The Great Gatsby
NC
Nick Carraway
Main
Synthesis
A young man from a prominent Middle Western family, a Yale graduate and World War I veteran. He is tolerant, reserved, and somewhat introspective. He has a habit of reserving judgments. He is not described in great physical detail, but he is often seen in white flannels or business attire. He is thirty years old at the end of the novel.
Jay Gatsby
Age portraits
Age 17
Age 18 (approximately)
Age 27 (approximately)
Main
Synthesis
An elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, with tanned skin drawn attractively tight on his face and short hair that looks as though it were trimmed every day. He has a rare smile with a quality of eternal reassurance. He is never quite still; there is always a tapping foot or impatient opening and closing of a hand. He wears elaborate formality of speech. He has a caramel-coloured suit, a white flannel suit with silver shirt and gold tie, and a pink suit. He is often pale with dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes. He has a brown, hardening body from his youth.
❝ He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. ❞
❝ I was looking at an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. ❞
❝ His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed every day. ❞
❝ He was never quite still; there was always a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening and closing of a hand. ❞
❝ Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-coloured tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes. ❞
❝ Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes. ❞
❝ His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot of colour against the white steps. ❞
❝ His brown, hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy work of the bracing days. ❞
❝ the tanned skin was drawn unusually tight on his face, and his eyes were bright and tired. ❞
❝ the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon ❞
Daisy Buchanan
Main
Synthesis
A young woman with a sad and lovely face, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth. She has a low, thrilling voice that is full of money. She dresses in white, and has a little white roadster. She has a glowing face, and her hair is dark. She wears a three-cornered lavender hat. She is slim and graceful. She has a lovely shape to her face.
❝ Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth. ❞
❝ It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again. ❞
❝ Her voice is full of money. ❞
❝ She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster. ❞
❝ Daisy's face, tipped sideways beneath a three-cornered lavender hat, looked out at me with a bright ecstatic smile. ❞
❝ A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek. ❞
❝ Daisy took her face in her hands as if feeling its lovely shape. ❞
❝ Her face was smeared with tears. ❞
❝ the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face ❞
❝ Daisy's face was smeared with tears ❞
❝ two rows of brass buttons on her dress gleamed in the sunlight ❞
❝ the grey haze of Daisy's fur collar ❞
Tom Buchanan
Secondary
Synthesis
A sturdy straw-haired man of thirty, with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes dominate his face, giving him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. He has an enormous powerful body, a cruel body, with a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moves. He has a gruff husky tenor voice. He is often in riding clothes. He has a broad flat hand.
❝ Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty, with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. ❞
❝ Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. ❞
❝ Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body—he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. ❞
❝ It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body. ❞
❝ His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. ❞
Jordan Baker
Secondary
Synthesis
A slender, small-breasted girl with an erect carriage, which she accentuates by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. She has grey sun-strained eyes and a wan, charming, discontented face. She has autumn-leaf yellow hair. She has a brown hand. She often wears white dresses, and her evening dresses are like sports clothes. She has a jaunty movement. She has a bored haughty face. Her hair is the colour of an autumn leaf, her face the same brown tint as a fingerless glove.
❝ She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. ❞
❝ Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, discontented face. ❞
❝ The lamplight, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair. ❞
❝ With Jordan's slender golden arm resting in mine. ❞
❝ I noticed that she wore her evening-dress, all her dresses, like sports clothes—there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upon golf courses on clean, crisp mornings. ❞
❝ The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something. ❞
❝ She was dressed to play golf, and I remember thinking she looked like a good illustration, her chin raised a little jauntily, her hair the colour of an autumn leaf, her face the same brown tint as the fingerless glove on her knee. ❞
MW
Myrtle Wilson
Secondary
Synthesis
A woman in her middle thirties, faintly stout, but carries her flesh sensuously. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crêpe-de-chine, contains no facet or gleam of beauty, but there is an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body are continually smouldering. She has a soft, coarse voice. She has thickish figure. She wears a brown figured muslin dress that stretches tight over her rather wide hips. Later she wears an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-coloured chiffon. She has a strand of hair over her eyes. She has thick dark blood.
