The Great Gatsby - November 17,2007 - Pages 43-65

In the third chapter of The Great Gatsby a few important things happen. First off, Nick is actually invited by an invitation from Mr. Gatsby to one of his elaborate parties. He has these huge parties and only a handful of the people who actually come are invited, the rest just show up. At first Nick is kind of alone, but he soon runs into Jordan Baker, and remains pretty close to her for the rest of the evening. The second important event is is when Nick is talking to a man at his table. The man recognizes Nick from the war, and they start up a conversation. Nick tells the man that this is an unusual party for him, becaue he doesn't even know the host, and that "this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation." To Nick's surprise the man suddenly responds - "I'm Gatsby." I was completely shocked at the quick turn in the book. I wasn't sure if they would ever actually meet in the book and then BAM! Nick was talking to him and he didn't even know it. It was a great element of surprise that completely catches you off guard.
I think there were two more points made in this chapter and they both have to do with Jordan Baker. As the party is getting close to the end, Mr. Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone. After about an hour she comes back out and tells Nick that she was told something amazing. She then gives Nick a name in the phonebook , which is her aunts, where he can meet with her and she will tell him what she found out, even though she isn't suppose to. The book never tells whether or not Nick does go to meet her, or what exactly Gatsby and Jordan talked about. I think that it will probably come up in the story later. Finally, we learn that Jordan is not very honest. Nick discovers this when she lies about whether or not she left the top down to a rental car when it was raining. Nick connects this lie to another that he had heard about while she was golfing. There was a scandal about whether or not she had improved her lie in the semi-finals of a golf championship. It ended up to never be proven, but I think that Nick thinks she did, because he states in the final sentence, " I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."
I think this chapter was a kind of turning point in the story. We finally meet the elusive Mr. Gatsby, and we find out a few more characteristics about Jordan and Mr. Gatsby. Everyone thinks that Mr. Gatsby is this no good criminal who killed a man. I personally don't think this is true at all, I think the poeple just like something good to gossip about. I also wondered why the Bucchanans weren't there??
At the end of the chapter Nick states that these three evenings that have consumed the book so far actually absorb much less of his time than his personal affairs, so why does he only write of these evenings so far then? Also, at the very end, when he is talking about whether or not he loves Jordan, he says he has been writing letters back home and signing then "love Nick". Does this mean that he is still sort of involved with that woman he supposedly proposed to before he came out East??