Transcript for:
Key Insights from The Great Gatsby

[Music] [Music] chapter one dinner with the Buchanans in my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since whenever you feel like judging anyone he told me just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had he didn't say any more but I understood that he meant a great deal more than that as a result I usually wait some time before making any judgments this habit has opened up many strange characters to me as people are often eager to tell me about themselves when I was at college I was unjustly accused of being a politician because I knew the secret sadnesses of wild unknown men I hardly ever wanted to hear these secrets in fact I have often pretended to be asleep or busy when I realized by some unmistakable sign that a young man was preparing to tell me his deepest most personal feelings holding back judgment is a matter of hope there is always the possibility that someone in time will turn out well what my father was suggesting was that we are all born with a different sense of right and wrong and if I forget that then I am a little afraid of missing something however I have to confess that I haven't always taken my father's advice when I came back from the east last autumn I felt I wanted the whole world to be in moral uniform all living a highly moral life forever I wanted no more wildness no more secrets of the human heart only Gatsby the man who gives his name to this book was an exception Gatsby who represented everything for which I would normally have only the deepest scorn there was something truly wonderful about him the heightened sensitivity to the promises of life he was like one of those complicated machines that show the presence of an earthquake 10,000 miles away he had an extraordinary gift for hope a romantic readiness which I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again no Gatsby turned out all right at the end it was what lay in wait for Gatsby what foul dust followed on the heels of his dreams that for a while ended my interest in the failed sorrows and short-lived joys of men my family the Carraway's have been successful fairly wealthy people in this middle western city for many years my grandfather's brother came here in 1851 and started the business that my father carries on today I finished my studies at Yale University in 1915 and a little later I took part in the Great War I enjoyed this excursion so much that I came back from Europe feeling Restless instead of being the warm center of the world the Middle West now seemed like the torn edge of it so I decided to go east to New York and learn the bond business everybody I knew was in the bond business so I supposed it could support one more single man all my aunts and uncles talked it over and finally said why yes with very serious hesitant faces father agreed to pay me an income for a year and I came East forever I thought in the spring of 1922 the sensible thing was to find rooms in the city but it was a warm season and I had just left a country of wide lawns and friendly trees so when a young man at the office suggested we should rent a house together just outside the city it sounded like a great idea he found the house a small weather-beaten place at $80 a month but at the last minute the company ordered him to move to Washington and I went out to the country alone I had a dog but at least I had him for a few days until he ran away and an old car and a woman from Finland who made my bed and cooked breakfast and whispered darkly to herself and finish in the kitchen it was lonely for a day or so until one morning some man more recently arrived than I stopped me on the road how do you get to West Egg village he asked helplessly I told him and as I walked on I was lonely no longer I was a guide a Pathfinder I belong to the place without knowing it he had given me the freedom of the neighborhood and so with the sunshine and the leaves bursting out on the trees I had that recognizable feeling that life was beginning over again with the summer my house was on that slender Island which lies east of New York at one end of the island the land is in the shape of two enormous eggs separated by a bay they look so similar that they must be confusing for the sea birds that fly over them but the wingless on the ground know that they are dissimilar in everything except shape and size East Egg was the more fashionable of the two where the rich lived an unbelievable luxury I lived at West Egg where most people were managing on comparatively low incomes surprisingly the house next to mine was an enormous place it was an exact copy of some grand Town Hall in France with a tower on one side a beautiful swimming pool and extremely large Gardens it was Gatsby's mansion although as I didn't know him then to me it was simply a mansion inhabited by someone of that name my own house was small and ugly but I had a view of the water a part view of my neighbor's lawn and the comfortable feeling of living close to millionaires all for $80 a month across the bay the white palaces of East Egg Shan along the water and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Buchanans Daisy was a distant cousin of mine and I'd known her husband Tom in college they had a very young daughter whom I'd never met Tom had been one of the strongest players in the Yale football team he was one of those men who reached such limited excellence at 21 that everything afterwards is a little disappointing his family were enormous ly wealthy he and Daisy had spent a year in France for no particular reason and then moved here and their unrest fully wherever people rode horses and were rich together and so it happened that on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I didn't know at all well their house was even larger than I expected a cheerful red and white mansion overlooking the bay the windows were wide open to the Sun and wind and Tom Buchanan and riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch he had changed since his years at Yale now he was a well-built man of 30 with a rather hard mouth and a proud manner not even his beautifully made riding clothes could hide his body's enormous power you could see the muscles moving under his thin coat it was a cruel body capable of anything he greeted me and took me into a bright rosy colored room a light wind blew through it blowing curtains in and out like pale flags at the windows in the center of the room was a large sofa on which two women were lying they were both in long white dresses which were rising and falling with the wind until Tom banged shut the windows from her sofa Daisy turned to me and held my hand for a moment she gave a pretty little laugh and looked up into my face promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see that was a way she had she mentioned that the other girl's name was Baker and Miss Baker and I greeted each other politely Daisy asked me questions in her low exciting voice her face was sad and lovely with bright eyes in a bright beautiful mouth but it was her voice that men who loved her found difficult to forget it had a singing kind of power a whispered listen a promise that she had done amusing exciting things just a while ago and that they were amusing exciting things to do in the next hour the butler brought in for drinks but miss Baker said no thanks I'm absolutely in training I looked at her wondering what she was in training for I enjoyed looking at her she was a slender small breasted girl who held herself very straight and she had grey eyes in a pale pretty frowning face you live in West Egg she remarked scornfully I knows somebody there I don't know a singer you must know Gatsby Gatsby demanded Daisy what cats be dinner is served madam the butler said before I could reply and we all went to sit down at a table on a porch outside look said Daisy suddenly her eyes were on her little finger we all looked it was black and blue you did it Tom she said accusingly I know you didn't mean to but you did do it that's what I get from marrying a great big powerful animal of a man I hate that word animal said Tom crossly even as a joke animal insisted Daisy we talked of this in that through dinner Daisy and miss Baker made polite pleasant conversation that was as cool as their white dresses Tom seemed Restless inside the house the telephone rang and the butler came to whisper in Tom's ear Tom frowned and without a word went inside Daisy bent forward and spoke to me I love to see you at my table Nick you remind me of of a rose an absolute rose doesn't he she turned to miss Baker this was untrue I am nothing like a rose I felt that her heart was trying to come out to me hidden in those breathless warm words then suddenly she got up and went into the house I was about to speak when Miss Baker said she in a warning voice she bent forward to listen unashamedly to the low voice we could hear inside the house this mr. Gatsby you spoke of is my neighbor I began don't talk I want to hear what happens is something happening I asked innocently you mean to say you don't know said miss Baker honestly surprised I thought everybody knew she hesitated for a moment Tom's got some woman in New York almost before I had understood what she meant Tom and Daisy were back at the table it couldn't be helped cried Daisy brightly her voice shook a little as she continued there's a beautiful birds singing in the garden it's romantic isn't it Tom very romantic he said and then miserably to me if it's light enough after dinner I want to show you my horses the telephone rang inside again and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom there was no further conversation of any kind and the dinner came to an end Tom and Miss Baker went into the library while I followed Daisy around the outside of the house to the front porch in the darkness we sat down on a long seat Daisy took her lovely face in her hands I saw that powerful feelings had taken hold of her so I asked what I hoped would be some calming questions about her little girl we don't know each other very well Nick she said suddenly you didn't come to my wedding I wasn't back from the war that's true she hesitated well I've had a very bad time Nick and I don't believe in anyone or anything anymore I waited but she didn't say anymore and after a moment I returned rather weakly to asking about her daughter I suppose she talks and eats and everything oh yes she looked at me absently listen Nick let me tell you what I said when she was born would you like to hear very much well she was less than an hour old and tom was God knows where I woke up feeling completely alone and asked the nurse if it was a boy or a girl she told me it was a girl and so I turned my head away and cried I'm glad it's a girl I said and I hope she'll be a fool that's the best thing a girl can be in this world a beautiful little fool you see I think everything's terrible anyway everybody thinks so and I know I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything nothing's new to me she laughed scornfully the moment her voice stopped her power over me died away I felt the basic sincerity of what she had said and it made me uneasy I waited and sure enough a second later she looked at me with a silly smile on her lovely face inside the red colored room was full of light miss Baker was reading aloud to Tom from The Saturday Evening Post as we entered she stood up ten o'clock she said time for this good girl to go to bed Jordans playing in an important match tomorrow Daisy explained suddenly I knew who she was Jordan Baker the well-known golfer photos of her were in all the sports magazines I had heard some story about her to an unpleasant one but I couldn't quite remember it we all said good night and she went upstairs she's a nice girl said Tom after a moment her family oughtn't to let her run around the country this way her family is one aunt about a thousand years old said Daisy coldly anyway Nick's going to look after her aren't you Nick she's going to spend lots of weekends out here this summer I think the home influence will be very good for her Daisy and Tom looked at each other for a moment in silence did you give Nick a little heart-to-heart talk on the porch demanded Tom suddenly did I she looked at me I can't seem to remember don't believe everything you hear Nick he advised me oh I heard nothing at all I said lightly a little later I got up to go home they came to the door with me and stood side by side in a cheerful square of light wait cold Daisy I forgot to ask we heard you were engaged to a girl out west that's right agreed Tom we heard that it's not true I'm too poor to get engaged of course I knew what they were talking about it was one of the reasons I had come East the girl was an old friend but people had started saying we are engaged and I had no intention of marrying their interest rather touched me but I was still confused as I drove away it seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house child in arms but she did not appear to have any such intentions in her head as for Tom the fact that he had some woman in New York was not at all surprising already it was deep summer and when I reached my house I put the car away and sat for a while out in my small garden it was a loud bright night with wings beating in the trees and insects flying above my head a cat moved across the grass in the moonlight and turning my head to watch it I saw that I was not alone a figure had appeared from the shadow of my neighbor's mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets looking up at the silver stars something about him suggested it was mr. Gatsby himself who had come out to determine what share of our local sky was his I was going to call to him but his next action suggested that he wanted to be alone he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a rather strange way and although I was some distance from him I felt sure he was trembling I too looked out to sea and saw nothing except a green light tiny and far away when I looked once more for Gatsby he had disappeared and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness chapter 2 meeting Tom's mistress halfway between West Egg in New York the road meets the railway and runs next to it for a quarter of a mile in order to avoid a certain unpleasant area of land this is a Valley of Ashes a fantastic farm where ashes grow into hills and strange-looking Gardens where they take the shape of houses and chimneys and finally of ash gray men occasionally a line of gray cars move slowly along an invisible path and comes to rest and immediately the ash gray men rush up and start digging creating a thick cloud of grey dust all around them but after a moment above the gray land and through the dust clouds you see the eyes of dr. TJ eckleburg they are blue and enormous and look out of no-face but instead from a pair of huge yellow glasses the advertisement must have been