❝ She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh sensuously as some women can. ❞
❝ Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crêpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering. ❞
❝ She smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. ❞
❝ Then she wet her lips, and without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice. ❞
❝ Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-coloured chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. ❞
GB
George B. Wilson
Secondary
Synthesis
A blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome. He has light blue eyes. He is pale, with pale hair. He is sickly, with a green face in sunlight. He is worn-out, and his eyes are glazed. He has a faded look.
❝ He was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome. ❞
❝ When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes. ❞
❝ In the sunlight his face was green. ❞
❝ Wilson, pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over. ❞
MW
Meyer Wolfshiem
Secondary
Synthesis
A small, flat-nosed Jew with a large head and two fine growths of hair which luxuriate in either nostril. He has tiny eyes. He has an expressive nose. He is about fifty years old. He has a tragic nose that trembles. He has bulbous fingers.
❝ A small, flat-nosed Jew raised his large head and regarded me with two fine growths of hair which luxuriated in either nostril. ❞
❝ After a moment I discovered his tiny eyes in the half-darkness. ❞
❝ He flipped his sleeves up under his coat. ❞
❝ As for me, I am fifty years old. ❞
❝ As he shook hands and turned away his tragic nose was trembling. ❞
C
Catherine
Episodic
Synthesis
A slender, worldly girl of about thirty, with a solid, sticky bob of red hair, and a complexion powdered milky white. Her eyebrows have been plucked and then drawn on again at a more rakish angle, giving a blurred air to her face. She wears innumerable pottery bracelets that click incessantly.
❝ The sister, Catherine, was a slender, worldly girl of about thirty, with a solid, sticky bob of red hair, and a complexion powdered milky white. ❞
❝ Her eyebrows had been plucked and then drawn on again at a more rakish angle, but the efforts of nature toward the restoration of the old alignment gave a blurred air to her face. ❞
MM
Mr. McKee
Episodic
Synthesis
A pale, feminine man. He has just shaved, with a white spot of lather on his cheekbone. He is respectful. He is a photographer.
❝ Mr. McKee was a pale, feminine man from the flat below. He had just shaved, for there was a white spot of lather on his cheekbone. ❞
MM
Mrs. McKee
Episodic
Synthesis
Shrill, languid, handsome, and horrible.
❝ His wife was shrill, languid, handsome, and horrible. ❞
OE
Owl Eyes
Episodic
Synthesis
A stout, middle-aged man with enormous owl-eyed spectacles. He is somewhat drunk. He has a pleasant, puzzled way. He wears a long duster.
❝ A stout, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting somewhat drunk on the edge of a great table. ❞
❝ A man in a long duster had dismounted from the wreck and now stood in the middle of the road, looking from the car to the tyre and from the tyre to the observers in a pleasant, puzzled way. ❞
K
Klipspringer
Episodic
Synthesis
An embarrassed, slightly worn young man, with shell-rimmed glasses and scanty blond hair. He is decently clothed in a sport shirt, open at the neck, sneakers, and duck trousers of a nebulous hue.
❝ He returned in a few minutes accompanied by an embarrassed, slightly worn young man, with shell-rimmed glasses and scanty blond hair. He was now decently clothed in a 'sport shirt,' open at the neck, sneakers, and duck trousers of a nebulous hue. ❞
DC
Dan Cody
Episodic
Synthesis
A grey, florid man with a hard, empty face. He is fifty years old, a product of the Nevada silver fields. He is physically robust but on the verge of soft-mindedness. In a photograph, he is in yachting costume.
❝ I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby's bedroom, a grey, florid man with a hard, empty face—the pioneer debauchee. ❞
❝ Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for metal since seventy-five. ❞
HC
Henry C. Gatz
Episodic
Synthesis
A solemn old man, very helpless and dismayed, bundled up in a long cheap ulster. His eyes leak continuously with excitement. He has a sparse grey beard. He is trembling. He has a flushed face.
❝ It was Gatsby's father, a solemn old man, very helpless and dismayed, bundled up in a long cheap ulster against the warm September day. ❞
❝ His eyes leaked continuously with excitement, and when I took the bag and umbrella from his hands he began to pull so incessantly at his sparse grey beard that I had difficulty in getting off his coat. ❞
M
Michaelis
Episodic
Synthesis
A young Greek who runs the coffee joint beside the ash-heaps. He is a neighbour of Wilson's.
