Summary

• Nick travels to New York City with Gatsby and Gatsby recounts stories from his past which Nick deems rather implausible
• claims to be the son of wealthy parents from the Midwest and tells Nick that he is from San Francisco
• talks about his accomplishments: graduated from Oxford, collected jewels in European capitals, had been awarded with medals during World War I
• in order to prove the vailidity of his statements, Gatsby shows Nick a medal from Montenegro and a picture from himself in Oxford
• Gatsby is pulled over with his car from a police officer for speeding and shows the officer a white card; the officer then apologizes for bothering Gatsby
• they have lunch in New York City with a man called Meyer Wolfsheim who apparently fixed the World Series in 1919
• Wolfsheim has criminal underground business connections and hints towards the obnoxious source of Gatsby‘s wealth and towards criminal activities that he and Gatsby are involved in
• after lunch, Nick meets Jordan who tells him about her strange conversation with Gatsby at his party
• Jordan tells Nick that Gatsby is actually in love with Daisy Buchanan and that during the war, they fell in love with each other
• yet, Daisy chose to marry Tom when Gatsby left for war and the night before her wedding, Daisy was so devastated after having read a letter from Gatsby that she drank herself numb
• although Daisy has always been faithful to her husband Tom, he has cheated on her several times
• Jordan also claims that Gatsby has bought the mansion in West Egg in order to be close to Daisy and to attract her towards him
• Nick draws the connection from the first time he saw Gatsby stretching his arms towards a green light to the fact that it was the light of Daisy‘s dock
• Gatsby wants Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy at Nick‘s house and wants Nick to avoid the fact that Gatsby will also be there
• that way, Daisy will be forced to see Gatsby

Function

• parts of Gatsby‘s past and intentions are revealed
  
  • Nick does not believe all the stories that Gatsby has told him about his past, only the ones that Gatsby has proof for
  • because of the meeting with Wolfsheim, Nick comes to the conclusion that Gatsby must have attained his wealth through the criminal activity of bootlegging
  • Gatsby as some kind of symbol of the sublime combination of moral decadence and vivacious optimism that preliminated the Roaring 20s
  • also, Gatsby‘s romantic, lovesick and innocent side is revealed through the story that Jordan tells about him
  • Nick feels an inner conflict towards Gatsby‘s character due to his representation of hope and love as well as greedy business and moral corruption at the same time
• the symbolic character of the green light is revealed
  
  • represents Gatsby‘s romantic hope to reunite with Daisy
  • the green light also represents the American dream itself due to its connection with Gatsby‘s irresistible yearning to achieving his dream and at the same time its connection to achieving his dream through material success