Saturday, April 4, 2015

What is it that Jordan "gets done"?

Ironically, in The Great Gatsby, Jordan Baker gets very little "done." She is a bored female golfer who is a part of the "sporting life at Asheville and Hot Springs and Palm Beach" (chapter 1). However, in chapter 1 when she is introduced, she is seen as Daisy's confidante and friend. They are both even dressed in the same white fluttering dresses. All that appears to "get done" is that the women laze on a divan before dinner is served.
Jordan Baker provides the narrator, Nick Carraway, with information concerning Tom's infidelity. In fact, she also tells Nick to be quiet, so she can eavesdrop on the conversation in the next room between Tom and Daisy after the phone call from "the woman in New York." Jordan Baker is also known for her dishonesty both on and off the golf course.
When Tom tells Jordan that he wonders how she can ever get "anything done," he implies that her avoidance of alcohol is due to the tournament at Westchester. However, this statement also clarifies that for the East Egg set, nothing of any importance is ever accomplished in their wealthy, self-centered lifestyles.


In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway drives out to East Egg to have dinner with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom. Also there that evening is Jordan Baker, the seemingly perennially bored lady golfer. When four cocktails are brought in, Jordan refrains from having a drink, saying that she's "in training." The implication is that she's getting ready for some golf tournament coming up and doesn't want to affect her game by drinking alcohol. Tom's quite incredulous at hearing this:

“You are!” He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass. “How you ever get anything done is beyond me.”

Tom's reply expresses an attitude common among the East Egg crowd that sees the regular consumption of alcohol as a way of life. It isn't just a social lubricant; it's something that gets you through the day, whatever you're doing. Nick certainly wonders exactly what it is that Jordan "gets done." Given her permanently bored, languid expression, it isn't immediately obvious.

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