Chapter 2, The Great Gatsby Summary

The chapter begins with a description of a deep, wide pile of ashes between the road and the train to New York and of an elderly billboard put up by an oculist in the city, the image highlighted by a large pair of watchful eyes. It was in the vicinity of the billboard, Nick says, that he first met Tom's mistress. He and Tom were on their way to New York, and when the train stopped at the station by the ash-heap, Tom quickly muscled him off and into a nearby used car dealership run by the pale, nervous-looking George Wilson. As Tom half-banters/half-bullies him, Wilson's wife Myrtle appears and goes straight to Tom, who tells her that he's taking her into the city.

As Tom and Nick are waiting for Myrtle to join them at...