The Great Gatsby: Chapter 2

Where does the motor road join the railroad?

Halfway between West egg and New York.

How far does the motor road hastily join the railroad and run beside it?

for a quarter of a mile

What is this junction called?

The valley of ashes; ashes, gray, smoky clouds characterize it

What doe the ashes grow like wheat into?

ridges and hills and grotesque gardens

What do the ashes take the forms of?

houses and chimneys, rising smoke, and transcendent effort of men

What happens when occasional grey cars appear along the invidible track?

ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades fix them, causing clouds (smoke) to cloud the atmosphere.

What feature stands out among the ash?

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg (blue and gigantic) like a billboard

Describe the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg

blue and gigantic, retinas one yard high, behind big yellow spectacles

Why did the wild wag of an oculist set the billboard of eyes there?

Doctor T.J. Eckleburg- used to advertise an oculist practice in Queens that is long dead

What is the valley of ashes bounded by

one side by a small foul river and drawbridge

When the drawbridge in the valley of ashes is up, how long do passengers wait for?

as long as half an hour

Where did Nick meet Tom's mistress?

In ash valley by the car repair shop; Tom took him to meet her after lunch

What day was it when Nick met Merdel?

Sunday afternoon, he had nothing better to do

How did Nick feel about meeting Tom’s mistress?

He was curious but had no desire to meet her

What was the only building in sight at the valley of ahses?

small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land, a sort of compact Main Street ministering to it and contiguous to absolutely nothing.

What were the three shops on the yellow block

one for rent, one an-all night restaurant. and a garage repairs shop

What was garage repair shop called

GEORGE B. WILSON. Cars Bought and Sold

Describe the car in WIlson’s car shop

dust-covered wreck of a Ford

Who ran the car shop?

George B. Wilson

Describe George Wilson

blonde, spiritless, anemic, & faintly handsome, blue eyes

What business do Tom and George have?

Tom is supposed to sell George his slow car

How is Tom's mistress described?

Stout, but sensuously, and in her middle thirties, with a smoldering vitality, soft coarse voice, wide hips, face had no beauty

Describe the dress Myrtle wore at the repair shop

spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine

What was the scrawny Italian child doing at the valley of ahses>

setting torpedos in a row along the railroad track (few days before 4th of july)

What does Wilson think his wife is doing when she leaves?

Going to see her sister in NY (she is really meeting Tom in another car)

What did Myrtle change her dress into

brown figured muslin that stretched over her wide hips

What does Mrs. Wilson buy at the news-stand and station drug store?

a copy of Town Tattle and a moving picture magazine, cold cream and a small flask of perfume

What does the interior of the taxi cab that Mrs. Wilson finally decides upon look like?

lavender colored with gray upholstery (she let 4 cabs drive away first)

Who did the man selling the dogs resemble?

John D. Rockefeller

What did she want Tom to get her? What kind did she end up getting?

A police dog but it was an airedale

Describe the dog

boy, weather-proof coat, rapture, and white feet

Where was the apartment and what was Nick imagining

5th avenue, towards west hundred on 158th street

Describe the apartment’s outside

long white cake of apartment houses

What was Myrtle’s sister's name?

Catherine

Describe the inside of the aprtment

on the top floor—a small living room, a small dining room, a small bedroom and a bath.

what was the only picture in the apartment

an over-enlarged photograph, apparently a hen sitting on a blurred rock.

What did the picture look like from afar

hen resolved itself into a bonnet and the countenance of a stout old lady beamed down into the room

What copies were on the table

“Town Tattle’, ‘Simon Called Peter’ and some of the small scandal magazines of Broadway.

What did the reluctant elevator boy go for

box full of straw and some milk and a tin of large hard dog biscuit

What did Tom bring out a bottle of

whiskey from a locked bureau door.

Who all was at the "party"?

Tom, Myrtle, Nick, Catherine and the McKees

Did Nick want to be there?

No at first but then he gradually liked it

How many times had Nick been drunk in his life?

Twice; the second time that afternoon

When Nick bough some cigs nd came back what did he do

everyone disappeared so he read a chapter of ‘Simon Called Peter

How is Catherine described?

Slendee, worldly, thirty, red bob, milk white complexion, plucked eyebrows

what clicked as Catherine moved

innumerable pottery bracelets jingled up and down upon her arms

Why did Nick ask if Catherine lived at the apartment

she looked possessively at the furniture but lived with a girl friend at a hotel

How is Mr. McKee described? His wife?

As a feminine man, pale, clean shaven, artistic/photographer

shrill, handsome and horrible

How many times had Mr. McKee photograph his wife

127 times

What did Myrtle change into at the party

elaborate afternoon dress of cream colored chiffon

What did Mr. McKee photograph of Myrtle’s

dim enlargement of Mrs. Wilson’s mother which hovered like an ectoplasm on the wall

What does Myself say she got charged alot for?

Mrs. Eberhardt looking at her feet

Who does Mr. McKee say Gatsby ia related to?

Kaiser Wilhelm

What did Nick think that picture in the living room was of? What did it look like far away?

a hen sitting on a blurred rock; a bonnet

What are Mr. McKee's works that are framed downstairs?

Montauk Point- The Gulls and Montauk Point- The Sea

What excuse did Tom make up for not divorcing Daisy?

Daisy was Catholic and they don't believe in divorce (Daisy isn't actually Catholic)

What happened to Catherine in Monte Carlo?

They had twelve hundred dollars but the were cheated out of it in the first two days.

Who did Mrs. McKee almost marry

little kyke who’d been after her for years

Why did Myrtle marry Wilson?

She thought he was a gentleman who knew smth about breeding

What did George Wilson do at his wedding

borrow a man’s suit that later asked for it back from Myrtle

How long had the Wilson’s been married

11 years

Where did Myrtle and Tom meet?

On a train

How did Myrtle and Tom meet

“I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes and I couldn’t keep my eyes of him but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me and his white shirt-front

pressed against my arm—and so I told him I’d have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn’t hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever, you can’t live forever.”

What did Myrtle say she had to get

a new dress, massage, wave, a collar for the dog, cute little ash trays where you touch a spring, and a wreath with a black silk bow for her mother’s grave

Why does Tom get mad at Myrtle? What does he do to retaliate?

She keeps saying Daisy's name; Tom hits her and breaks her nose.

What does Mr. McKee invite Nick over to do? How does this encounter end?

He invites him to lunch; a drunken Nick and Mr. McKee looking at McKee's portfolio of art while McKee is in his underwear

What is Mr. McKee's first name?

Chester