PB
Pammy Buchanan
Episodic
Synthesis
A little girl, three years old, with yellowy hair. She has her mother's hair and shape of the face.
❝ The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress. ❞
❝ She's got my hair and shape of the face. ❞
EK
Ella Kaye
Episodic
Synthesis
A newspaper woman. She played Madame de Maintenon to Cody's weakness.
DT
Doctor T. J. Eckleburg
Episodic
Synthesis
A pair of blue and gigantic eyes—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles over a nonexistent nose. The eyes are dimmed a little by many paintless days.
❝ The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. ❞
❝ But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. ❞
L
Lucille
Episodic
Synthesis
A girl at Gatsby's party. She tore her gown on a chair. She is one of the girls in yellow.
CB
Chester Beckers
Episodic
Appearance not described
L
Leeches
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Bunsen
Episodic
Appearance not described
DW
Doctor Webster Civet
Episodic
Appearance not described
H
Hornbeams
Episodic
Appearance not described
WV
Willie Voltaires
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Blackbuck
Episodic
Appearance not described
I
Ismays
Episodic
Appearance not described
C
Chrysties
Episodic
Appearance not described
EB
Edgar Beaver
Episodic
Appearance not described
CE
Clarence Endive
Episodic
Appearance not described
E
Etty
Episodic
Appearance not described
C
Cheadles
Episodic
Appearance not described
OR
O. R. P. Schraeders
Episodic
Appearance not described
SJ
Stonewall Jackson Abrams
Episodic
Appearance not described
F
Fishguards
Episodic
Appearance not described
RS
Ripley Snells
Episodic
Appearance not described
MU
Mrs. Ulysses Swett
Episodic
Appearance not described
D
Dancies
Episodic
Appearance not described
SB
S. B. Whitebait
Episodic
Appearance not described
MA
Maurice A. Flink
Episodic
Appearance not described
H
Hammerheads
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Beluga
Episodic
Appearance not described
P
Poles
Episodic
Appearance not described
M
Mulreadys
Episodic
Appearance not described
CR
Cecil Roebuck
Episodic
Appearance not described
CS
Cecil Schoen
Episodic
Appearance not described
G
Gulick
Episodic
Appearance not described
NO
Newton Orchid
Episodic
Appearance not described
E
Eckhaust
Episodic
Appearance not described
CC
Clyde Cohen
Episodic
Appearance not described
DS
Don S. Schwartz
Episodic
Appearance not described
AM
Arthur McCarty
Episodic
Appearance not described
C
Catlips
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Bembergs
Episodic
Appearance not described
GE
G. Earl Muldoon
Episodic
Appearance not described
DF
Da Fontano
Episodic
Appearance not described
EL
Ed Legros
Episodic
Appearance not described
JB
James B. Ferret
Episodic
Appearance not described
DJ
De Jongs
Episodic
Appearance not described
EL
Ernest Lilly
Episodic
Appearance not described
GW
Gus Waize
Episodic
Appearance not described
HO
Horace O'Donavan
Episodic
Appearance not described
LM
Lester Myer
Episodic
Appearance not described
GD
George Duckweed
Episodic
Appearance not described
FB
Francis Bull
Episodic
Appearance not described
C
Chromes
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Backhyssons
Episodic
Appearance not described
D
Dennickers
Episodic
Appearance not described
RB
Russel Betty
Episodic
Appearance not described
C
Corrigans
Episodic
Appearance not described
K
Kellehers
Episodic
Appearance not described
D
Dewars
Episodic
Appearance not described
S
Scullys
Episodic
Appearance not described
SW
S. W. Belcher
Episodic
Appearance not described
S
Smirkes
Episodic
Appearance not described
Q
Quinns
Episodic
Appearance not described
HL
Henry L. Palmetto
Episodic
Appearance not described
BM
Benny McClenahan
Episodic
Appearance not described
FO
Faustina O'Brien
Episodic
Appearance not described
BG
Baedeker girls
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Brewer
Episodic
Appearance not described
A
Albrucksburger
Episodic
Appearance not described
MH
Miss Haag
Episodic
Appearance not described
AF
Ardita Fitz-Peters
Episodic
Appearance not described
PJ
P. Jewett
Episodic
Appearance not described
CH
Claudia Hip
Episodic
Appearance not described
D
Duke
Episodic
Appearance not described
S
Slagle
Episodic
Appearance not described
WC
Walter Chase
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Biloxi
Episodic
Appearance not described
AB
Asa Bird
Episodic
Appearance not described
F
Ferdie
Episodic
Appearance not described
MS
Mrs. Sigourney Howard
Episodic
Appearance not described
S
Stella
Episodic
Synthesis
A lovely Jewess with black hostile eyes.
