Nick, Not the Party Type

Reading Chapter 2 was interesting for the fact that they mention the "valley of ashes" that lies between the eggs and New York City. When going over the book introduction in my English class, we were taught that the story took place in two different worlds located so close together, referring to the East Egg and the West Egg. In the valley of ashes, the less fortunate and basically the rest of the world is represented. I find it interesting how Tom just goes back and forth through the valley of ashes to get only what he wants, a woman on the side, or a side chick in my terms... Myrtle. To me that represents his his self-centered manner where all he cares about is himself, and could care less about anybody else, for example, his wife's feelings and trust. When Tom introduces Nick to Myrtle, Nick is very reluctant in becoming a part of Tom's scandalous affair, and is sucked into what we call these days as "guy code," so Nick knows he wants to tell Daisy about what Tom does behind her back, but knows he shouldn't & isn't. Nick doesn't want to be involved in Tom's lustful actions but he has no choice, so it's better to be a bystander and keep your mouth shut than to be directly involved. His reserved nature makes him a great observer though. At the party in Tom's apartment, he sort of just stands out and has light chit chat with people and just listens to gossip about Gatsby, and even though he was very drunk, he still made sure he wasn't really too involved in the party itself. Even at Gatsby's party, Nick finds himself just wandering around, observing the different groups of people, thinking to himself and classifying what kind of people. He's not even worried about having a good time there, because he is more concerned on actually meeting the Gatsby he's been hearing all this nonsense about. Such a mysterious character Gatsby has cut himself out to be in Nick's eyes. He hears so much about Gatsby and what kind of person he is, but the thing is all this gossip is coming from people that have never met Gatsby themselves. So he wanders and ponders, until he talks to an odd old fellow...