In this
novel,is used or manipulated by , , and Jordan.
Nick comes home from his
first dinner at Daisy and 's Long Island home feeling Daisy has played or manipulated him
through pretending to false emotions. She speaks of her unhappiness, saying everything is
terrible, which she asserts she knows because she has been everywhere and is, as she states with
scorn, so "sophisticated." Nick states to the reader:
I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the
whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me.
Daisy often tries to manipulate Nick's emotions, be it through
flirtation or trying to raise his sympathy for her.
Gatsby uses Nick to get
to Daisy, prevailing on Jordan to set up a reunion meeting with her at Nick's house. Jordan
explains that it is particularly important to Gatsby that the reunion take place next door to
his mansion, so that he can give Daisy a tour of it:
"He wants her to see his house," she [Jordan] explained. "And your house
is right next door."
Like everyone and everything he
considers useful in his life, Gatsby sees Nick primarily as a way to get to Daisy. Nick's house
being next door fits perfectly with Gatsby's plans.
Finally, Nick decides
that Jordan is using him. The two have a complicated relationship, with the suggestion that both
are gay and using dating each other as a cover for that during a time when being gay would not
be considered acceptable. Nick thinks he is one of a series of men Jordan has used,
saying:
instinctively avoided clever shrewd men and now I
saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be
thought impossible. ... I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young
in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of
her hard jaunty body.
Nick goes on to say he is not
bothered by being used by her, just "casually" sorry.
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