❝ Presently a lovely Jewess appeared at an interior door and scrutinized me with black hostile eyes. ❞
E
Edgar
Episodic
Appearance not described
MC
Mrs. Claud Roosevelt
Episodic
Appearance not described
GG
Gilda Gray
Episodic
Appearance not described
VT
Vladmir Tostoff
Episodic
Appearance not described
RR
Rosy Rosenthal
Episodic
Appearance not described
B
Becker
Episodic
Appearance not described
K
Katspaugh
Episodic
Appearance not described
MS
Mr. Sloane
Episodic
Appearance not described
MB
Miss Baedeker
Episodic
Appearance not described
DC
Doc Civet
Episodic
Appearance not described
TM
The moving-picture director
Episodic
Appearance not described
HS
His Star
Episodic
Synthesis
A gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman who sat in state under a white-plum tree.
❝ Gatsby indicated a gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman who sat in state under a white-plum tree. ❞
TF
The Finnish woman
Episodic
Synthesis
A Finnish woman who made Nick's bed and cooked breakfast and muttered Finnish wisdom to herself over the electric stove.
TB
The butler
Episodic
Appearance not described
TC
The chauffeur
Episodic
Appearance not described
TG
The gardener
Episodic
Appearance not described
TP
The postman
Episodic
Appearance not described
TL
The Lutheran minister
Episodic
Appearance not described
TP
The policeman
Episodic
Appearance not described
TE
The elevator boy
Episodic
Appearance not described
TG
The grey old man (dog seller)
Episodic
Synthesis
A grey old man who bore an absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller.
❝ We backed up to a grey old man who bore an absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller. ❞
TP
The pale well-dressed negro
Episodic
Synthesis
A pale well-dressed negro.
❝ A pale well-dressed negro stepped near. ❞
TG
The girl from Jersey City
Episodic
Appearance not described
TG
The girl who played tennis (back home)
Episodic
Synthesis
A faint moustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip when she played tennis.
❝ All I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint moustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. ❞
TY
The young reporter
Episodic
Appearance not described
TP
The persistent undergraduate
Episodic
Appearance not described
TT
The two girls in yellow
Episodic
Appearance not described
TC
The celebrated tenor
Episodic
Appearance not described
TN
The notorious contralto
Episodic
Appearance not described
TS
The stage twins
Episodic
Appearance not described
TT
The tall, red-haired young lady from a famous chorus
Episodic
Synthesis
A tall, red-haired young lady from a famous chorus. She had drunk a quantity of champagne, and her heavily beaded eyelashes caused tears to run in black rivulets.
❝ Beside her stood a tall, red-haired young lady from a famous chorus, engaged in song. ... The tears coursed down her cheeks—not freely, however, for when they came into contact with her heavily beaded eyelashes they assumed an inky colour, and pursued the rest of their way in slow black rivulets. ❞
TR
The rowdy little girl
Episodic
Appearance not described
TM
The massive and lethargic woman
Episodic
Synthesis
A massive and lethargic woman.
❝ A massive and lethargic woman, who had been urging Daisy to play golf with her at the local club tomorrow, spoke in Miss Baedeker's defence. ❞
TP
The pretty woman in a brown riding-habit
Episodic
Synthesis
A pretty woman in a brown riding-habit.