put up there by some local eye specialist who then forgot it and moved away but the eyes paler now after many paintless days under Sun and rain still look thoughtfully out over the rubbish heaps on one side of the valley is a small dirty river where trains always have to stop for at least a minute before crossing it was because of this then I first met Tom Buchanan's mistress everyone knew that he had one although I was curious about her I had no particular wish to meet her I went up to New York with Tom on the train one afternoon and when we stopped by the ash heaps he jumped to his feet and taking hold of my elbow forced me to get off the train we're getting off he insisted I want you to meet my girl I had the feeling he'd drunk a good deal at lunch he must have thought I had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon which rather annoyed me we got off the train and walked back along the road under dr. eckleburg staring eyes it was like a desert around us there was only one small building standing on its own on the edge of the ash heaps it contained shops one was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant the third was a garage with a sign saying repairs George B Wilson cars bought and sold I followed Tom inside the garage looked unused and almost empty the only car visible was a dust-covered old Ford in a dark corner I thought this shadow of a garage must be a pretense and that luxurious romantic apartments must be hidden upstairs then the owner himself appeared at the door of an office he was a fair-haired dull looking man pale and almost handsome when he saw us a hopeful look came into his light blue eyes hello Wilson said Tom cheerfully how's business I can't complain answered Wilson doubtfully when are you going to sell me that car next week I've gotten my man working on it now works pretty slow donee no he doesn't said tom coldly and if you feel that way about it maybe I'd better sell it to someone else I don't mean that explained Wilson quickly I just his voice died away and tom looked impatiently around the garage I heard footsteps on the stairs and in a moment the thickish figure of a woman darkened the office doorway she was in her mid 30s and heavily built but carried herself sensuously there was nothing of beauty in her face but she had an immediately noticeable vitality her whole body seemed to be giving off waves of heat she smiled slowly and walking past her ghost-like husband shook hands with Tom looking him full in the face then she ran her tongue around her lips and without turning to look at Wilson spoke to him in a soft coarse voice get some chairs why don't you so somebody can sit down Wilson hurried to the little office a white ash and dust covered his dark suit and everything around him except his wife she moved close to Tom I want to see you said Tom quietly get on the next train all right said mrs. Wilson she moved away from Tom just as George Wilson came out of his office with two chairs we waited for her down the road out of sight a thin gray looking child was playing near the ash heaps by the road terrible place isn't it said Tom frowning at dr. eckleburg awful it does our good to get away doesn't her husband ask questions Wilson he thinks she goes to see her sister in New York he's so dumb he doesn't know he's alive so Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York or not quite together because mrs. Wilson set separately from us in case there were other East Eggers on the train when we got out of the train mrs. Wilson bought two magazines and a bottle of perfume at the station shop then she noticed an old man with a basket of little dogs for sale and told Tom she wanted one tom was not enthusiastic but handed over some money and mrs. Wilson chose her dog in the taxi she held it delightedly in her arms we arrived at Tom's apartment on 158 Street and I made an attempt to say goodbye but Tom wanted me to come up to the apartment and mrs. Wilson said she would telephone her sister Catherine to join us so I went up with them the apartment was on the top floor a small living room a small dining room a small bedroom and a bath it was crowded with furniture that was much too large for it Tom brought out a bottle of whiskey from a locked cupboard I have been drunk just twice in my life and the second time was that afternoon so everything that happened has a misty quality about it sitting on Tom's knees mrs. Wilson called up several people on the phone then I went out to buy cigarettes when I came back they had both disappeared so I politely sat down and waited in the living room just Tom and Myrtle reappeared after the first drink mrs. Wilson and I called each other by our first names guests started arriving the sister Katherine was a slender worldly girl of about thirty with red hair there was also a man called Chester McKee from the flat below he had just shaved and there was still a tiny bit of shaving soap on his face I learned that he was a photographer his wife was loud slow handsome and horrible she told me proudly that her husband had photographed her 127 times since they had been married mrs. Wilson had changed her clothes and was wearing an expensive afternoon dress with the influence of the dress her character had also changed the warm vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage had become overpowering arrogance my dear she told her sister loudly most of these servants would cheat you every time all they think of is money I like his dress remarked mrs. McKee it's wonderful mrs. Wilson looked scornful this crazy old thing I just slip it on sometimes when I don't care what I look like if Chester could only get you in that position continued mrs. McKee I think he could make something of it we all stared in silence at mrs. Wilson who pushed back her hair from her eyes and looked back at us with her brightest smile mr. McKee looked at her carefully his head on one side I changed the light he said after a moment I wouldn't think of changing the light cried mrs. McKee Shh said her husband deep an artistic thought and we all looked at Myrtle again suddenly Tom yawned and stood up you McKee's have something to drink he said get some more ice Myrtle before everybody goes to sleep I told that boy about the ice myrtle rolled her eyes upwards these people you have to keep an eye on them all the time she looked at me and laughed pointlessly then she marched purposefully into the kitchen clearly wanting us to think she had ten hired cooks in there waiting for her orders her sister Catherine sat down beside me on the sofa do you live down on Long Island - she asked I live at West Egg really I was down there at a party about a month ago at Gatsby's do you know him I live next door to him well they say he's a relation of Kaiser Wilhelm's that's where all his money comes from the German royal family really I was interested I'm afraid of him I'd hate him to know anything about me she looked over at Tom and Myrtle then whispered neither of them can stand the person they're married to can't they can't stand them what I say is why go on living with them if they can't stand them if I was them I'd get a divorce and get married to each other as soon as possible doesn't your sister like her husband then the answer to this was unexpected it came from Myrtle who had overheard the question and it was a violent and rude you see cried Catherine pleased that she was right she went on in a lower voice it's really Tom's wife that's keeping them apart she doesn't believe in divorce I knew this wasn't true and I was a little shocked at the lie suddenly we heard the sharp high voice of mrs. McKee across the room I almost married the wrong man she was saying to Myrtle I knew he was far below me socially but if I hadn't met Chester the nasty little man would have got me that's for sure but at least you didn't marry the wrong man said Myrtle the difference between you and me is that I did why did you marry George moto demanded Katherine I thought he knew how to behave to a lady but he was no good I wouldn't let him lick my shoe you were crazy about him for a while said Katherine crazy about him cried Myrtle and horror I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there she pointed suddenly at me and everyone looked at me accusingly I tried to show by my expression that I didn't expect to be loved she really ought to get away from him Katherine whispered to me they've been living over that garage for 11 years and Tom's the first boyfriend she ever had a second bottle of whiskey was now constantly in demand by all present except Katherine who felt just as good on nothing at all I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park in the soft evening half light but each time I tried to go I got involved in some wild argument which pulled me back into the room anyone watching in the darkening streets outside must have seen our yellow windows high up against the sky and I was that person too looking up and wondering I was inside and outside at the same time delighted and horrified by the neverending variety of life Myrtle brought her chair close to mine and her warm breath poured over me the story of her first meeting with Tom I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night Tom said opposite me on the train and I couldn't take my eyes off him when we came into the station he was next to me and his shirtfront was touching my arm so I told he might have to call a policeman but he knew I was lying I was so excited when I got into a taxi with him that I didn't really know where I was oh I kept thinking about over and over was you can't live forever you can't live forever she turned to mrs. McKee in the room rang full of her false laughter my dear she cried I'm giving you this dress as soon as I finished with it I've got to buy another one tomorrow I'm going to make a list of all the things I'm going to buy it was nine o'clock almost immediately afterwards I looked at my watch and found it was ten mr. McKee was asleep in a chair taking out my handkerchief I removed from his face the dried shaving soap that had worried me all the afternoon people disappeared reappeared made plans to go somewhere and then lost each other searched for each other found each other nearby sometime around midnight Tom and mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing and loud angry voices whether mrs. Wilson was allowed to mention Daisy's name days the Daisy Daisy shouted mrs. Wilson I'll say it whenever I want to Daisy date with a short deliberate movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand then they were bloody towels on the bathroom floor and angry women's voices and high over the confusion a long broken cry of pain mr. McKee woke from his sleep and started stiffly toward the door halfway there he turned around and stared at what was going on his wife and Catherine were falling over the furniture as they moved about the crowded room trying to help the bleeding figure on the sofa then mr. McKee turned and continued on out the door I took up my hat and followed come to lunch someday he suggested as we went down in the elevator where anywhere all right I agreed I'll be glad to I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets wearing his underwear with a great pile of photographs in his hands Beauty and the Beast loneliness old grocery horse Brooklyn Bridge then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station staring at the morning newspaper and waiting for the four o'clock train Chapter three a party at Gatsby's there was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights in his blue Gardens men and girls came and went like night flying insects among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars in the afternoons I watched his guests swimming from his private beach and on weekends his Rolls Royce became a bus carrying people to and from the city between 9:00 in the morning and long past midnight and on Mondays 8:00 servants including an extra gardener worked all day to make the house and garden perfect again after the weekend by seven o'clock every Saturday night the orchestra has arrived the last swimmers have come in from the beach and our dressing upstairs there are at least five rows of cars from New York parked in front of the house and already the halls and rooms are full of colorful dresses and the latest strangest haircuts cocktails are being served in the garden until the air is alive with cheerful talk and laughter and introductions immediately forgotten and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names the lights grow brighter as the earth moves away from the Sun and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music the voices are louder and higher and laughter is easier minute by minute suddenly a girl dances out alone onto the lawn and the party has begun I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited people were not invited they went there they got into cars and ended up at Gatsby's door sometimes they arrived and departed without meeting their host at all but I had been actually invited early that Saturday morning Gatsby's driver in a pale blue uniform crossed my lawn with a surprisingly formal note from his employer inviting me to his party that evening as soon as I arrived I tried hard to find my host but the two or three people I asked stared at me so strangely that I turned away from them and walked toward the safety of the cocktail table it was the only place in the crowded garden where a single man could stand around without looking purposeless and alone after a while I saw Jordan Baker come out of the house and looked down with scornful interest into the garden I was delighted to see someone I recognized and greeted her warmly I thought you might be here she replied I remembered you live next door to hello Jordan cried two girls in yellow dresses who were passing sorry you didn't win your match last week they moved on and with Jordan's slender golden arm resting in mine we walked around the garden soon we sat down at a table with the two girls in yellow and three men whose names I did not catch do you come to these parties often Jordan asked the girl beside her whose name was Lucille yes I like to come Lucille said I never care what I do so I always have a good time when I was here last I tore my dress on a chair and he asked me my name and address well in less than a week I got a parcel with a new evening dress in it did you keep it ask Jordan sure I did it cost two hundred and sixty-five dollars there's something about a man that'll do a thing like that said the other girl he doesn't want any trouble with anybody who doesn't I asked Gatsby somebody told me she lowered her voice somebody told me they thought he'd killed a man once the three men bent forward and listened eagerly I don't think it's so much that argue Lucille it's more that he was a German spy during the war one of the men agreed I heard that from a man who