In chapter 2 Fitzgerald describes to us through Nick the setting of the Valley of Ashes and introduces us to George and Myrtle Wilson who is Tom’s mistress. They then go to New York City were Fitzgerald introduces Catherine and the Mckees. Everyone gets drunk and Tom break Myrtle’s nose, Fitzgerald leaves us very confused with a drunken Nick Carraway.
The use of setting in Chapter 2 helps tell the story. Fitzgerald describes to us the Valley of the Ashes at the beginning of the chapter, he describes it in a poetic way, ’a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat in ridges and hills and grotesque farms’, this is very powerful imagery giving us a clear mental picture of the setting. It is also full of adjectives such as ’fantastic’ and ’grotesque’ which really focuses on the poetic manner it has been written. This helps tell the story as Fitzgerald wants us get an idea of the setting before the people are introduced also he wants us to make a pre-judgement of what we are expecting to find within the Valley of the Ashes.
The story is told in Chapter 2 through use of the colour grey in the description of the Valley of the Ashes. It helps to represent the people who live there, ‘ash-grey men swarm up’, this tells us that Fitzgerald uses the ‘grey’ and ‘ash’ to represent the class these people are, which is working class, this also links to George Wilson who’s garage is described as ‘dust-covered‘ mirroring the ‘ash-grey men‘.
Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 2 through Nick Carraway’s viewpoint. In chapter 2 Nick’s view of Myrtle becomes very prejudice but also distorted making him unreliable as a narrator also he uses the phrase ‘I think‘ which immediately makes him bias . Fitzgerald presents her through Nick’s view as a woman aspiring to be like Daisy and Jordan, Myrtle tries to act the hostess by changing her ‘costume’ and changing her voice into ‘impressive hauteur’ giving her a