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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. People were not invited—they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island and somehow they ended up at Gatsby's door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.
Nick describes the highly informal atmosphere at Gatsby’s parties. The behavior of the guests might not sound so strange to modern ears, but it would have been quite unusual at the time.
I was immediately struck by the number of young Englishmen dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry and all talking in low earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans. I was sure that they were selling something: bonds or insurance or automobiles. They were, at least, agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.
As he continues to describe Gatsby’s party, Nick says that he thinks the English “guests” were in fact sales people who sensed that the parties were an ideal setting for conducting business with rich Americans.
She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she'd take care of me in a minute, and gave ear to two girls in twin yellow dresses who stopped at the foot of the steps.
The interactions between Nick and Jordan at Gatsby’s party set up a pattern in which Nick will be simultaneously annoyed and attracted by Jordan’s detachment towards him. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Character: Jordan Baker (the first Chapter 3 quote).
‘Gatsby. Somebody told me—’
The two girls and Jordan leaned together confidently.
‘Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.’
A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. Mumbles bent forward and listened eagerly.
Nick describes how the mysterious Gatsby was subject of intense and wild speculation among the guests at his parties.
We all turned and looked around for Gatsby. It was testimony to the romantic speculation he inspired that there were whispers about him from those who found little that it was necessary to whisper about in this world.
As the speculation about Gatsby continues at his party, Nick comments about the fact that even people who you would not expect to engage in such behavior were engaging in the gossipy conjecture about the host. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Character: Jay Gatsby (the first Chapter 3 quote).
He had one of those rare smiles with a 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 like to believe in yourself.
After Nick finally meets Gatsby at his party and commits the slight social breech of not recognizing him as the host, Gatsby sets Nick’s mind at ease with an immediate and intense smile, the power of which Nick then marvels over. This passage is further explained in Famous Quotes Explained (the second quote).
Precisely at that point it vanished—and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I'd got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.
Nick reflects on his conversation with Gatsby by describing him with contradictory (“elegant young rough-neck”), which hints at the many contradictions present in Gatsby, and by commenting on the oddness of his words and vocal patterns. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Character: Jay Gatsby (the second Chapter 3 quote).
But young men didn’t—at least in my provincial inexperience I believed they didn’t—drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound.
After Nick and Jordan have met Gatsby at his party and speculated on his mysterious background with Jordan, Nick admits that he too is intrigued to learn about Gatsby’s past.
In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust. I knew the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names, and lunched with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee.
In one of the few passages in the book relating to Nick’s pursuit of a career as a bond salesman in New York City, he describes the city and his workplace environment in contradictory terms. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Setting: New York City (the first Chapter 3 quote).
I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove.
In this passage, Nick describes the appeal of New York City at night, which contrasts with his earlier description of his mundane New York City workplace environment. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Setting: New York City (the second Chapter 3 quote).
At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.
Again at eight o’clock, when the dark lanes of the Forties were five deep with throbbing taxicabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes outlined unintelligible gestures inside. Imagining that I, too, was hurrying toward gayety and sharing in their intimate excitement, I wished them well.
In this final quote about New York City in Chapter 3, Nick’s wistfulness and melancholy about fun that he thinks people other than him must be having. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Setting: New York City (the third Chapter 3 quote).
For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found her again. At first I was flattered to go places with her because she was a golf champion and every one knew her name. Then it was something more. I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.
Here, Nick talks about his perplexing (almost) romance with Jordan. In some ways, this relationship serves as a tepid counterbalance to the much more real and consequential romance between Gatsby and Daisy, as is further discussed in Quotes by Theme: Love and Marriage (the Chapter 3 quote).
Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body.
Here, Nick offers a series of negative assessments of Jordan and her personality. The fact that Nick could hold these opinions about someone he dated reinforces the idea that their romance had little chance of succeeding. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Character: Jordan Baker (the second Chapter 3 quote).
Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
Chapter 3 closes with Nick declares himself an honest man. However, it will be up to the reader to decide if they agree with his self-assessment. This passage is further explained in Quotes by Character: Nick Carraway (the Chapter 3 quote).