grew up with him in Germany he said oh no said the other girl it couldn't be that because he was in the American army during the war she added enthusiastically you look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody's looking at him I'm sure he's killed a man she narrowed her eyes and shivered Lucile shivered we all turned and looked for Gatsby but there was no sign of him Supper was now being served and Jorden invited me to eat with some of her friends at another table but their conversation was polite and uninteresting so she and I got up and told them we were going in search of our host the bar where we looked first was crowded but Gatsby was not there we tried an important looking door which opened into a beautiful library with a high ceiling a fat middle-aged man was sitting rather drunk on the edge of a great table staring at the shelves of books all around him his enormous glasses made him look allied as we entered he turned excitedly and spoke to us what do you think he demanded about what Jordan asked he waved his hand toward the books about all these you needn't bother to find out I found out they're real they have pages and everything I thought they'd have nothing inside but here let me show you he rushed to a shelf and opened a book see he cried delightedly it's a real book this Gatsby what a library he's got he put the book back on the shelf I've been drunk for about a week now he added and I thought it might help if i sat in a library for a while has it helped I can't tell yet I've only been here an hour did I tell you about the books they're real there you told us we shook hands with him politely and went back outdoors they was dancing now on the lawn the orchestra was playing jazz and champagne was being served in glasses bigger than finger bowls the moon had risen higher and floating in the ocean was a silver triangle trembling a little in the night air I was still with Jordan Baker and I was enjoying myself now we were sitting at a table with a man of about my age and during a pause in the music he looked at me and smiled I even seen you somewhere before he said politely weren't you in the army during the war why yes I was in the first Infantry Division so was i until June 1918 I knew I recognized you we talked for a moment about some wet gray little villages in France then he told me he had just bought a new motor boat and was going to try it out the next morning wanna go with me old sport he asked just off the beach near here any time that suits you best I'd like that I replied and added this is an unusual party for me I haven't even seen the host I live next door and this man Gatsby sent his driver over with an invitation for a moment he didn't seem to know what I meant then he said suddenly I'm Gatsby what I cried oh I'm so sorry I thought you knew old sport and I'm afraid I'm not a very good host he smiled understandingly it was one of those smiles that you see only four or five times in your life it showed you that he understood you believed in you and had the best possible opinion of you suddenly it disappeared and I was looking at a fashionably dressed young man a year or two over 30 who seemed to choose his words with great care the butler appeared with the information that Chicago was calling Gatsby on the telephone excuse me he said standing up I have to go if you want anything just for it old sport when he was gone I turned to Jordan impatiently who is he I demanded where is he from and what does he do now you're just like everyone else she replied smiling he told me once he was an Oxford man but I don't believe it why not I don't know I just don't think he went there this made me even more curious than before after a few minutes I caught sight of him he had come out of the house and was standing there looking in a pleased way at his guests I could see nothing darkly mysterious about him at all I wondered if the fact that he was not drinking made him appear different from the rest of us it seemed to me that he grew more formal as everyone else behaved more wildly there was no girl in his arms or glass in his hand or song on his lips excuse me madam the butler was speaking to Jordan mr. Gatsby would like to speak to you alone with me she said in surprise she got up slowly and followed the butler toward the house an hour or so later she had not returned and I decided to leave as I was waiting from a hat in the hall the library door opened and Jordan and Gatsby came out together she came over to me and whispered I've just heard the most surprising thing look please come and see me I'm staying at my aunt's mrs. Sigourney Howard phone book she was hurrying away as she spoke to join her friends who were waiting to drive her home feeling ashamed it's staying so late I went to say goodbye to Gatsby I wanted to apologize for not knowing who he was don't give it another thought old sport he said eagerly and don't forget we're going out in the motorboat together tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock Philadelphia wants you on the phone sir said the butler behind his shoulder tell them I'll be right there he said he smiled at me and suddenly I was glad I was among the last to leave because it seemed important to him good night old sport good night once I had reached my front door I looked back across the lawn a sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors of Gatsby's mansion standing on the porch was the lonely figure of the host his hand raised in a formal goodbye that was a busy summer for me I worked hard learning the bond business I began to like New York especially the adventurous feel of it at night I like to walk up Fifth Avenue and choose romantic women from the crowd I used to imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter their lives and no one would ever know sometimes I felt miserably lonely and knew there were plenty of other young men who felt that way too for a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker then in midsummer I found her again at first I was delighted to go places with her because everyone knew who she was I wasn't actually in love but I felt a strong interest in her the board arrogant face she turned to the world was hiding something and one day I found what it was when we were at a house party together she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down and then lied about it and suddenly the story came back to me the one that I hadn't been able to remember that night at daizy's at her first big golf match someone had accused her of secretly moving her ball to a better position in the end the story was covered up but it made me realize that Jordan Baker was hopelessly dishonest it made no difference to me dishonesty and a woman is something you never blame deeply and I soon forgot about it it was during that same house party that we had a strange conversation it started because she drove so close to some workmen that her car touched a button on one man's coat you're a rotten driver I protested either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn't to drive at all I am careful no you're not well other people are and they'll keep out of my way suppose you met someone just as careless as yourself I hope I never will she answered I hate careless people that's why I liked you for a moment I thought I loved her but I said nothing I knew that first I had to get myself out of that connection back home for me it had never been more than friendship but there was a sort of understanding between us and that had to be gently broken off before I was free everyone believes they have at least one good point and this is mine I am one of the few honest people I have ever known cd2 Chapter four Gatsby's past at nine o'clock one morning in July Gatsby's beautiful car arrived at my door it was the first time he had called on me although I had gone to two of his parties been out in his motorboat and at his urgent invitation used his private beach good morning old sport you're having lunch with me today and I thought we'd drive up to town together he saw me looking admiring Lee at his car it's pretty isn't it old sport haven't you seen it before I'd seen it everybody had seen it there was no other car like it in West Egg long and luxurious it was a rich yellowish color I got in and we started on the road to New York I had talked with him several times in the past month and found to my disappointment that he did not have much to say so I was not expecting what happened next look here old sport he said suddenly as we left West Egg village what's your opinion of me a little surprised I gave the usual polite reply I'm going to tell you something about my life he said now I don't want you to get the wrong idea from all these stories you hear I'll tell you God's truth I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West all dead now I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford like all my family before me he looked at me sideways and I knew why Jordan had believed he was lying he swallowed the words educated at Oxford and with this doubt I could not believe any of it what part of the Middle West I asked innocently San Francisco I see my family left me a good deal of money so I lived like a king in all the capitals of Europe collecting jewels riding horses painting a little and trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago I managed not to laugh in his face it was an old old story heard many times before not even the words were new then came the world sport I was glad to go and fight and I tried very hard to die but my life seemed to be protected in some magical way I was sent to France as an army officer and my men and I held an important position for two days and two nights against three German divisions I was made a major and received medals from all the countries on our side even Montenegro little Montenegro down on the Adriatic Sea I stared at him admiringly wondering what he could possibly invent to tell me next but he took a piece of metal from his pocket and put it in my hand that's the metal from Montenegro to my great surprise the thing looked real on the back was written to major Jay Gatsby for extraordinary bravery there's another thing I always carry a memory of Oxford days he showed me a photograph of six young men in the doorway of an ancient College one of them was Gatsby so it was all true I believed in him at last I'm going to make a big request of you today he went on that's why I thought you ought to know something about me you'll hear about it this afternoon at lunch no this afternoon I happen to find out that you're taking miss Baker to tea she has kindly agreed to speak to you about this matter I had no idea what this matter was but I was more annoyed than interested I hadn't asked Jordan Baker to tea in order to discuss mr. Jay Gatsby as we drove at high speed into New York we were stopped by a policeman on a motorbike all right old sport called Gatsby he took a white card from his pocket and waved it at the policeman right you are agreed the policeman politely I'll know you next time is gatsby excuse me what was that I asked Gatsby the picture of Oxford I was able to help the chief of police once and he sends me a card every year we drove over the Great Bridge with the sunlight on the moving cars and the city rising up across the river New York seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time in its first wild promise of all the mystery in the beauty in the world anything can happen now that we've come over this bridge I thought anything at all even Gatsby could happen without any particular wonder by midday it was very hot I left my office and met Gatsby for lunch in a cool 42nd Street restaurant when I arrived he was there already talking to another man mr. Carraway this is my friend mr. wolf's I'm Gatsby said to me Wolf's hime was a small flat nosed man of about 50 with a large head in two tiny eyes so I took one look at him said Mr Wolf's I'm shaking my hand and what do you think I did what I asked politely it turned out however that he was not speaking to me but to Gatsby I handed the money to cat's paw and I said all right cat's paw don't pay him a cent until he shuts his mouth he shut it then and there mr. wolf Syme gave a pleased smile Gatsby took both of us by the arm and moved us toward a table the head waiter brought cocktails mr. wolf Syme turned to me I understand you're looking for a business connection he said Gatsby said quickly oh no this isn't the man no mr. wolf Syme seemed disappointed this is just a friend I told you we'd talk about that some other time the food arrived and we started eating look here old sport said Gatsby turning to me I'm afraid I made you a little angry this morning in the car there was the smile again but this time I was able to fight against it I don't like mysteries I said and I don't understand why you won't tell me honestly what you want why has it all got to come through miss Baker oh it's nothing unpleasant I promise you miss Baker's a great sports woman you know and she'd never do anything that wasn't alright suddenly he looked at his watch jumped up and left the room leaving me and mr. wolf Syme together he has to telephone said Mr Wolf's I'm fine man isn't he handsome to look at and perfect manners he went to one of the most famous colleges in the world Oxford College in England you know it I've heard of it I said have you known him long since just after the war it only took me an hour to discover he was a man of good family and education I said to myself there's the kind of man you'd like to take home and introduce to your mother and sister he paused I see you looking at my shirt buttons I hadn't been looking at them but I did now finest examples of human teeth he informed me well I said that's a very interesting idea yes he went on Gatsby's very careful about women he would never even look at a friend's wife soon after Gatsby's return Mr Wolf's home finished his coffee said goodbye and left us who is he I asked Gatsby an actor a dentist Meyer Wolfsheim no he's a gambler you remember the 1919 World Series Wolfe's times the man who paid eight of the chicago players to let the other team win he made a lot of money out of it why isn't he in prison they can't get him old sport he's a smart man at that moment I saw Tom Buchanan across the crowded room he came over to our table and I introduced him to Gatsby they shook hands and to my surprise Gatsby looked quite uncomfortable Tom and I said a few words to each other and when I turned back to Gatsby he was no longer there one October day in 1917 said Jordan Baker that afternoon sitting up very straight in the tea garden at the Plaza Hotel I was walking past Daisy face house Daisy was just 18 then two years older than me and by far the most popular girl in Louisville all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers asked to take her out when I came opposite her house that morning I saw her sitting in