Chapter 1 Reader Response

The first chapter of The Great Gatsby completely denounces the rich as transparent and aloof, dressing themselves up in clothes of sophistication to hide their lack of redeemable qualities and corruption. Nick's dinner with the Buchanans shows this reflected in the personalities of Daisy and Tom. Both characters, who live on the “more-fashionable” East Egg, own a large, luxurious mansion, which Nick describes in detail (“A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as the wind does on the sea”(8).) and with liberal use of metaphor and simile. Nick's extended usage of these conventions not only serves to illustrate the apparent majesty and grandeur of the Buchanan mansion, but also to show that, in actuality, it is nothing special. Beneath the grand description, all Fitzgerald is describing are fluttering curtains, a white ceiling, and a purple rug.

This juxtaposition of a majestic-seeming scene with an actually bland reality also appears in Tom and Daisy's personality. Tom is a hulking, arrogant, and remarkably unattractive man. Fitzgerald describes him by saying “Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.[...]It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body.[...] There was a touch of paternal contempt in it [Tom's voice], even toward people he liked”(7). Nick is large, arrogant, and intimidating, obviously capable of cruel actions, but all he does, as Daisy says, is “reads deep books with long words in them”(13). Nick's attempt at sophistication clashes with his stolid nature, making him a contradiction in terms.

Daisy, on the other hand, is Tom's opposite. She is frail and transparent, and laughs at almost any opportunity she gets. Instead of attempting to sound sophisticated by reading, as her husband does, Daisy merely agrees with whatever he says. When Tom speaks about the book he was reading, and how the white man, as the “superior race”, needs to subdue the other races, Daisy immediately responds with “We've got to beat them down”(13). Daisy believes that, in agreeing with her husband on this supposedly “deep” topic, she will seem more sophisticated and more stereotypically “rich”. Instead, she comes off as unintelligent and unthinking, following unconditionally what her husband says. In addition, she also styles herself as a cynic (“We'll, I've had a very bad time, Nick, and I'm pretty cynical about everything”(16)), which clashes with her agreeing unconditionally with her husband. Daisy's comparing of Nick to a rose, in one of the more humorous moments of the chapter, also serves to show her lack of intelligence (14).

Fitzgerald's attack on the rich in the first chapter of his novel paints them in a negative light – the rich are unintelligent and base, but determined to be sophisticated. To show this, Fitzgerald has them put on airs of sophistication, while in reality being brutal, or shallow, in the cases of Tom and Daisy Buchanan.