❝ They were a party of three on horseback—Tom and a man named Sloane and a pretty woman in a brown riding-habit. ❞
TN
The nurse
Episodic
Synthesis
A freshly laundered nurse.
❝ Just as a freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came into the room. ❞
TG
The grocer's boy
Episodic
Appearance not described
TT
The taxi driver
Episodic
Appearance not described
TC
The conductor
Episodic
Appearance not described
TW
The woman on the train
Episodic
Synthesis
A woman who perspired delicately into her white shirtwaist.
❝ The woman next to me perspired delicately for a while into her white shirtwaist. ❞
TH
The head waiter
Episodic
Appearance not described
TC
The clerk at the Plaza
Episodic
Appearance not described
TA
The ambulance driver
Episodic
Appearance not described
TD
The doctor
Episodic
Appearance not described
TC
The coroner
Episodic
Appearance not described
TD
The detective
Episodic
Appearance not described
TP
The photographer
Episodic
Appearance not described
TN
The newspaper men
Episodic
Appearance not described
TL
The little boys
Episodic
Appearance not described
TI
The Italian child
Episodic
Synthesis
A grey, scrawny Italian child setting torpedoes along the railroad track.
❝ It was a few days before the Fourth of July, and a grey, scrawny Italian child was setting torpedoes in a row along the railroad track. ❞
TT
The three modish negroes
Episodic
Synthesis
Two bucks and a girl, with yolks of their eyeballs rolling.
❝ As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry. ❞
TD
The dead man in the hearse
Episodic
Appearance not described
TF
The friends in the carriages
Episodic
Synthesis
They had tragic eyes and short upper lips of southeastern Europe.
❝ The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of southeastern Europe. ❞
TM
The man who had his nose shot off (young Brewer)
Episodic
Appearance not described
TM
The man reputed to be Miss Claudia Hip's chauffeur
Episodic
Appearance not described
TG
The girl who lived in Jersey City
Episodic
Appearance not described
TG
The girl's brother
Episodic
Appearance not described
TM
The man who said 'Blessed are the dead'
Episodic
Appearance not described
TB
The boy who scrawled the obscene word
Episodic
Appearance not described
West Egg
Synthesis
One of two egg-shaped land formations on Long Island Sound, east of New York. It is the less fashionable of the two, with a bizarre and sinister contrast to East Egg. The narrator's house is at the very tip, a weather-beaten cardboard bungalow squeezed between two huge mansions. Gatsby's mansion is a colossal imitation of a Normandy Hôtel de Ville with a tower, marble swimming pool, and over forty acres of lawn and garden. The area has a raw vigour, a sense of being a place Broadway begot upon a fishing village.
❝ I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. ❞
❝ My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. ❞
❝ The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. ❞
❝ My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbour's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month. ❞
❝ It was on that slender riotous island which extends itself due east of New York—and where there are, among other natural curiosities, two unusual formations of land. ❞
❝ Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay, jut out into the most domesticated body of salt water in the Western hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound. ❞
❝ She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented 'place' that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village—appalled by its raw vigour that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a shortcut from nothing to nothing. ❞
❝ West Egg, especially, still figures in my more fantastic dreams. I see it as a night scene by El Greco: a hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lustreless moon. ❞
❝ Gatsby's house was still empty when I left—the grass on his lawn had grown as long as mine. ❞
❝ On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight, and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone. ❞
East Egg
Synthesis
The more fashionable of the two egg-shaped land formations, across the bay from West Egg. It features white palaces that glitter along the water. The Buchanans' house is a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay, with a lawn that starts at the beach and runs a quarter of a mile to the front door, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens.
❝ Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water. ❞
❝ Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. ❞
❝ The lawn started at the beach and ran towards the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens—finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. ❞
❝ The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon. ❞
❝ Through the hall of the Buchanans' house blew a faint wind, carrying the sound of the telephone bell out to Gatsby and me as we waited at the door. ❞
Valley of Ashes
Synthesis
A desolate area of land between West Egg and New York, where ashes grow like wheat into ridges, hills, and grotesque gardens. Ashes take the forms of houses, chimneys, and ash-grey men. It is bounded by a small foul river. Above it loom the giant blue eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg from a pair of yellow spectacles on a billboard. The only building is a small block of yellow brick containing a garage (George B. Wilson's) and an all-night restaurant.
