick describes the land that lies in between the Eggs and New York
As a "Valley of Ashes"
Above this "Waste Land "are the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
A billboard that features the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
Just an advertisement for an eye doctor
But we get the feeling it's meaningful
Tom was married to Daisy
But he was sleeping around with Myrtle
He bought her a dog
Or was it a turtle?
One day at a gathering
They meet up with others, including
Mr McKee and Myrtle's sister, Catherine
Myrtle stepped out-of-place,
She mentioned Daisy's name.
"Daisy, Daisy, Daisy"
So Tom hit her in the face
Nick gets too drunk to remember how he got into bed
Anyway, that doesn't matter much
Because this story is about Gatsby
He threw great parties all the time
And if you wanted in
You didn't have to beg
You could walk right in
But Nick is invited to Gatsby's party
He meets Jordan at that party
And everybody gossips about the mysterious Gatsby
how he might be a murderer or in the CIA or something
Nick wanders into the library
and meets a man with owl-eyed glasses
who is in awe that all these books are actual pages!
Back outside, Nick meets an unknown man
Who gives him the old "you look familiar" line
They chat about having both been in the World War One
Turns out, the mysterious man is the mysterious Gatsby
Gatsby leaves to take a phone call,
And has a private chat with Jordan later
When Jordan comes back from the chat
She then tells Nick to go and visit her
Nick falls into his work-eat-sleep routine
Nick's remember the "story" about Jordan when she lies
She may have cheated in a professional golf tournament once
Nick realizes he is one of the few honest people he has ever known
