Chapter Three

I'm tired of rumors starting
I'm sick of being followed
I'm tired of people lying
Saying what they want about me
Why can't they back up off me
Why can't they let me live
I'm gonna do it my way
Take this for just what it is
- Lindsay Lohan (Rumors)

We picked these lyrics because in chapter three we find out that everyone talks about each other and they gossip alot. There is a party that Gatsby has at his house. All the people at the party talk different things about Gatsby. One group was talking about how Gatsby killed a man once cold blooded. Jordan thinks Gatsby is from Oxford and tells Nick but this is just what she has heard. No one seems to know the truth about Gatsby's wealth or personal background. Nick expects and imagines Gatsby to be florid and corpulent in his middle years from what he hears. When Nick meets Gatsby for the first time, he wasn't anything that he thought he was going to be.


"In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whispers and the champagne and the stars" (43).
This quote is talking about Gatsby's parties and the guests that go. It explains how they gossip amongst themselves and drink socially.

"I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited"(45).

Nick tells the reader about the guests at the party. He says that unlike most of the people there he was personally invited by Gatsby. This shows the inconsiderate of people showing up without an invitation.

"Theres something funny about a fellow that'll do a thing like that. He doesn't want any trouble with anybody" (48).

A woman is explaining how Gatsby will do anything to make people happy. She tells how it is strange that he wants everyone to love him like he's hiding something from everyone.

"Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once" (48).

The people of the east and west egg are mostly gossipers. They talk about anything to anyone that will listen and spread rumors that spread like wildfire by word of mouth.

"I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known" (64).

Nick tells how it is hard to trust the people around him due to their loud mouths. He says he has met few people in his life that were honest.



Symbolism: Names
During Chapter 3, Gatsby has a party at his house. The people at the party gossip and talk about Gatsby and just use him for his parties. The people at the party don't have names. This symbolizes that everyone there represent the same personality and they all follow each other around. This also symbolizes that no one there cares about anyone but themselves. They are anonymous and unknown to the readers. Most of the people at the party are associated with animals which symbolize that animals lack human emotions. Leeches, blackbucks, ferrets, bulls, and duckweed are used for the anonymous names of the people at the party. The events that happen to them are bad, some have affairs, drown, dies, and jumps off buildings which symbolizes the lives of the rich seem perfect, they arent perfect.