her little white car with an officer I'd never seen before he was looking at her in such a romantic way that I've never forgotten it his name was Jay Gatsby and I didn't see him again for over four years then one night that winter her mother found her packing a bag to go to New York and say goodbye to an officer who was going overseas her family stopped her going but she didn't speak to them for weeks a year and a half later she married Tom Buchanan he hired a whole floor of Louisville's best hotel for his guests and the day before the wedding he gave her a necklace which cost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars I was her best friend by then and the night before the wedding I went into her room just before dinner I found her lying on her bed as lovely as the June night in her flowered dress and as drunk as a monkey she had a bottle of wine in one hand and a letter in the other congratulate me she called out never had a drink before but oh how I do enjoy it what's the matter Daisy I was scared I can tell you I'd never seen a girl like that before here my dear she felt drunkenly around on the floor and picked up the necklace give it back to whoever it belongs to and tell them all Daisy's changed her mind she began to cry she cried and cried I rushed out and found her mother's servant girl we locked the door and got Daisy into a bath she wouldn't let go of the letter and kept it in the bath with her until it came to pieces like snow but she didn't say another word we put ice on her forehead and buttoned her up in her dress and half an hour later when we walked out of the room the necklace was round her neck and it was all over next day at five o'clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver I saw them later that summer in Santa Barbara and I thought I'd never seen a girl so mad about her husband it was touching to see her with Tom that was an August one night a week later Tom had a car accident and there was a photograph of him in the local newspaper the girl who was with him got into the papers too she was a waitress at the Santa Barbara hotel the next April Daisy had her little girl and then went to France for a year they came back to Chicago and then moved to Long Island about six weeks ago she heard the name Gatsby for the first time in years when I asked you do you remember if you knew Gatsby in West Egg after you had gone home she came to my room and asked me what Gatsby and when I described him she said in the strangest voice that it must be the man she used to know it wasn't until then that I connected this Gatsby with the officer sitting in her little white car by the time Jordan had finished we were in a horse-drawn cab driving through Central Park in the warm half light it was a strange coincidence I said but it wasn't a coincidence at all Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay so when I saw him on his lawn that June night stretching out his arms it wasn't just the stars that he wanted to touch he came alive to me suddenly his shallow life of great wealth and parties had a deeper purpose he have expected her to come to one of his parties but she never did continue Jordan now he wants to know if you'll invite her to your house one afternoon and let him come over it was so little to ask he had waited five years and bought a mansion so that he could come over to a stranger's garden why didn't he ask you to arrange a meeting he wants her to see his house and you live right next door it was dark now and I put my arm round Jordans golden shoulder and drew her toward me suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby anymore but of this clean hard limited person who believed in nothing and who sat confidently within the circle of my arm and Daisy ought to have something in her life she added does she want to see Gatsby he doesn't want her to know about this you just supposed to invite her to tea we passed a line of dark trees and then the lights of 59th Street Shaun down into the park unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan I had no girl to dream about so I drew up the girl beside me tightening my arms her pale scornful mouth smiled and so I drew her up again closer this time to my face Chapter five Gatsby and Daisy meet again when I came home to West Egg that night I was afraid for a moment that my house was on fire two o'clock in the morning and the whole of the coast line seemed to be in flames turning the corner I saw that it was Gatsby's house lit from tower to cellar at first I thought it was another party but there wasn't a sound only wind in the trees as my taxi drove away I saw Gatsby walking toward me across his lawn every light in your house must be on I said he turned his eyes toward it absently I've been looking into some of the rooms let's go for a drive old sport it's too late oh right he waited trying to hide his eagerness I talked with miss Baker I said after a moment I'm going to call up Daisy tomorrow and invite her over here to tea oh I don't want to put you to any trouble he said what day would suit you I asked what day would suit you he corrected me quickly how about the day after tomorrow he hesitated I want to get the grass cut he said I suspected that he meant my untidy lon there's another thing he added and certainly you don't make much money old sport do you not very much he went on more confidently you see I carry on a little business I think it would interest you it wouldn't take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money he was obviously making this offer because I was going to help him meet Daisy so I didn't feel I could accept I refused politely after another attempt at conversation he went home I called up Daisy from the office next morning and invited her to come to tea don't bring Tom I warned her who is Tom she asked innocently the following day it was pouring with rain at 11 o'clock Gatsby's gardener came over to cut my wet grass and I drove into West Egg village to search for my finish woman and to buy some cakes and cups and flowers the flowers were unnecessary because at 2:00 o'clock a car arrived from Gatsby's delivering a mountain of roses with vases to put them in an hour later the front door opened nervously and Gatsby hurried in he was pale and there were dark signs of sleeplessness under his eyes is everything all right he asked immediately the grass looks fine if that's what you mean what grass he asked vacantly oh yes your grass he looked out at it but I don't believe he saw a thing have you gotten everything you need for forty I showed him the twelve little cakes from the Baker's will they do I asked of course of course they're fine and he added hollowly the old sport by half-past three the rain had slowed to a heavy wet mist Gatsby sat there looking with unseeing eyes through my magazines finally he stood up and told me he was going home why is that nobody's coming to tea it's too late he looked nervously at his watch I can't wait all day don't be silly it's just two minutes to four he sat down miserably and at that moment we heard a car arriving we both jumped up and I went outside from the car window Daisy's face looked out at me from under a three-cornered hat with a delighted smile is this absolutely where you live my dearest one her lovely voice made the gray day feel brighter I took her hand to help her from the car are you enough with me she said low in my ear if not why did I have to come alone that's my secret tell your driver to go away for an hour we went indoors to my surprise the living room was deserted there was a light knocking at the front door when I opened it Gatsby was standing on the doorstep pale as death with his hands deep in his coat pockets without a word he walked past me into the living room for half a minute there wasn't a sound then I heard a sort of murmur and part of a laugh followed by Daisy's voice on a clear false note I certainly am awfully glad to see you again there was a pause it lasted a horribly long time I had nothing to do in the hall so I went into the living room Gatsby his hands still in his pockets was standing in front of the fireplace the back of his head was touching a clock on a shelf but he was trying to look perfectly comfortable and even a little bored his miserable eyes stared down at Daisy was sitting frightened but beautiful on the edge of a stiff chair we've met before murmured Gatsby luckily the clock chose this moment to fall off the shelf so he turned and caught it with trembling fingers I am sorry about the clock he said I couldn't think of a single sensible thing to say it's an old clock I told them stupidly I think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor we haven't met for many years said Daisy almost calmly five years next November the automatic quality of Gatsby's answer made us all feel even more embarrassed I made the desperate suggestion that they help me make tea in the kitchen and they were both on their feet when the Finnish woman brought the teapot in in the welcome confusion of cups and cakes things were better Gatsby sat down in the shadows and watched Daisy and me talking with dark unhappy eyes but at the first possible moment I got up and said I had to leave them where are you going demanded Gatsby in immediate alarm now I've got to speak to you before you go he followed me wildly into the kitchen close the door and whispered Oh God in a miserable way what's the matter this is a terrible mistake a terrible terrible mistake you're just embarrassed that's all and luckily I added Daisy's embarrassed too this came as a great surprise to him you're behaving like a little boy I went on not only that but you're being rude Daisy sitting in there all alone frowning he raised his hand to stop my words and opening the door cautiously went back into the living room I walked out the back way just as Gatsby had done half an hour earlier and waited under a huge black tree in the middle of my lawn once more it was pouring and there was nothing to look at from under the tree except Gatsby's enormous mansion after half an hour the Sun shone again the rain had sounded like the murmur of their voices but in the new silence I felt that silence had fallen within the house too I went in after making every possible noise in the kitchen but I don't believe they heard a sound they were sitting at either end of the sofa and every sign of embarrassment was gone Daisy had been crying and was drawing her tears but there was a surprising change in Gatsby he simply Shawn with delight his newfound happiness filled the little room oh hello old sport he said I could have been a friend he hadn't seen for years I thought for a moment he was going to shake hands it stopped raining as it when he realized what I was talking about he smiled and repeated the news to Daisy what do you think of that it stopped raining I glad J her throat full of achingly sad beauty told only of her unexpected joy I want you and Daisy to come over to my house he said I'd like to show her around you're sure you want me to come absolutely old sport Daisy went upstairs to wash her face while Gatsby and I waited on the lawn my house looks well doesn't it he demanded I agreed that it was very handsome yes his eyes went over every detail of it it took me just three years to earn the money that bought it I thought you inherited your money I did old sport he said automatically but I lost most of it when the money markets crashed after the war before I could answer Daisy came out of the house that huge place of there she cried pointing do you like it I love it but I don't see how you live there all alone I keep it always full of interesting people night and day people who do interesting things famous people instead of taking the shortcut across the lawn we won't down to the road and entered through the main gates with murmurs of delight Daisy admired the flowers the gardens and the way the mansion stood out against the sky inside as we wandered through music rooms and sitting rooms I felt there were guests hidden behind every sofa and table under orders to be breathlessly silent until we had passed by as Gatsby closed the door of the library I was almost sure I heard the allied man break into ghostly laughter upstairs we saw luxuriously furnished bedrooms with fresh flowers on the tables dressing rooms and bathrooms finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment where we sat down and drank a glass of wine from a bottle he kept in a cupboard he hadn't once stopped looking at Daisy sometimes too he stared around in a dazed way at the valuable things he owned thinking perhaps that in her actual presence they weren't real any longer after his embarrassment and then his unreasoning joy he now felt only wonder that she was there pulling himself together he opened two huge cupboards to show us his well-cut suits expensive shirts and silk ties I've got a man in England who buys me clothes he sends over some things for me to choose from twice a year he took out a pile of shirts and threw them down in front of us they covered the table and many colored confusion while we admired the soft rich he grew higher suddenly Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry store Mele there's such beautiful shirts she sobbed it makes me sad because I've never seen such such beautiful shirts before outside Gatsby's window it began to rain again and we stood in a row looking out at the sea beyond the lawn if it wasn't so misty we could see your home across the bay said Gatsby you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock Daisy put her arm through his but Gatsby seemed lost in thought possibly he had realized that the enormous importance of that light had now gone forever to him it had seemed very near to her almost touching her as close as a star to the moon now it was just a green light on a dock again look cried Daisy the darkness had parted in the West and there were pink and golden clouds above the sea she whispered I'd like to just get one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around I tried to go then but they wouldn't hear of it perhaps my presence made them feel more satisfactorily alone I know what we'll do said Gatsby we'll have klipspringer play the piano for us klipspringer was a young man who lived at Gatsby's most of the time he did not seem to have any other home Gatsby went to find klipspringer and we all went downstairs to the music room Gatsby lit Daisy cigarette with a trembling hand and sat down with her on a sofa far across the room in the shadows while klipspringer started playing when he had finished the klipspringer turned around and searched unhappily for Gatsby in the darkness I'm all out of practice you see I told you I couldn't play don't talk so much old sport commanded Gatsby play in the morning in the evening ain't we got fun outside the wind was loud all the lights were going on in West Egg now the electric trains were carrying men home from New York and