❝ This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. ❞
❝ Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight. ❞
❝ But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. ❞
❝ The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. ❞
❝ The only building in sight was a 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. ❞
❝ One of the three shops it contained was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant, approached by a trail of ashes; the third was a garage—Repairs. George B. Wilson. Cars bought and sold. ❞
❝ Over the ash-heaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil. ❞
❝ Wilson's glazed eyes turned out to the ash-heaps, where small grey clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind. ❞
NE
New York City
Synthesis
The city is described as having white chasms of lower New York, with dark crowded restaurants, the Yale Club, and the Pennsylvania Station. Fifth Avenue is warm and soft, almost pastoral on summer Sundays. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always seen for the first time, in its first wild promise. There are areas like the West Hundreds where apartment houses stand like a long white cake. The Plaza Hotel is a location for a tense confrontation.
❝ In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust. ❞
❝ I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. ❞
❝ I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd. ❞
❝ Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of nonolfactory money. ❞
❝ The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world. ❞
❝ At 158th Street the cab stopped at one slice in a long white cake of apartment-houses. ❞
❝ The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o'clock, opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park. ❞
❝ Roaring noon. In a well-fanned Forty-second Street cellar I met Gatsby for lunch. ❞
GA
Gatsby's Mansion
Synthesis
A colossal imitation of a Normandy Hôtel de Ville with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It has blue gardens, a marble swimming pool, a hydroplane, and a beach. Inside, there are high Gothic libraries panelled with carved English oak, Marie Antoinette music-rooms, Restoration Salons, period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk, dressing-rooms, poolrooms, bathrooms with sunken baths, and an Adam's study. The house is lit from tower to cellar during parties.
❝ The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. ❞
❝ In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. ❞
❝ On weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. ❞
❝ At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby's enormous garden. ❞
❝ On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. ❞
❝ In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another. ❞
❝ We walked into a high Gothic library, panelled with carved English oak, and probably transported complete from some ruin overseas. ❞
❝ And inside, as we wandered through Marie Antoinette music-rooms and Restoration Salons, I felt that there were guests concealed behind every couch and table, under orders to be breathlessly silent until we had passed through. ❞
❝ We went upstairs, through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers, through dressing-rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths. ❞
❝ Finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment, a bedroom and a bath, and an Adam's study, where we sat down and drank a glass of some Chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the wall. ❞
❝ His bedroom was the simplest room of all—except where the dresser was garnished with a toilet set of pure dull gold. ❞
❝ At two o'clock and the whole corner of the peninsula was blazing with light, which fell unreal on the shrubbery and made thin elongating glints upon the roadside wires. ❞
BU
Buchanan's Mansion (East Egg)
Synthesis
A cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay. The lawn starts at the beach and runs a quarter of a mile to the front door, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens. The front has a line of French windows. Inside, a high hallway leads into a bright rosy-coloured space with French windows at either end, an enormous couch, and a wine-coloured rug. There is a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of roses, and a snub-nosed motorboat.
❝ Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. ❞
❝ The lawn started at the beach and ran towards the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens—finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. ❞
❝ The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon. ❞
❝ We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-coloured space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows at either end. ❞
❝ The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. ❞
❝ a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motorboat that bumped the tide offshore. ❞
WI
Wilson's Garage
Synthesis
A small block of yellow brick on the edge of the valley of ashes, containing a garage for repairs. The interior is unprosperous and bare, with only a dust-covered wreck of a Ford in a dim corner. There is an office and stairs leading to living quarters above. The garage is approached by a trail of ashes.
❝ The only building in sight was a 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. ❞
❝ One of the three shops it contained was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant, approached by a trail of ashes; the third was a garage—Repairs. George B. Wilson. Cars bought and sold. ❞
❝ The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner. ❞
❝ It had occurred to me that this shadow of a garage must be a blind, and that sumptuous and romantic apartments were concealed overhead. ❞
❝ Myrtle Wilson's body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night, lay on a worktable by the wall. ❞
MY
Myrtle's Apartment (New York)
Synthesis
A small apartment on the top floor of a building on 158th Street. It has a small living-room, dining-room, bedroom, and bath. The living-room is crowded with tapestried furniture too large for it, with scenes of ladies swinging in gardens of Versailles. The only picture is an over-enlarged photograph of a stout old lady. Copies of Town Tattle and scandal magazines lie on the table.
