"The Great Gatsby," Vocabulary from Chapter 1

Nick is using "privy" as an adjective here but it can also be a noun meaning "a room or building equipped with one or more toilets." With that double meaning, Nick could be seen as making fun of both his own passive nature and the nature of the secrets that were shared with him.

Nick admits to feigning actions and emotions in order to avoid listening to the seemingly fake revelations of others. Another reason he might not have wanted to hear these secrets is that doing so places him in the position of being responsible for someone else's happiness. Fitzgerald includes this admission here to set the readers up for the contrasts in Nick's relationship with Gatsby.

The last three words were used in descriptions that show Nick's scornful attitude towards Tom Buchanan. Even in describing Tom's wistfulness, Nick adds the adjectives "harsh" and "defiant". By noting that Tom wanted his approval, Nick is suggesting that, back in college, he was the better man, and he is even more so now that is openly disapproving of Tom in his book.

Although details of Daisy and Jordan's "bantering inconsequence" are not given here, examples of it are seen throughout the dialogues that Fitzgerald intentionally creates as the writer and that Nick somehow remembers and repeats as the first-person narrator.

An overheard rumor is not libel; it could be slander, but the rumor is about an event that's supposed to be happy not hurtful. As a Yale graduate who used to write for the college's newspaper, Nick would know the different intents attached to rumor, libel and slander. But he deliberately exaggerates here to be funny and to emphasize that he is not ready for marriage.

Nick's descriptions show how observant he is--not only does he pick up on "intimations", he also sees things that are almost "imperceptible", hears murmurs that have been "subdued", and often tries to guess what others are thinking and feeling. These are good traits for a writer, but they could also intimate a lack of depth or originality within a character--which leads Nick to admire Gatsby.