Chapters 1-3 continued

Jazz Era:1920s
Nick Carraway lives in West Egg in New York next door to Jay Gatsby.
West Egg is where the people of new money live.
Nick travels around the east with Tom Buchanan during the 2nd chapter so that he can meet Myrtle Wilson.
They find Myrtle at her house which is above her husband's unsuccessful autoshop. Myrtle's life is now not so glamorous as she thought it would be. She is disappointed with her husband's life because he isn't wealthy or rich like Tom is.
Later on when Tom and Myrtle take Nick to a fancy apartment in New York City. Nick gives descriptions of how grand and luxurious the room and furniture are. The guests in the apartment are also of high class. Here is where Nick is informed about how much Tom and Myrtle despise their spouses.

I believe that the character Owl Eyes is a symbolic name. It shows that he is observant and also has very big eyes like an owl.
In chapter 2, the Valley of Ashes symbolizes the decay of society and moral codes. It says that the ashes take "form of houses and chimneys, where men move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air".

There are several themes throughout the story but the one that keeps showing up is how society keeps degrading itself. Moral values aren't kept such as the affair that is shared between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson and when Jordan Baker cheated during a golf tournament.
Social and moral values start to lose their true value caused by corruption, emptiness and greed of the people.

Simile:
"ashes grow like wheat" (chapter 2)
"there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upon golf courses on clean, crisp mornings." (chapter 3)