s so casually honest about information that does not directly involve her and would usually be embarrassing to the people involved. Jordan reveals the superficiality of her own and the East Egg people's definition of intimacy, however, when she attends Gatsby's party with Nick:
"Anyhow he gives large parties," said Jordan, changing the subject with an urban distaste for the concrete. "And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy" (Fitzgerald 54).
Jordan's statement reveals that she has no understanding of the meaning of "intimate." The casual honesty demonstrated by her revelation of Tom's affair so early in her own relationship with Nick evidences that her definition of "intimate" entails knowing all the details about a person's life. Her definition, however, does not seem to require that she actually have any idea about what that person is really like. In addition, her statement also reveals that she does not like small parties because they do, in fact, allow for the possibility that people at such affairs might actually scratch the surface of each other. What Jordan's statement reveals is that East Egg people have no desire to reveal themselves or learn anything substantial about other people. All they are interested in is gossip.
Gatsby, however, is fooled by the casual honesty of the East Egg people that conceals their innate dishonesty. He entrusts Jordan with the story of his desire to meet with Daisy because he believes her to be trustworthy. But the reason for his trust is so superficial as to almost ludicrous:
"Oh, it's nothing underhand," he assured me. "Miss Baker's a great sportswoman, you know, and she'd never do anything that wasn't all right" (Fitzgerald 76).
Unfortunately for Gatsby, Nick has already revealed to us that Jordan is "incurably dishonest" (Fitzgerald 63). But Gatsby's failure to recognize the flaw in Jordan's character is only symptoma...