My commutation ticket came back to me with a dark stain from his hand. Is it hot enough for you? Is it hot? Is it.?" "Hot!" said the conductor to familiar faces. I picked it up with a weary bend and handed it back to her, holding it at arm's length and by the extreme tip of the corners to indicate that I had no designs upon it - but every one near by, including the woman, suspected me just the same. The straw seats of the car hovered on the edge of combustion the woman next to me perspired delicately for a while into her white shirtwaist, and then, as her newspaper dampened under her fingers, lapsed despairingly into deep heat with a desolate cry. As my train emerged from the tunnel into sunlight, only the hot whistles of the National Biscuit Company broke the simmering hush at noon. The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer. And yet I couldn't believe that they would choose this occasion for a scene - especially for the rather harrowing scene that Gatsby had outlined in the garden. Half an hour later Daisy herself telephoned and seemed relieved to find that I was coming. He was calling up at Daisy's request - would I come to lunch at her house to-morrow? Miss Baker would be there. "They're some people Wolfsheim wanted to do something for. So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes. Daisy comes over quite often - in the afternoons." The grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked like a pigsty, and the general opinion in the village was that the new people weren't servants at all. be bribed by the tradesmen, but ordered moderate supplies over the telephone. My Finn informed me that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others, who never went into West Egg Village to. "I hadn't seen him around, and I was rather worried. "Nope." After a pause he added "sir" in a dilatory, grudging way. Wondering if he were sick I went over to find out - an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door. Only gradually did I become aware that the automobiles which turned expectantly into his drive stayed for just a minute and then drove sulkily away. So, after a while the disgust disappears, Nick is becoming tolerant of Tom’s affair and the vulgar party in a kitschy apartment.It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night - and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over. It frees up the deep nature of the person. This part of the story might also represent the influence of alcohol on people. But after wild drinking, he starts loving New York and feeling well. He is disgusted with Tom’s behavior and the people around him. Nick, on the other hand, again plays the role of an outside observer. Thus we see how the beautiful facade of a rich man falls down and reveals his true nature. We see him having affair, mocking Myrtle’s husband, appearing with his lover in public, wild drinking and hitting a woman. In this chapter, we learn Tom’s worst character traits. Religion and moral principles are thrown to the dumpster for money. As the valley of ashes represents all the worst of people, the billboard might also tell us that capitalistic society loses the connection with God. Therefore it is quite obvious why the billboard appears in the dump station. Most likely, those eyes represent an indifferent God, who is watching the moral decay of the society. Nick, as a narrator, never explains the symbol, so we as readers are left with own interpretation. But it plays quite a significant metaphorical role in the story. It is quite old, seems nobody changed the advertisement for years already. She comes from a place, that looks exactly like Tom’s soul.Īnother important symbol that appears in this part of the novel is a huge billboard starring at the valley. Myrtle here plays sort of a connecting role. But under this facade of a successful man, we see a hidden ugliness. Tom is a wealthy and attractive man, having a great education, job, family, house, etc. No wonder Tom has an affair with Myrtle, who lives in the valley of ashes, then. The last one is what the dump station represents. The life of wealthy people is shown in an attractive manner but symbolizes the plain facade, which covers up the ugliness of human nature. It seems, that this is the line Fitzgerald draws intentionally, to show the moral collapse of the society. The valley of ashes is placed between the New York City and the wealthy districts not occasionally. We, as readers, are drawn away from the bohemian lifestyle of the West and East Egg districts and are thrown right into the scene of extreme poverty. This chapter sets several crucial guidelines, which would be extended in the novel.