The Great Gatsby Chapter 2: Summary and Study Questions
Guess first. Then read the summary. Then open the answers.
Chapter questions
- Question 1 · Recall
Which billboard watches over the Valley of Ashes?
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A billboard showing the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg looks over the gray, desolate land between West Egg and New York.Reference: Chapter 2, the Valley of Ashes
- Question 2 · Recall
Who is Myrtle Wilson, and where does Nick first meet her?
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She is Tom Buchanan's mistress, and she is married to George Wilson. Nick meets her at George's garage.Reference: Chapter 2, the Wilson garage
- Question 3 · Recall
What does Myrtle buy from a street vendor near the station in New York?
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She buys an Airedale puppy for ten dollars.Reference: Chapter 2, the taxi outside the station in New York
- Question 4 · Why
Why does Nick end up at Myrtle's party in New York?
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Tom insists that Nick meet his mistress, so Nick is taken along to the garage and then into the city with Tom and Myrtle.Reference: Chapter 2, the train ride and the garage
- Question 5 · Why
Why does Tom break Myrtle's nose?
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Around midnight Myrtle keeps bringing up Tom's wife Daisy by name, and Tom answers the argument by hitting her with his open hand.Reference: Chapter 2, the apartment party
Chapter summary
Nick rides the train to New York with Tom. On the way they pass the Valley of Ashes, a gray, desolate stretch of land watched over by a billboard with the huge eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. Tom insists that Nick meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who is at her husband George's garage there.
Myrtle joins them for the trip into the city in a brown muslin dress, riding in another car. Near the station she buys an Airedale puppy for ten dollars from a street vendor, and then they drive up Fifth Avenue. At an apartment on 158th Street she changes into a cream-colored chiffon dress, and her sister Catherine and a photographer, Mr. McKee, and his wife join them.
As the afternoon turns into evening, Tom grows drunk and Nick drinks whisky too. Myrtle boasts about her dress and gossips, and Catherine repeats a rumor about Gatsby being related to the Kaiser. Around midnight Tom and Myrtle argue about Daisy's name, and Tom breaks Myrtle's nose. Nick leaves with Mr. McKee, and the chapter ends with Nick waiting at Pennsylvania Station for the early train home.
Come back in a few days and try these 5 again before you open the answers.
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