The Great Gatsby — Study Guide (Valley of Ashes / Tom & Myrtle in NYC)
Passage focus: The valley of ashes and Dr. T. J. Eckleburg; Tom introduces Nick to Myrtle; the apartment party; violence at the end.
1) Quick Context & What Happens
- Nick travels toward New York with Tom and sees the valley of ashes, an industrial wasteland between West Egg and the city. - Tom forces Nick to meet Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, at George Wilson’s garage. - They go to a Manhattan apartment where Myrtle hosts a loud, alcohol-fueled gathering with Catherine and the McKees. - Myrtle repeatedly chants Daisy’s name; Tom responds with physical violence (he breaks Myrtle’s nose). - Nick ends the episode disoriented, emphasizing the blurred moral atmosphere of the day.
2) Themes / Big Ideas (and how they connect to the novel’s larger ideas)
A. Moral and social decay beneath wealth
- The valley of ashes symbolizes the “waste” produced by the rich—both literal (industrial grime) and moral (human exploitation). - The Manhattan party looks glamorous on the surface but is ugly in behavior: lying, racism/antisemitism, objectification, and cruelty.
Connects to: the novel’s critique of the American Dream as hollow and destructive.
B. Class division and exploitation
- Tom treats George Wilson as disposable and ignorant (“so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive”), and Myrtle as a possession he can control. - Myrtle tries to “perform” a higher class identity through clothes, gossip magazines, a dog, and an apartment—yet she is still not accepted as equal.
Connects to: East Egg vs. West Egg vs. the ashes—rigid social hierarchy and the illusion of mobility.
C. Power, control, and violence
- Tom’s dominance is constant: he physically directs Nick (“literally forced me from the car”), controls Myrtle’s movements, and ends the chapter with open-handed brutality. - Violence becomes a way the powerful enforce boundaries—especially when Myrtle threatens Tom’s “real” life by saying Daisy’s name.
Connects to: Tom as embodiment of entrenched privilege; the way the careless harm others.
D. Illusion, performance, and identity
- Myrtle “changes” when she changes clothes: her personality becomes “impressive hauteur,” suggesting identity can be worn like a costume. - Gossip and rumors flourish (about Gatsby, Europe, divorce), showing how people build realities from appearances and hearsay.
Connects to: Gatsby’s reinvention, Nick’s narration, social masks.
E. Eyes / surveillance / judgment (Dr. T. J. Eckleburg)
- The billboard eyes “brood” over the dumping ground, creating a sense of being watched. - The “godlike” imagery hints at judgment, but the source is an advertisement—suggesting spiritual emptiness in modern life.
Connects to: the novel’s questions about meaning, morality, and whether anyone is truly held accountable.
F. Nick as “within and without”
- Nick observes the party with mixed fascination and disgust, naming his role as both participant and outsider. - His drunkenness blurs the narrative, raising questions about perception and reliability.
Connects to: Nick’s position throughout the novel as narrator/observer and moral commentator.
3) Vocabulary List
| Word/Phrase | Part of Speech | Definition (in context) |
|---|---|---|
| desolate | adj. | empty, bleak, abandoned-looking |
| grotesque | adj. | strangely ugly or distorted |
| transcendent | adj. | beyond ordinary limits; elevated (used ironically with “ash-grey men”) |
| brood (over) | verb | to hover and seem to watch in a dark, threatening way |
| solemn | adj. | serious, grave, formal |
| dumping ground | noun | place where waste is discarded |
| mistress | noun | a woman in a long-term affair with a married man |
| tanked up | adj./phrase | drunk; filled with alcohol |
| supercilious | adj. | arrogantly superior; disdainful |
| ministering (to) | verb | serving or providing for needs (often with a caretaker tone) |
| contiguous | adj. | touching; sharing a border; next to |
| unprosperous | adj. | not successful or thriving financially |
| anaemic | adj. | weak, pale, lacking energy (literally/figuratively) |
| sumptuous | adj. | rich, luxurious, expensive-looking |
| sensuously | adv. | in a way that emphasizes physical pleasure or bodily appeal |
| perceptible | adj. | noticeable; able to be perceived |
| smouldering | adj./participle | burning slowly; simmering beneath the surface |
| haughtily | adv. | in a proudly superior way |
| regal | adj. | royal; grand and self-important |
| propriety / proprietary | noun/adj. | ownership; acting as if one owns or controls something |
| ectoplasm | noun | ghostlike substance (suggesting something eerie/unnatural) |
| hauteur | noun | arrogant pride; haughty attitude |
| languid | adj. | relaxed to the point of weakness; lacking energy |
| rakish | adj. | stylishly improper; boldly suggestive |
| gyped | verb (slur) | cheated/swindled (note: historically used as an ethnic slur) |
| impenetrable | adj. | impossible to see through or understand |
| impassioned | adj. | filled with strong emotion |
4) Quotes to Look For (key lines + why they matter)
“This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat…”
- Establishes the industrial wasteland as a central symbol of moral/environmental ruin.
“The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg… brood on over the solemn dumping ground.”
- Introduces the “watching eyes” motif: judgment, emptiness of spirituality, and commercialization.
“He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.”
- Tom’s contempt for working-class people; dehumanization.
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”
- Nick’s defining stance: participant-observer, attraction/disgust, moral ambiguity.
“With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change.”
- Clothing as identity/performance; Myrtle’s class aspiration as theatrical.
“You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.”
- Myrtle’s urgency and desperation; desire, mortality, and reckless choices.
“Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!”
- The moment Myrtle challenges the boundary between Tom’s affair and his “respectable” marriage.
“Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.”
- Power made physical; cruelty and control; foreshadows consequences of Tom’s carelessness.
5) Study/Discussion Questions (optional practice)
- Why is the valley of ashes located between the Eggs and New York? What does that “in-between” space represent?
- What do Eckleburg’s eyes suggest: God, conscience, surveillance, or something else?
- How does Myrtle attempt to perform wealth—and how do we see the limits of her mobility?
- What does Tom’s violence reveal about his values and his need for control?
- How does Nick’s drunkenness affect the way we interpret what happens?