The Great Gatsby — Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis — CliffsNotes (2024)

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What's the summary of Chapter 3 in The Great Gatsby? ›

The Great Gatsby Chapter 3 Analysis

The reader is introduced to the gossip surrounding Gatsby, including the whispers from the young women that he may have killed a man once or been a German spy during WWI. Additionally, Gatsby's party serves to portray the lavish extremity of the new money parties during the 1920s.

The attendees gossip about Gatsby, speculating that he is a German spy, went to Oxford, and even murdered a man.

ELEMENTFitzgerald's Purpose Beginningdescriptionof party preparations To show the atmosphere and “personality” of Gatsby's parties. Gatsby is trying to put on a show to hide who he is. Owl Eyes library sceneThe fact that Gatsby's books are real make him more of an authentic person instead of a concept.

Fitzgerald wanted to create this character of mystery where nobody knew anything about him. He wanted to do this to entice the reader. The significance of Gatsby's disappearance is that it adds to the mystery behind him. The reader does not know why people in Chicago would be calling him in New York.

He presents himself as decent, unassuming and respectable and at the end of this chapter he declares, 'I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known' (p. 59).

In Chapter 3, Nick offers his personal take on Jordan's psychology. Specifically, he describes her superiority complex, and the way she keeps away from “clever, shrewd men” so that she can remain in a superior position. Nick posits that Jordan constantly tells lies in order to maintain an advantage over others.

In chapter three, Owl-eyes is accused of crashing his car in the ditch. When in reality, it was a man who was drunk and disordered. Owl-eyes represents a lack of vision within the story. Of course, the recklessness of the drunk man with the car foreshadows Daisy's recklessness with Gatsby's car.

'Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known. '

Nick uses the images of moths seeking light to describe the guests who flock to Gatsby's party. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. It is clear from this image that Nick does not think highly of these partygoers.

Gatsby isn't throwing a party for strangers in the middle of a wealthy neighborhood just for the fun of it; he wants their money, and that's his sales team, cruising the crowd for suckers to buy his worthless bonds.

Who called Gatsby in chapter 3? ›

Gatsby identified himself a butler hurried toward him with the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire. He excused himself with a small bow that included each of us in turn.

Gatsby's mansion symbolizes two broader themes of the novel. First, it represents the grandness and emptiness of the 1920s boom: Gatsby justifies living in it all alone by filling the house weekly with "celebrated people." Second, the house is the physical symbol of Gatsby's love for Daisy.

Henry C. Gatz, Gatsby's father, comes to the mansion three days after his son's death, aged and wearing plain clothes. He's grief-stricken and asks Nick what his relationship was with Gatsby. Nick says they were close friends.

Quick answer: The careless act which happens at the end of chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby is a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The car veered off the ditch, and the driver was so drunk that he did not realize that the steering wheel had broken off.

Gatsby identified himself a butler hurried toward him with the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire. He excused himself with a small bow that included each of us in turn.

Nick went because Gatsby sent him a direct invitation, and he was curious about his neighbor. Why did Nick Carraway go to the party? He casually starts a conversation and Nick doesn't realize he is talking to Gatsby until Nick asks where Gatsby is.