As the answer above indicates, Nick knew Tom when they were in college together at Yale, and he identifies Daisy as his second cousin, once removed. Shortly after the war (World War I), he says, he had spent two days with them in Chicago.
While Nick both explains that he comes from money and discounts his own wealth against Tom's "enormous" wealth and his "string of polo ponies," and while Nick also discounts his relationship with this couple as one with people he hasn't seen in years, it is clear they all come from the same social set. Tom includes Nick as a fellow "Nordic" without any hesitation and consistently approaches him with an insider bonhomie. Tom, on the other hand, looks through lower caste (to his mind) people like Gatsby as if they don't exist.
Further, chapter one makes it clear that Tom and Daisy are informed about what is going on in Nick's life, insisting they have heard he is engaged. He denies the engagement, but their knowledge of his doings, whether right or wrong, again reinforces the idea that they run in similar circles.
No comments:
Post a Comment