CHAPTER 2

Question 1

Valley of ashes

Answer 1

symbolism of moral decay

Question 2

“thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light”

Answer 2

Blocking Daisy and her dreams

Question 3

“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life”

Answer 3

Then Nick starts looking at himself from two perspectives. The first is as a member of the secrecy that goes on behind closed doors and windows, like the party he’s attending now. But he doesn’t really feel like a part of this party and can’t relate to the Myrtle’s and the Tom’s of the world. So he then compares himself to the onlookers in the street, because Nick feels more like someone who is just observing what is going on around him. Nick is included in the party so he’s not quite an onlooker, but he doesn’t agree with what it going on so he isn’t really a participant either.
This reinforces the idea that Nick is one of the many people who is just drifting through life. He follows thousands of other people his age to New York. He never stands up for himself, so he ends up being treated like someone who doesn’t exist. And he views love as a fleeting thing, so he never spends too much time with anyone.
These qualities make Nick a good narrator for Gatsby’s story, but a sympathetic and poignant character in his own right. Nick is both “within and without” his own story – an onlooker peering in without being fully part of it.