there was excitement in the air one thing sure and nothing sure the rich get rich and the poor get children in the mean time in between time as I went over to say goodbye I saw the dazed look on Gatsby's face again was he doubting the quality of his happiness almost five years there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy disappointed him a little not through her own fault but because of the enormous vitality of his dream it had gone beyond her beyond everything he had thrown his whole being into creating it adding to it every bright feather that came his way no fire or freshness can challenge what a man can keep safe in his ghostly heart while I watched him his hand took hold of hers and as she said something allo in his ear he turned toward her with a sudden rush of feeling I think that feverish exciting voice of hers held in most because it couldn't be dreamed that voice was a deathless song they had forgotten me but Daisy looked up and held out her hand Gatsby didn't know me now at all I looked once more at them and they looked back at me distantly enclosed in their own bright world then I went out of the room and down the Grand steps into the rain leaving them there together Chapter six the truth about Gatsby that summer there were many wild stories about Gatsby as the hundreds of people who attended his parties told their friends about him using their imagination to fill in details of his present and past exactly why these wild stories were so pleasing to James Gatz of North Dakota isn't easy to say James Gatz that was his real name he had changed it at the age of 17 and at the exact moment that saw the start of his new life when he saw a day in Kody's yacht drop anchor and one of the most dangerous parts of Lake Superior he was James Gatz as he walked aimlessly along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jacket and a pair of old trousers but when he borrowed a boat rode out to the yacht and informed Kody that a wind might catch it and break it up in half an hour he had already become Jay Gatsby I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time even then his parents were lazy unsuccessful farm people and in his head he never thought of them as his parents at all he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a 17 year old would be likely to invent and he went on believing in this invention to the end for over a year he had been making his way along the south shore of Lake Superior fishing or doing any other work that paid for his food and bed his brown hardening body lived naturally through the half fierce half lazy work of the cold windy days he knew women early and because they offered themselves willingly to him he became scornful of them but his heart was never at peace the wildest most fantastic dreams kept him awake at night while the moonlight shone in on the untidy heap of his clothes on the floor he was sure that a great future lay ahead of him he was still searching for it on the day that Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor in the lake Cody was fifty years old then and extremely wealthy as he had made several fortunes in the Nevada silver fields and the Yukon Gold Rush a large number of women had tried to separate him from his money and some had succeeded especially the latest Ella Kay at the moment however he was sailing alone two young Ghats looking up from his rowing boat that yacht represented all the beauty and power in the world I suppose he smiled at Cody he had probably discovered that people liked him when he smiled anyway Cody asked him a few questions and found that he was quick and extremely ambitious a few days later Cody bought him some yachting clothes and when the yacht left for the West Indies Gatsby left too he was paid to cook the meals serve the drinks sail the yacht and write Cody's letters sometimes he was even told to lock up his employer Cody was a hard drinker who knew he was likely to do stupid things when he was drunk the arrangement lasted for five years it would probably have lasted for longer except for the fact that Ella Kay arrived on the yacht one night in Boston and a week later Dan Cody died it was from Cody that Gatsby inherited money Cody left him $25,000 at his death but Gatsby didn't get it the law was used against him in some way and he never understood how it was done what remained of Cody's Millions went untouched to Ella K Gatsby was left with an unusually valuable education the shadowy figure of Jay Gatsby had filled out to become a solid real person he told me all this much later but I've put it down here with the idea of exploding those first wild stories about his past which weren't even partly true for several weeks after I had invited Daisy to tea I didn't see Gatsby mostly I was in New York going out with Jordan and trying to endear myself to her ancient aunt finally I went over to his house one Sunday afternoon I hadn't been there two minutes when somebody brought Tom Buchanan in for a drink there were three of them Tom a man named Sloane and a pretty woman who had been there before I'm delighted to see you said Gatsby sit right down have a cigarette he walked around the room quickly ringing bells I'll have something to drink for you in just a minute he was uneasy because tom was there but he also felt uncomfortable until he had given them something realizing that that was all they came for there was a little polite conversation then Gatsby unable to stop himself spoke suddenly to Tom I believe we've met somewhere before and mr. Buchanan oh yes said Tom obviously not remembering so we did I remember very well I know your wife continued gets me in a challenging way is that so Tom turned to me you live near here Nick next door mr. Sloane said nothing and nor did the woman but after two cocktails she became more friendly we'll all come over to your next party mr. Gatsby she suggested what do you say certainly I'd be delighted to have you we ought to start for home said mr. Sloane unsmiling please don't hurry said Gatsby he had control of himself now and he wanted to see more of Tom why don't you why don't you stay for supper you come to supper with me said the lady enthusiastically both of you this included me mister got to his feet come along he said but to her only Gatsby looked at me questioningly he wanted to go but he didn't see that mr. Sloane was determined he shouldn't I'm afraid I won't be able to I said I'll follow you in my car said Gatsby I'll get my coat the rest of us walked out on the porch where Sloane and the lady began an angry conversation my god I believe the man's coming Tom said to me doesn't he realize she doesn't want him she's arranged a big dinner party and he won't know anyone there he frowned I wonder where he met Daisy by God my ideas may be a little out of date but I think women run around too much these days they meet all kinds of crazy fish suddenly mr. Sloane in the lady walked down the steps come on said mr. Sloane over his shoulder to Tom we're late and then to me tell him we couldn't wait willya Tom and I shook hands and the three of them departed just as Gatsby with hat and light overcoat in hand came out of the front door tom was obviously concerned about Daisy's running around alone because on the following Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby's party perhaps his presence gave the evening it's peculiarly threatening quality it stands out in my memory from Gatsby's other parties that summer there were the same people or at least the same sort of people the same generous provision of champagne the same colorful confusion but I felt an unpleasantness in the air that hadn't been there before or perhaps it was just that I had grown used to it grown to accept West Egg is a world complete in itself and now I was looking at it again through Daisy's eyes they arrived as darkness was beginning to fall and Daisy's lovely voice was playing murmuring tricks in her throat as we walked out among the hundreds of guests on the lawn these things excite me so she whispered if you want to kiss me at any time during the evening Nick just let me know and I'll be glad to arrange it for you just mention my name or present a green card I'm keeping out green look around suggested Gatsby you must see the faces of many people you've heard about Tom's arrogant eyes search the crowd I was just thinking I don't know anyone here Gatsby took Tom and Daisy from group to group introducing them to actors film directors singers sportsmen businessman I've never met so many famous people cried Daisy she and Gatsby danced I was surprised by his beautiful dancing I'd never seen him dance before then they walked over to my house and sat on the steps for half an hour while at daizy's request I remained watchfully in the garden in case there's a fire or a flood she explained or any act of God Tom reappeared as we were sitting down to supper together do you mind if I eat with some people over there he asked a man started telling some jokes go ahead answer Daisy cheerfully and if you want to take down any addresses here's my little gold pencil she looked around after a moment and told me that the girl was coarse but pretty I knew that except for the half hour she'd been alone with Gatsby she wasn't having a good time later on i sat on the front steps with Tom and Daisy while they waited for their driver to bring the car to the door who is this Gatsby anyway demanded Tom suddenly some big bootlegger where did you hear that I asked I didn't hear it I imagined it a lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers you know not Gatsby I said shortly he was silent for a moment well he certainly must have worked hard to get this crowd of crazy people together at least they're more interesting than the people we know Daisy said you didn't look so interested well I was I'd like to know what he is and what he does insisted Tom and I think I'll make a point of finding out I can tell you right now she answered he owns some drugstores a lot of them he built the business himself their car arrived and they got in good night Nick Syd Daisy she looked away from me and up to the top of the steps we could hear 3 o'clock in the morning a neat sad little dance song coming from the open door what was it in the song that seemed to be calling her back inside what would happen now in the soft hours of darkness perhaps some unbelievable guests would arrive some lovely bright-eyed young girl who with one look at Gatsby in one magic romantic moment would undo those five years of unchanging love I stayed late that night because Gatsby asked me to wait until he was free when he came down the steps to the garden where I was waiting his eyes were tired she didn't like it he said immediately of course she did she didn't like it he insisted she didn't have a good time he was silent and I guessed at his deep sadness I feel far away from her he said it's hard to make her understand you mean about the dance the dance he waved the idea away scornfully old sport the dance is unimportant he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say I never loved you then she and Gatsby could decide what to do next after she was free he wanted them to return to Louisville and be married from her house just as he had intended five years ago and she doesn't understand he said she used to be able to understand we'd sit for hours I wouldn't ask too much of her I said daringly you can't repeat the past can't repeat the past he cried shocked why of course you can he looked around him wildly he seemed to think the past was hiding here in the shadow of his house just out of reach of his hand I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before he said determinedly she'll see he talked a lot about the past and I understood that he wanted to rediscover something some idea of himself perhaps that had gone into loving Daisy his life had been confused and meaningless since then but if he could only return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly he could find out what that thing was one autumn night five years before they had been walking down the street the ground was white with moonlight and they stopped and turned toward each other it was a cool night but with that mysterious excitement in it which comes as the seasons change out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the houses on the street made a kind of ladder which reached up to a secret place above the trees he could climb to it if he climbed alone and once he was there he could drink the milk of life his heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own he knew that when he kissed this girl he would never dream his wild dreams again so he waited listening for a moment longer to the music of the stars then he kissed her at the touch of his lips love open like a flower and his new life was born through all he said and it was horribly over romantic I was reminded of something I had heard somewhere a long time ago words tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's but they made no sound and what I had almost remembered was forgotten forever cd3 Chapter seven a hot day in town one Saturday night the lights in Gatsby's house failed to go on and as confusingly as it had begun his life as a party giver was over cars came eagerly up to his house stayed just for a minute then drove crossly away wondering if he were sick I went over to find out but I was turned away by a butler I did not recognize who was rude and unhelpful my Finnish woman informed me that Gatsby had sent away all his servants a week ago replacing them with new ones who never went into West Egg village next day Gatsby called me on the phone going away I asked no old sport I hear you've got new servants I wanted people who wouldn't talk about me in the village Daisy comes over quite often in the afternoons so the parties and the famous people the music and the dancing he had thrown this kind of life away because Daisy didn't like it look old sport Daisy asked me to ring you will you come to lunch at her house tomorrow miss Baker will be there I accepted wondering what was going to happen I couldn't believe Daisy and Gatsby would choose this occasion to tell Tom about their affair the next day was almost the last certainly the warmest of the summer at the Buchanan's house we were shown into the sitting-room which was cool and shaded from the Sun Daisy and Jordan lay on an enormous sofa in their white dresses it's so hot we can't move they said together we could hear Tom's voice speaking on the hall phone Gatsby stood in the centre of the red carpet and looked around with great interest Daisy watched him and laughed her sweet exciting laugh we think whispered Jordan that that's Tom's girl on the telephone the voice in the hall rose high with annoyance very well then I won't sell you the car at all and don't bother me at lunch time again do you understand he's got his hand over the phone said Daisy bitterly no he hasn't