Sunday, July 2, 2017

In The Great Gatsby, why does Jordan seem familiar to Nick?

Jordan Baker seems familiar to Nick when he meets her at Daisy and Tom Buchanan's house in Chapter I, because, as he reveals in Chapter III, she was a golf champion and her picture had been in the papers.  Remembering a lie she told at a recent party, though, helps him to recall that she was once accused of cheating at her first really big gold tournament.  She apparently "moved her ball from a bad...

Jordan Baker seems familiar to Nick when he meets her at Daisy and Tom Buchanan's house in Chapter I, because, as he reveals in Chapter III, she was a golf champion and her picture had been in the papers.  Remembering a lie she told at a recent party, though, helps him to recall that she was once accused of cheating at her first really big gold tournament.  She apparently "moved her ball from a bad lie" in one of the final rounds: she likely picked the ball up and put it down again in a better location for her to take her next swing.  The situation had almost become a full-blown scandal, but her caddy eventually rescinded his statements and the other person who supposedly witnessed the incident admitted that he could have made a mistake.  Nick says that her name and that story remained forever linked in his mind, and his new knowledge of Jordan -- that "She was incurably dishonest" -- seems to support that idea that she did, in fact, cheat, and that perhaps she bribed the caddy and witness to back off.

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