It is appropriate to briefly exploring the tones of homoerroticism that underlie the party at Tom and Myrtle’s. Catherine, Myrtle’s sister who is “said to be very beautiful by people who ought to know” (again introducing the notion of rumors and truth, as well as the idea that a certain portion of society has the right to set standards for other portions), speaks in couched terms about her travels and living arrangements with “a girl friend at a hotel.” Although this does not, in any way, indicate that Catherine is a lesbian, it does introduce the possibility. As Fitzgerald shows by the afternoon’s party, anything can happen. It’s a wild time — people, particularly the trendy people, are eager to break established boundaries. It is not unlikely that they would challenge established social mores, as well. Nick, himself, has an encounter shrouded in mystery in this chapter, which again hints at challenging the accepted sexual morality of the time — homosexuality was not commonly spoken of at this time in history
At the end of the chapter, Nick says that after he sees McKee home, after a curious use of ellipses by Fitzgerald, he “was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.” Fitzgerald very purposely skirts the issue, dropping hints, but no concrete evidence, and leaves the reader to ponder the possibility of a sexual encounter between the two men. Some may argue that looking at this chapter’s homoerroticism is pointless; if the author had wanted to focus on it, he would have made it more pronounced in the text. What these critics overlook, however, is the possibility that Fitzgerald is hinting at it, just as the society of which he was a part, hinted at it. By refusing to make the book’s underlying homoerroticism pronounced, he is mirroring the refusal of society at large to acknowledge a lifestyle choice that was socially unacceptable in most circles. The hints of homoerroticism also bring into focus the debauchery which marks The Great Gatsby. The 1920s, Fitzgerald suggests, was not just a time of challenging social boundaries. It was also a time of changing sexual — and even spiritual — boundaries.
