Chapter 1 pages 1-22

Liam Fitzpatrick
English 300 Period 4
January 2^nd, 2011
Mr. Puppione

Chapter 1: pages 1-22

-              A boy named Nick narrates the story and begins by discussing how he does not judge people. Nick moves to the West Egg in New York. He then meets his Cousin for Dinner in the East Egg. Nick has dinner with his cousin Daisy, her husband Tom, and their friend Jordan. Tom gets a call from his lover and Daisy attempts to listen to the conversation. After an awkward dinner Daisy and Tom try to get Nick to date Jordan. When Nick goes home he sees Gatsby on a lawn.

-Tom:

“It was a body capable of enormous leverage-a cruel body”

Nick describes Tom as a powerful and strong man. Tom’s strength is expressed through his big body and his power is demonstrated through his Wealth. Tom does not think of anyone other than himself in the first chapter. He cheats on his wife, the person he is supposed to trust the most and love unconditionally. This demonstrates how he puts his feeling in front of his wife’s. While Nick is discussing the racism in the book, “The Rise of the Colored Empires,” Tom says racist comments implying that his race is better than any other one. Tom illustrates that he does not think of others passed the color of their skin. Tom is a self-absorbed wealthy man who is the opposite of Nick.

-Quote:

 “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

This quote stood out to me because it relates to so much in my high school experience. In high school kids like to “talk trash” about others when most of the time the people being talked about did not do anything wrong. Rumors are spread and reputations are ruined because people criticize others. This could all be avoided if people learned to “put themselves in others shoes.” This quote is expressing how judgment can be avoided by looking at the situation from another point of view. Also, the book starts off with this quote so I figured it is going to be important later.

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