Shocked and Kind of Confused

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

As I read through chapter two, I kept asking myself the same couple questions: What? and Are you serious? As we found out in the first chapter, Tom Buchanan has a mistress in New York. I was slightly surprised by this early finding, but I thought that this would be something kept secret and eventually revealed throughout the novel. I was dumbfounded when Tom took Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, but I was shocked when Tom met with his mistress in front of her husband. Clearly both Tom and Myrtle know of each other's marriages, but I wonder how much their spouses know. Mr. Wilson does not seem to be aware of his wife's extramarital affairs, but I would surmise that if he knew, he would not alienate Tom because of the greatly needed business Tom brings to the garage. This leaves Daisy. I would guess that Daisy knows of Tom's affair, seeing how he is so open about it with Nick. Daisy seems to want to continue her marriage, but she also seems to soft-spoken to confront to her abrasive husband about his affair. 

On the other side, neither Myrtle nor Tom will end their marriages to be together. This surprised me because Tom has such an abrupt personality that I thought he would be quick to act upon his relationship with Myrtle. I think that something more is happening with Tom that is keeping him from leaving Daisy. In addition, Myrtle seems to want to marry Tom, but I think that, for financial reasons, she would wait to divorce her husband until Tom is in a position to commit solely to her. I also think that Myrtle is becoming impatient with waiting on Tom. "'Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!' shouted Mrs. Wilson. 'I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai---'" (Fitzgerald, 37).  To me, this shows that Myrtle feels as if Tom is cheating on her with Daisy. In addition, this quote led to my greatest feeling of irritation when Tom reacted to Myrtle's statement by breaking her nose. ARE YOU SERIOUS? This just cries out anger management issues.

After this I was a little confused. Perhaps I was still taken back by Tom breaking Myrtle's nose to end their argument, or maybe I was just confused by the fact that Nick ended the chapter standing over Mr. Mckee who was in bed in his underwear. Either way, the last page of the chapter leaves me befuddled and wondering: What just happened?