Question

At the end of chapter one, Nick finally glimpses Jay Gatsby. What is Gatsby doing? How is he described?

At the end of chapter one, Nick finally glimpses Jay Gatsby. What is Gatsby doing? How is he described?

Answer 1

At the chapter’s end Nick sees Gatsby standing alone on the lawn at the edge of the water, facing the bay and stretching out his arms toward a distant light. Nick describes it: “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way... a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” Gatsby is presented as solitary and mysterious — a yearning, almost emblematic figure reaching toward that distant green light (the symbol of Daisy/the American dream) before vanishing into the darkness.