I said he's doing business with this man I happen to know about it Tom came in hiding his dislike he greeted Gatsby and after shaking hands with me went out again to get some drinks as he left the room Daisy got up and went over to Gatsby she pulled his face down and kissed him on the mouth you know I love you she murmured you forget there's a lady present said Jordan Daisy looked round doubtfully you kiss Nick too what a low course girl you are I don't care cried Daisy and danced a few steps then remembering the heat she sat down guiltily just as a nurse came into the room with a little girl my dearest love Daisy almost sang while holding out her arms come to your own mother who loves you the child rushed across the room into Daisy's arms Gatsby was looking at the little girl in surprise I don't think he had ever really believed she existed how do you like mothers friends Daisy turned her around to look straight at Gatsby do you think they're pretty where's daddy she doesn't look like her father Daisy explained to us she looks like me goodbye my dearest one the nurse took the child's hand and they left the room just as Tom came back carrying four large cocktails we drank in long greedy swallows there was a little conversation but the heat was making us all tired lunch was in the dining room which was also darkened against the heat what do we do with ourselves this afternoon cried Daisy and the day after that and the next 30 years don't be sad Jordan said life starts all over again when it gets cold in the autumn but it's so hot insisted Daisy on the edge of tears and everything so confused let's all go to town Gatsby's eyes turn toward her ah she cried you look so cool their eyes met and they stared at each other no one else existed for them in that moment they were alone you always looked so cool she repeated she had told him she loved him and Tom Buchanan saw he couldn't believe it his mouth dropped open and he looked at Gatsby and then back at Daisy all right he said I'm perfectly willing to go to town he got up his eyes still on his wife and Gatsby no one moved come on he said angrily if we're going let's start are we just going to go like this said Daisy aren't we going to let anyone smoke his cigarette first everybody smoked all through lunch let's have fun she begged him it's too hard to get cross he didn't answer have it your own way she said come on Jordan they went upstairs to get ready while we three men waited silently outside the front door I don't see the point of going to town said Tom suddenly and fiercely women get these silly ideas in their heads shall we take anything to drink called Daisy from an upstairs window I'll get some whiskey said Tom and went inside Gatsby turned to me I can't say anything in his house her voice gives away more than she realizes I said it's full of I hesitated her voice is full of money he said suddenly that was it I'd never understood before that was the endless magic that Rosen fell in it the music of it high in a white palace the king's daughter the golden girl Tom came out of the house wrapping a large bottle of whiskey in a towel Daisy and Jordan came out to wearing small tight hats shall we all go in my car suggested Gatsby no said Tom you take my coupe a and let me drive yours the suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby I don't think there's much gas he protested if necessary I can stop at a drugstore said Tom he added unpleasantly you can buy anything there these days a pause followed this remark Daisy frowned at Tom and a strange expression passed over Gatsby's face come on Daisy said Tom pressing her with his hand toward Gatsby's car I'll take you in this crazy machine he opened the door but she moved out from the circle of his arm you take Nick and Jordan will follow in your car she walked close to Gatsby touching his coat with her hand Jordan Tom and I got into Gatsby's car and Tom drove away fast into the heavy heat did you see that demanded Tom see what he looked at us closely realizing that Jordan and I must have known all the time you think I'm pretty dumb don't you he paused and went on well I've been investigating this man in his past and you found he was an Oxford man said Jordan helpfully an Oxford man he laughed he wears a pink suit listen Tom if you think he's no good why did you invite him to lunch demanded Jordan crossly Daisy invited him she knew him before we were married God knows we're after that we drove for a while in silence then as dr. TJ eckleburg pale eyes came into sight I remembered Gatsby's warning about the gasoline we've got enough to get us into town said Tom sharply but there's a garage right here said Jordan Tom braked impatiently and we stopped under Wilson's dusty sign after a moment the garage owner came out and stared hollow-eyed at the car let's have some gas cried Tom roughly what do you think we stopped for to admire the view I'm sick said Wilson without moving been sick all day well shall I help myself Tom demanded you sounded well enough on the phone with difficulty Wilson left the shade in support of the doorway and breathing hard started putting gasoline in the car in the sunlight his face was green I didn't mean to call you away from your lunch he said but I need money pretty bad and if I could buy your old car I could make a few dollars on it what do you want money for all of a sudden I want to get away my wife and I want to go west your wife does cried Tom and surprised she's going whether she wants to or not I'm taking her the coupe a drove by with a waving hand at the window something funny's been going on said Wilson I just found out about it in the last two days that's why I want to get away that's why I want to buy your car I realized that so far he didn't suspect Tom he had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him ill I stared at him and then at Tom who had made a similar discovery about his own wife less than an hour before I'll send that car over tomorrow afternoon said Tom the Valley of Ashes always made me a little uneasy and now aware of something threatening behind me I turned my head over the ash heaps the huge eyes of dr. TJ eckleburg watched as usual but I soon noticed that other eyes were looking at us with peculiar interest from only a short distance away from one of the windows over the garage Myrtle Wilson was staring down at the car she wore an expression that I had often seen on women's faces I realized that her eyes wide with jealous terror were fixed not on Tom but on Jordan Baker she clearly thought Jordan was his wife there is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind and as we drove away tom was feeling the first waves of terror his wife and his mistress until an hour ago safe and protected were slipping rapidly from his control he drove faster and faster with the double purpose of overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson behind soon we were in the city and in sight of the coupe a I Love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away said Jordan there's something very sensuous about it the word sensuous obviously worried tom even more the coupe a came to a stop and we drew up alongside where I'll be going cried Daisy from the window how about the movies suggested Jordan it's so hot complained Daisy you go we'll try a round and meet you afterwards there followed a long noisy discussion about what to do next in the end though we all said it was a crazy idea we hired a private sitting-room in The Plaza Hotel and that's where we found ourselves half an hour later the room was large and hot and even opening the windows only let in warm air open another window commanded Daisy the thing to do is to forget the heat said Tom and patiently he make it ten times worse by complaining about it why not leave her alone old sport remarked Gatsby you're the one who wanted to come to town there was a moment of silence that's a great expression of yours isn't it said Tom sharply what is all this old sport business where did you pick that up now see here Tom said Daisy if you're going to make personal remarks I won't stay here a minute suddenly the heat exploded into sound and we were listening to Mendelssohn's wedding march from the wedding taking place in the hotel rooms below us imagine marrying anybody in this heat cried Jordan I was married in the middle of June Daisy remembered it was so hot that somebody fainted who was it Tom a man called Biloxi he answered shortly I didn't know him he was a friend of Daisy's he was not she said he told me he'd been at college with you he was president of your class at Yale we didn't have any president at Yale I said I don't remember him I don't suppose he ever went there Gatsby's foot beat restlessly on the floor and Tom eyed him unpleasantly by the way mr. Gatsby I understand you're an Oxford man you must have been there about the time Biloxi went to Yale there was a long pause this important detail was to be cleared up at last I went there in 1919 said Gatsby I only stayed five months that's why I can't really call myself an Oxford man after the war some of the officers were offered the chance to go to any of the universities in England or France I wanted to get up and shake his hand I suddenly believed in him all over again Daisy was smiling now wait a minute said Tom angrily I want to ask mr. Gatsby one more question go on Gatsby said politely what kind of trouble are you trying to cause in my house they were out in the open at last and Gatsby was happy he isn't causing any trouble Daisy looked desperately from one to the other you are please have a little self-control self-control repeated Tom I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let mr. nobody from nowhere make love to your wife well if that's the idea you can count me out now I've got something to tell you old sport began Gatsby but Daisy guessed at his intention please don't she cried helplessly let's all go home that's a good idea I said getting up come on Tom nobody wants a drink I want to know what mr. Gatsby has to tell me your wife doesn't love you said Gatsby she's never loved you she loves me you must be crazy cried Tom automatically Gatsby jumped to his feet she never loved you do you hear she only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me it was a terrible mistake but in her heart she never loved anyone except me Tom turned to Daisy what's been going on he asked I told you what's been going on said Gatsby going on for five years and you didn't know you've been seeing this man for five years Thomas Daisy sharply not seeing said Gatsby we couldn't meet but both of us loved each other all that time old sport and you didn't know I don't know what happened five years ago before I met Daisy but the rest of that's a damned lie Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now now Gatsby said shaking his head the trouble is she sometimes gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know what she's doing what's more I love Daisy too once in a while I go off and make a fool of myself but I always come back and in my heart I love her all the time you're horrible said Daisy so many affairs Gatsby walked over and stood beside her Daisy just tell him the truth that you never loved him then you can forget your life with him forever she hesitated perhaps she realized at last what she was doing and perhaps she had never intended to go this far but it was done now it was too late I never loved him she said with obvious unwillingness not at kapiolani asked Tom suddenly not that day I carried you down from the mountain to keep your shoes dry there was a clumsy fondness in his voice Daisy please don't she looked at Gatsby ther J she said but her hand was trembling as she tried to light a cigarette suddenly she threw the cigarette on the carpet oh you want too much she cried to Gatsby I love you now isn't that enough I can't help what's past she began to sob helplessly I did love him once but I loved you to Gatsby's eyes opened and closed you loved me too he repeated even that's a lie said Tom fiercely she didn't know you were alive why there are things between Daisy and me that you'll never know things that neither of us can ever forget the words seemed to bite into Gatsby I want to speak to Daisy alone he insisted she's all excited now even alone I can't say I never loved Tom she said pitifully it wouldn't be true she turned to her husband not that it matters to you she added of course it matters I'm going to take better care of you from now on you don't understand Gatsby said wildly you're not going to take care of her anymore I'm not Tom opened his eyes wide and laughed he could afford to control himself now why is that Daisy's leaving you she's not leaving me certainly not for a damned criminal who'd have to steal the ring II put on her finger I won't stand this cried Daisy oh please let's get out who are you anyway Tom burst out you're friendly with Meyer Wolfsheim I know that much he turned to us and spoke rapidly I found out that he and wolfs Heim bought up a lot of side street drugstores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol to anyone who asked for it against the law of course I thought he was a bootlegger and I wasn't far wrong what about it said Gatsby politely I guess your friend Walter chase wasn't too proud to come in on it and you let him go to jail for it didn't you God you ought to hear what Walter says about you he didn't have a cent when he came to us he was very glad to pick up some money old sport don't you call me old sport cried Tom that drugstore business was just small change I know you've got something on now that Walter is afraid to tell me about I looked at Daisy who was staring terrified at Gatsby and her husband then I turned back to Gatsby and was shocked by his expression the words of the girl at his party came back to me you look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody's looking at him I'm sure he's killed a man for a moment the look on his face could be described in just that fantastic way it passed and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy trying to persuade her that the accusations against him were not true but with every word of his she was drawing further and further into herself so he stopped that and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away trying unhappily to reach that lost voice across the room the voice begged again to go please Tom I can't stand this anymore her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions whatever determination she had had were gone forever you to start on home Daisy said Tom and mr. Gatsby's car he added scornfully go on he won't annoy you I think he realizes that his arrogant little attempted an affair is over they were gone without a word after a moment or two we left to Jordan and I got into the coop a with Tom and we started for Long Island Tom was very pleased with himself talking and laughing all the way but Jordan