Valley of Ashes
In chapter 2, Nick Carraway and Tom Buchanan go to New York through the Valley of Ashes: a dead and dusty road covered in grey, where the only pop of colour is "the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg... blue and gigantic." (Fitzgerald 23) They meet up with Myrtle Wilson, the woman who Tom was having an affair with. Together, they decide to go to Myrtle and Tom's sneaky apartment to spend the evening. On the taxi ride to the apartment, they see a man on the street selling dogs, and Tom buys Myrtle an airedale puppy, instead of a police dog which she wanted so desperately. When they reach the apartment, they call up their friends, the McKees, and Myrtle's sister, Catherine. They become incredibly drunk together. Catherine and Nick get to talking, and she tells him she went to West Egg recently, "at a party... at a man named Gatsby's." (32). After two bottles of Whiskey, Myrtle begins to irritate Tom and he hits her in the face with his open hand, breaking her nose. The men leave as the women clean up the bloody mess, our chapter ends with Nick Carraway "lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station." (Fitzgerald p.38)