chapter 2 Flashcards
Valley of Ashes
NY’s ashes are dumped here
men who live here work at shoveling up the ashes
Wilson’s house
their house is on the edge of the valley of ashes
George Wilson
he is a lifeless yet handsome man, coloured grey by the ashes in the air.
Myrtle Wilson
has a kind of desperate vitality; she strikes Nick as sensuous despite her stocky figure.
Nick’s view on the party
The ostentatious behaviour and conversation of the others at the party repulse Nick, and he tries to leave. At the same time, he finds himself fascinated by the lurid spectacle of the group.
Valley of ashes
is a picture of absolute desolation and poverty. it lacks a glamorous surface and lies fallow and grey halfway between West Egg and New York
Valley of ashes symbolism
the moral decay hidden by the beautiful facades of the Eggs, and suggests that beneath the ornamentation of WE and the mannered charm of EE lies the same ugliness as in the valley. The valley is created by industrial dumping and is therefore a by-product of capitalism.
- It is the home to the only poor characters in the novel
Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
has monstrous, bespectacled eyes gazing down from their billboard makes them troubling to the reader: in this chapter,
Tom and Myrtle
Tom is forced to keep his affair with Myrtle relatively discreet in the valley of the ashes, in New York he can appear with her in public, even among his acquaintances, without causing a scandal. Even Nick, despite being Daisy’s cousin, seems not to mind that Tom parades his infidelity in public.
Tom’s hypocrisy and lack of restraint
he feels no guilt for betraying Daisy with Myrtle, but he feels compelled to keep Myrtle in her place.