and I were not listening human sympathy has its limits and we were happy to let their arguments disappear into the distance like the lights of the city I had just remembered it was my 30th birthday thirty the promise of years of loneliness ahead of me a thinning list of single men - no thinning enthusiasm thinning hair but there was Jordan beside me who unlike Daisy was too wise to carry well Forgotten Dreams from age to age as we passed over the dark bridge her pale face fell lazily against my shoulder and with her warm hand in mine the fear of being thirty died away so we drove on toward death through the cooling half light the young Greek Michaelis who owned the restaurant beside the ash heaps was the main witness at the inquest at 5:00 in the afternoon he had walked over to the garage and found George Wilson sick in his office really sick pale is his own pale hair and shaking all over Michaelis advised him to go to bed but Wilson refused saying he didn't want to lose any business suddenly there was violent banging and shouting from upstairs I've got my wife locked in up there Wilson explained to his neighbor she's going to stay there till the day after tomorrow then we're going to move away Michaelis was extremely surprised as Wilson had always seemed a very quiet little man incapable of such behavior he went back to his restaurant and didn't come out again until seven o'clock when he heard mrs. Wilson's voice crying loudly from the garage bait me throw me down and beat me you dirty little coward a moment later she rushed out into the darkness waving her hands and shouting before he could move it was all over the death car as the newspapers called it didn't stop the other car the one going toward New York came to rest nearby and its driver hurry to wear Myrtle Wilson her life violently cut short lay in the road her thick dark blood running through the dust when he and Michaelis tore open her dress they saw that her left breast was hanging loose and there was no need to listen for the heart underneath the great vitality of that warm and living body was no more we were still some distance away when we saw the three or four cars in the crowd Tom stopped the car got out and pushed his way past everybody into the garage when Jordan and I managed to get inside we saw myrtles body wrapped in a blanket on a work table with Tom bending over it a policeman was writing down names in a little book and Wilson was holding onto a doorpost with both hands crying over and over again oh my god oh my god oh my god in a few moments tom was in control of himself again one of the witnesses said that the car which hit Myrtle was big new and yellowish tom was careful to explain to Wilson and the policeman that he himself was driving a coupe a-and that the yellow car he had been driving earlier wasn't his leaving Wilson in the care of a couple of men we got back in Tom's car and he started driving in a little while I heard him sob and saw tears running down his face those damned coward he sobbed he didn't even stop at the B cannons house there were lights on in an upstairs bedroom a change had come over tom and he spoke seriously and with decision Daisy's home he said there's nothing we can do tonight Nick I'll phone for a taxi for you come in and have some supper with Jordan if you want any no thanks I'll wait outside for the taxi Jordan put her hand on my arm won't you come in Nick it's only half past 9:00 I'd had enough of all of them for one day and suddenly that included Jordan too she must have seen something of this in my expression because she turned and ran up the porch steps into the house I walked slowly away from the front door before I got to the gate however I heard my name called and Gatsby stepped out of the bushes into the path what are you doing I asked just stand Herald sport then he asked did you see any trouble on the road yes he hesitated was she killed yes I told Daisy I thought so it's better that the shock should come all at once she took it very well he added I don't think anybody saw us but of course I can't be sure I disliked him so much by this time that I didn't find it necessary to tell him he was wrong who was the woman he asked her name was Myrtle Wilson her husband owns the garage how the devil did it happen well I tried to turn the wheel he stopped and suddenly I guessed it the truth was Daisy driving yes he said after a moment but of course I'll say I was you see when we left New York she was very nervous and thought she'd feel better if she was driving then suddenly this woman rushed out it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us it all happened so fast I tried to make Daisy stomp but she couldn't anyway I'm going to wait here and see if Tom tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon she's locked herself into her room and if he becomes violent she's going to turn the light out and on again he won't touch her I said he's not thinking about her I want to be sure old sport a new thought came to me suppose Tom found out that Daisy had been driving he might think anything you wait here I said I'll see if there's any sign of trouble I walked back to the house and saw a light in the kitchen Daisy and Tom were sitting at the table with a plate of cold chicken between them and two bottles of beer he was talking seriously to her and his hand covered hers on the table they weren't happy and neither of them had touched the chicken or the beer but they weren't unhappy either there was a closeness about them that looked very natural is it all quiet up there Gatsby asked anxiously when I returned to where I had left him yes you better come home and get some sleep he shook his head I went to wait till Daisy goes to bed goodnight old sport he put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to watch the house I felt he did not want me there so I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight watching over nothing Chapter eight Wilson's revenge I couldn't sleep all night toward daybreak I heard a taxi go through the gates to Gatsby's house and immediately I jumped out of bed and began to dress I felt I had something to tell him something to warn him about and morning would be too late his front door was still open and he was standing in the hall resting against a table heavy with disappointment or sleep nothing happened he said miserably I waited and at about 4 o'clock she came to the window stood there for a minute then turned off the light his house had never seemed so enormous to me as it did that night when we hunted through the great rooms for cigarettes in the end we found two old dried-up ones in a box and throwing open the garden doors of the sitting room we sat smoking outside in the darkness you ought to go away I said someone will recognize your car and tell the police go away now old sport I can't possibly leave Daisy until I know what she's going to do all his secrets were out in the open now and he would have told me anything freely but he wanted to talk about Daisy she was the first nice girl he had ever known he went to her house in Louisville at first with other officers from his division and then alone he had never been in such a beautiful house before but what gave it an air of breathless loveliness was that Daisy lived there it excited him too that many men had already loved Daisy it made the prize even more valuable but he knew it was an enormous accident that he was in Daisy's house he might have a wonderful future as Jay Gatsby but at present he was a penniless young man without a past so he made the most of his time he took what he could get without worrying about the rights and wrongs of it and finally he took Daisy one still October night he had certainly taken her under false pretenses he let her believe he was from the same social background as her and that he was fully able to take care of her but it didn't turn out as he had imagined he had intended probably to take what he could and go but now he found himself deeply involved Daisy disappeared into her rich house into her rich full life leaving Gatsby nothing felt married to her that was all when they met again two days later it was Gatsby who was unsure of himself who would do anything to see her again I can't tell you how surprised I was to find out I loved our old sport then she was in love with me too well there I was way off my ambitions getting deeper in love every minute and suddenly I didn't care what was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do on the last afternoon before the army sent him abroad he sat with Daisy in his arms for a long silent time now and then she moved a little and once he kissed her shining hair they had never been closer in their month of love and when she brushed wordless lips against the shoulder of his coat but when he gently touched the ends of her fingers he did extraordinarily well in the war and afterwards was sent to Oxford although he tried very hard to get sent home Daisy's letters to him were nervous and desperate she wanted to feel his presence beside her and to be told she was doing the right thing she was young and her little world was full of flowers dresses dances and good-looking men she wanted her life shaped now immediately she couldn't wait she wanted the decision to be made by some force of love of money of unquestionable reality that was close to her that force took shape with the arrival of Tom Buchanan his person and his position were healthfully large and solid and Daisy liked this doubtless there was a certain hesitation but also a certain thankfulness that the future had been decided the letter reached Gatsby while he was still at Oxford the Sun had risen now on Long Island and we went round the house opening the rest of the downstairs windows ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves there was a slow Pleasant movement in the air promising a cool lovely day I don't think she ever loved him said Gatsby looking at me challengingly of course it's possible that she loved him for just a minute when they were first married and loved me more even then do you see he came back from France when Tom and Daisy were still on their wedding trip and made a miserable journey to Louisville on the last of his army pay he stayed there a week revisiting the places where he and Daisy had been together he left the town feeling that if he had searched harder he could have found her on the train out of town he stretched his arms out of the window trying to catch a handful of the air that she had breathed but it was all going by too fast and he knew he had lost that part of his life the freshest and the best forever it was nine o'clock when we finished breakfast and went out on the porch the gardener came to the foot of the steps I let the water out of the pool today mr. Gatsby leaves will start falling soon then they'll be trouble with the pipes don't do it today Gatsby replied he turned to me you know old sport I've never used that pool all summer I didn't want to go to the city I knew I wouldn't be able to do any work but it was more than that I didn't want to leave him but finally I stood up I have to go I said I'll call you he looked at me anxiously I suppose Daisy ole called too I suppose so I said we shook hands and I started to walk away a little way down the path I remembered something and turned around there a rotten crowd I shouted across the lawn you're worth the whole damned lot of them I've always been glad I said that it was the only nice thing I ever said to him suddenly his face broke into that wonderful understanding smile his pink suit stood out against the white steps and I thought of the night when I first came to his mansion three before the lawn had been crowded with people who guessed at his crimes and he had stood on those steps hiding his unchanging dream as he waved them goodbye goodbye I called I enjoyed breakfast Gadsby up in the city I tried to work but soon fell asleep at my desk just before midday the phone woke me and I jumped nervously out of my chair it was Jordan Baker usually her voice sounded fresh and cool but today it was hard and dry I've left Daisy's house she said I'm going to see some friends in the country this afternoon for some reason it annoyed me that she had left Daisy's you weren't so nice to me last night she went on how could it have mattered then I replied sharply silence for a moment then she said however I want to see you I want to see you too suppose I changed my plans and come into town this afternoon to meet you no it's impossible this afternoon I replied and gave her various reasons then suddenly we weren't talking anymore I don't know which of us put the phone down but I know I didn't care I couldn't have talked to her across a tea table that day even if it was my last chance to see her in this world I called Gatsby's house a few minutes later but the line was busy I tried four more times with no success taking out my timetable I drew a small circle around the 350 train then I set back in my chair and tried to think it was 12 o'clock now I want to go back a little and describe what happened at the garage after we left there the night before until long after midnight a curious crowd surrounded the building in the office George Wilson sat on a chair rocking from side to side his head in his hands his neighbor Michaelis was with him as the night passed people went home to bed and soon the garage was deserted again except for Wilson and Michaelis about three o'clock Wilson stopped rocking and began to talk about the yellow car he said he had a way of finding out whom it belonged to then he added that a couple of months ago his wife had come from the city with her nose broken but when he heard himself say this he suddenly began to cry oh good again for a moment he was silent then a half knowing half confused look came into his pale eyes look in the drawer there he said pointing to his desk Michaelis opened the drawer and pulled out a small expensive dog leash made of leather with a silver fastening I've found it yesterday said Wilson staring at it she had it wrapped in paper on her dressing table I knew there was something funny about it George there are plenty of reasons why your wife oh my god Wilson broke in his mouth dropped open suddenly then he killed her he said who did it was the man in that car she ran out to speak to him and he wouldn't stop it was an accident George Michaelis believed that mrs. Wilson had been running away from her husband not trying to stop any particular car maybe you got some friend that died could telephone for George he wasn't helpful he was almost sure Wilson had no friend there wasn't enough of him for his wife he was glad a little later when he noticed the sky getting lighter outside the night would soon be over Wilson's dazed eyes looked out of the window at the ash heaps I took her to the window he said after a long silence and I told her God knows everything you've done you can make a fool out