❝ The apartment was on the top floor—a small living-room, a small dining-room, a small bedroom, and a bath. ❞
❝ The living-room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it, so that to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles. ❞
❝ The only picture was an over-enlarged photograph, apparently a hen sitting on a blurred rock. Looked at from a distance, however, the hen resolved itself into a bonnet, and the countenance of a stout old lady beamed down into the room. ❞
❝ Several old copies of Town Tattle lay on the table together with a copy of Simon Called Peter, and some of the small scandal magazines of Broadway. ❞
PL
Plaza Hotel
Synthesis
A hotel in New York where the group rents a parlour of a suite. The room is large and stifling, with windows that admit only hot shrubbery from the Park. There is a ballroom below where a wedding reception plays Mendelssohn's Wedding March.
❝ The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o'clock, opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park. ❞
❝ It's a swell suite. ❞
❝ the compressed heat exploded into sound and we were listening to the portentous chords of Mendelssohn's Wedding March from the ballroom below. ❞
CE
Central Park
Synthesis
A park in New York where the narrator and Jordan Baker drive in a victoria after leaving the Plaza. The sun has gone down behind the tall apartments of the movie stars in the West Fifties, and children's voices rise through the hot twilight.
❝ The sun had gone down behind the tall apartments of the movie stars in the West Fifties, and the clear voices of children, already gathered like crickets on the grass, rose through the hot twilight. ❞
❝ We passed a barrier of dark trees, and then the façade of Fifty-Ninth Street, a block of delicate pale light, beamed down into the park. ❞
QU
Queensboro Bridge
Synthesis
A bridge over which Gatsby and the narrator drive into New York. The sunlight through the girders makes a constant flicker on the moving cars. The city rises up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps.
❝ Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of nonolfactory money. ❞
❝ The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world. ❞
DA
Daisy's House in Louisville
Synthesis
The largest house on the block, with the largest lawn and banners. It is described as a beautiful house with a porch bright with star-shine, and a wicker settee. Inside, there are bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than others, and a sense of gay and radiant activities.
❝ The largest of the banners and the largest of the lawns belonged to Daisy Fay's house. ❞
❝ It amazed him—he had never been in such a beautiful house before. ❞
❝ Her porch was bright with the bought luxury of star-shine; the wicker of the settee squeaked fashionably as she turned toward him. ❞
❝ a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors. ❞
GA
Gatsby's Pool
Synthesis
A swimming pool on Gatsby's property, which he never used all summer. It is where Gatsby is found dead, floating on a pneumatic mattress. The water has a faint movement, with little ripples, and a thin red circle is traced by the mattress.
❝ There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of the water as the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. ❞
❝ With little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool. ❞
❝ The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water. ❞
CE
Cemetery
Synthesis
The cemetery where Gatsby is buried. It is reached by a procession of three cars in a thick drizzle. The gate is wet, and the ground is soggy. A canvas is unrolled from Gatsby's grave to protect it from the rain.
❝ About five o'clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate—first a motor hearse, horribly black and wet, then Mr. Gatz and the minister and me in the limousine, and a little later four or five servants and the postman from West Egg, in Gatsby's station wagon, all wet to the skin. ❞
❝ the protecting canvas unrolled from Gatsby's grave. ❞
USA, 1920s (Jazz Age)📍 New York (Long Island and Manhattan), USA14 places on the map
Места на карте
- 1West Egg
- 2East Egg
- 3Valley of Ashes
- 4New York City
- 5Gatsby's Mansion
- 6Buchanan's Mansion (East Egg)
- 7Wilson's Garage
- 8Myrtle's Apartment (New York)
- 9Plaza Hotel
- 10Central Park
- 11Queensboro Bridge
- 12Daisy's House in Louisville
- 13Gatsby's Pool
- 14Cemetery
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