In chapter 3 Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s notorious parties. Everyone at the party seems stunned at the elaborateness of the affair. There are hundreds of lights everywhere and a full orchestra and people drinking and having fun. Most of the people there have not even been invited by Gatsby and have just come to his house for the party. Once at the party Nick looks for ‘this Gatsby’ everywhere but he can’t seem to be found. The people around the party are not of much help because many of them do no actually know who Gatsby is. It seems like no one really knows who Gatsby is, everyone hears all of these rumors about him – ‘he killed a man,’ hes a spy..etc. Nick finally meets Gatsby by talking to him without realizing who he is, but Gatsby is not offended at all..

” He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced-or seemed to face-the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you, that at your best, you hoped to convey.” pg 48

I really want to find out who Gatsby really is. I find it really interesting that Nick was able to take all of this from one smile from Gatsby but I’m not completely convinced that he is right. Although it is nice to be introduced to one of the main characters before chapter 100 I still find Gatsby extremely mysterious. In Moby-Dick, we were not introduced to Ahab for awhile but all of the rumors about him gave me a pretty good idea of who he was. With Gatsby I feel the opposite, the rumors about him seem completely false- so far he seems like a fun-lover. I guess I’ll have to keep reading to find out more..