of me but you can't make a fool out of God standing behind him Michaelis saw with a shock that Wilson was looking at the eyes of dr. TJ eckleburg which had just appeared pale and enormous from the departing night God sees everything repeated Wilson that's just an advertisement George Michaelis said kindly but Wilson stood there a long time his face close to the window staring knowingly into the half-light by six o'clock Michaelis was exhausted and very grateful when another neighbor came to sit with Wilson Michaelis went home to sleep and when he hurried back to the garage four hours later Wilson was gone afterwards it wasn't difficult to discover where he went at least until midday there were boys who saw a man acting sort of crazy and motorists at whom he stared oddly from the side of the road then for three hours he disappeared from view the police suppose that he spent that time going from garage to garage asking about the yellow car but perhaps he had an easier surer way of finding out what he wanted to know by half-past two he was in West Egg where he asked someone the way to Gatsby's house so by that time he knew Gatsby's name at two o'clock Gatsby put on his bathing suit and told the butler to bring any phone message to him at the pool he took a rubber mattress that his guests had used during the summer and walked off among the yellowing trees toward the pool no telephone message arrived but the butler waited for it until 4:00 o'clock until long after there was anyone to give it to if it came I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it would come and perhaps he no longer cared if that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world and paid a high price for living too long with a single dream he must have looked up through frightening leaves at a new world full of poor ghosts breathing dreams like that ashin fantastic figure coming slowly toward him through the trees up at the house Gatsby's driver heard the shots but afterwards he only said he didn't think anything much about them I drove straight from the station to Gatsby's house and rushed anxiously up the front steps supposedly that was the first thing that alarmed anyone but the servants knew then I'm sure of it without a word said four of us the driver butler Gardner and I hurried down to the pool with tiny movements that were only the shadows of waves the mattress floated irregularly down the pool carrying its load a small breath of wind was enough to disturb its accidental journey and the touch of some leaves on the surface made it turn slowly leaving a thin red circle in the water it was after we started carrying gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw wilson's body a little way off in the grass and the killing and destruction were complete chapter 9 the funeral after two years I remembered the rest of that day and that night and the next day only as an endless routine of police and photographers and newspaper men in and out of Gatsby's front door a rope stretched across the main gate and a policeman beside it kept out the curious but little boys soon discovered they could enter through my garden and there were always a few of them standing open-mouthed around the pool at the inquest Michaelis mentioned that Wilson suspected his wife of having an affair but Catherine was determined to protect her sister's good name she said that Myrtle had been completely happy with her husband and had not been seeing another man so it was decided that Wilson had lost his mind as a result of myrtles death and the inquest was closed but all this part of it seemed distant and unimportant to me I found myself on Gatsby side and alone from the moment I telephoned news of the deaths to West Egg village I was asked to comment on every story about him and to answer every practical question about him at first I was surprised and confused then I began to think that I was responsible because no one else was interested interested I mean with the deep personal interest of a friend I called up Daisy half an hour after we found him colder without hesitation but she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon and taken luggage with them leaving no address I wanted to get somebody for him I wanted to go into the room where he lay and say confidently I'll get somebody for you Gatsby don't worry Meier Wolf's Himes name wasn't in the phonebook the butler gave me his office number but no one answered the phone I went back to the sitting-room and thought for a moment then all these official people were visitors friends of his but though they drew back the sheet and looked at Gatsby with shock dies his protest continued in my head look here old sport you've got to get somebody for me you've got to try hard I can't go through this alone next morning I sent the butler to New York with a letter to Wolf's home which asked him to come out on the next train that request seemed unnecessary when I wrote it I was sure he'd start for Long Island when he saw the newspapers just as I was sure there'd be a wire from Daisy before midday but neither a wire nor mr. wolf Syme arrived no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men when the butler brought back Wolf's Himes answer I began to feel scornfully that it was Gatsby and me against them all dear mr. Carraway this has been one of the most terrible shocks of my life what a mad thing that man did it should make us all think I am involved in some very important business and cannot get mixed up in this now I am completely knocked out by this yours truly Meyer Wolfsheim PS let me know about the funeral do not know his family at all when the phone rang that afternoon I thought it would be Daisy at last but it was a man's voice calling from Chicago Nessus Slagle speaking yes I did not recognize the voice did you get my wire there haven't been any wires young parks in trouble the police arrested him when he handed over the bonds can you believe it hello I broke in breathlessly look here this isn't mr. Gatsby mr. Gatsby's dead there was a long silence on the other end of the phone then suddenly the connection was broken I think it was on the third day that a wire signed Henry C Gatz arrived from a town in the Midwest it said only that the sender was leaving immediately and asked for the funeral to be put off until he came it was Gatsby's father a serious-looking old man very helpless and unhappy wearing a long cheap overcoat in spite of the warm September day I took him to the room where his son lay and when he came out there were tears on his face he had reached an age where death no longer has the quality of horrific surprise and when he looked around him now for the first time and saw the large beautiful rooms of Gatsby's mansion I could see he was beginning to feel proud as well as sad I didn't know what you'd want mr. Gatsby Gerdes is my name mr. GATS I thought you might want to take the body West he shook his head Jimmy always liked it better down east were you a friend of my boys mister we were close friends he had a big future ahead of him if he'd lived he'd have been a great man he'd have helped build up the country that's true I said uncomfortably I took him to one of the bedrooms where he fell asleep at once that night an obviously frightened person called up and demanded to know who I was before he gave his name this is mr. Carraway I said oh he sounded calmer mrs. klipspringer I was pleased because that seemed to promise another friend at Gatsby's grave I'd been calling up a few people but they were hard to find the funerals tomorrow three o'clock here at the house will you tell anybody who'd be interested oh I will he said quickly I'm not likely to see anybody but if I do I'll tell them something in his voice made me suspect him of course you'll be there yourself well the truth of the matter is I'm staying with some people up here in Greenwich and they'd rather expect me to be with them tomorrow in fact there's a sort of party or something of course I'll do my best to get away huh I said scornfully and he went on nervously and what I called up about was a pair of tennis shoes I left there I'm sort of helpless without them and I wonder if the butler could send them on my address is care of B F I didn't hear the rest of the name because I put the phone down on the morning of the funeral it was raining heavily I went next door and found mr. gates walking up and down excitedly in the hall he was clearly feeling even prouder of his son's wealth than before he showed me a photograph of the mansion torn at the corners and dirty with many hands Gatsby had sent it to him and mr. GATS had shown it so often that I think it was more real to him now than the house itself a little before 3 o'clock the Minister arrived and I found myself looking out of the windows for other cars so did Gatsby's father and as the time passed and the servants stood waiting in the hall he looked anxious and spoke of the rain in a worried uncertain way I asked the minister to wait for half an hour but it wasn't any use nobody came about five o'clock our three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in heavy rain beside the gate as we started off on foot toward the grave I heard another car stopped and looked around it was the man with a light glasses whom Jordan and I had found admiring Gatsby's books in the library three months before I'd never seen him since then the rain poured down his thick glasses and he took them off and dried them to see the protecting cloth unrolled from Gatsby's grave I tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment but he was already too far away and I could only remember without anger that Daisy hadn't sent a message or a flower when it was over we walked quickly through the rain to the cars allies spoke to me by the gate I couldn't get to the house he remarked neither could anybody else what he looked shocked my god they used to go there in their hundreds he took off his glasses again and cleaned them outside and in poor man he said I see now that this has been a story of the West after all Tom and Gatsby Daisy and Jordan and I were all Westerners and perhaps there was something missing in every one of us so that we were never able to get used to Eastern life after Gatsby's death I no longer wanted to live in the East it was full of too many ghosts so when the blue smoke of dry leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet clothes stiff on the line I decided to come back home there was one thing to be done before I left it was difficult and unpleasant but I wanted to leave things tidy and not just hope that the sea would carry my rubbish away I saw a Jordan Baker and talked over and around what had happened to us together and what happened afterwards to me she lay perfectly still listening in a big chair she was dressed to play golf and her hair was the color of an autumn leaf when I had finished she told me without comment that she was engaged to another man I doubted that although there were several she could have married whenever she wanted for just a minute I wondered if I was making a mistake then I thought it all over again quickly and got up to say goodbye you did turn me down you know she said suddenly on the telephone I don't care at all for you now but it was a new experience for me and I felt a little dazed for a while we shook hands she went on oh and do you remember a conversation we had once about driving a car you said a bad driver it was only safe until she met another bad driver well I met another bad driver didn't I he was careless of me to make such a wrong guess I thought you were rather an honest person I thought you were secretly proud of that I'm 30 I replied I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honesty she didn't answer angry and half in love with her and enormous ly sorry I turned away one afternoon late in October I saw Tom Buchanan walking ahead of me along Fifth Avenue I slowed up to avoid overtaking him but he saw me and walked back holding out his hand what's the matter Nick don't you want to shake hands with me no you know what I think of you you're crazy Nick Tom what did you say to Wilson that afternoon he stared at me without a word and I knew I had guessed right about those missing hours I told him the truth he said he came to our house while we were packing our bags he was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn't told him who owned the car what if I did tell him that man threw dust into your eyes just like he did in daisies but he was a tough one he ran over Myrtle like you'd run over a dog and never even stopped his car my god it was awful there was nothing I could say except the one thing that was impossible to say that it wasn't true I couldn't forgive him or liked him but I saw that he thought he had good reasons for what he had done it was all very careless and confused they were careless people Tom and Daisy they smashed up things and then went back into their money or their huge carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people pick up the pieces I shook hands with him it seems silly not to then he went into a jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace or perhaps just some buttons rid of my small-town moral judgments forever Gatsby's house was still empty when I left the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine on the last night with my cases packed in my car sold I went over and looked at that huge failure of a house once more on the white steps a rude word written by some boy with a piece of brick stood out clearly in the moonlight and I rubbed it out drawing my shoe along the stone then I walked down to the beach and lay on the sand most of the big houses along the shore were closed now for the winter and were in darkness there was only the shadowy moving light of a ferry boat across the water and as the moon rose higher the houses slowly began to melt away until I became aware of the old island underneath sailors from Holland were the first to set eyes on the island to them it was a fresh green breast of the new world for a passing magical moment they had the last and greatest of all human dreams holding their breath in the presence of this new continent face to face for the last time in history with so great a cause for wonder and as I lay there thinking about the old unknown world I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first saw the green light at the end of Daisy's dock he had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close to him he did not know that it was already behind him somewhere back in the enormous shadows beyond the city where the dark fields rolled on under the night Gatsby believed in the green light the future that year by year moves further away from us it escaped us then but that doesn't matter tomorrow we will run faster stretch out our arms further and one fine morning so we beat on boats against the current carried back ceaselessly into the past