The luncheon with Gatsby is not remarkable, save for the character who is introduced: Meyer Wolfshiem, a notorious gambler who is rumored to have rigged the 1919 World Series, an unprecedented scandal that degraded America’s Game. Mr. Wolfshiem, a business associate of Jay Gatsby, is everything his name suggests: He is a perfect combination of human and animal. He is wolf-like in his ways, and no where do we get better evidence of this than by the human molar cufflinks he sports proudly. Although Nick has begun to like Gatsby and wants to give him the benefit of the doubt, Gatsby’s taste in business connections is not at all what a man who comes from the background Gatsby has just recounted would make. Wolfshiem is Gatsby’s connection (or gonnection, as Wolfshiem would say) to the world of organized crime. Wolfshiem, as is later made known, has been instrumental in Gatsby’s ability to accumulate wealth. Theirs is a partnership in which Gatsby feels some sort of indebtedness to Wolfshiem — although they are partners on some levels, they are not at all equals.
That same afternoon, after hearing Gatsby’s story and meeting his business contact, Nick has tea with Jordan Baker wherein he gets a more accurate reading of Gatsby. Jordan recounts the “amazing” story she learned the night of Gatsby’s party. The story recalls Jordan’s girlhood in Louisville and one of her memories of Daisy Fay (who would later become Daisy Buchannan; notice, too, “Fay” is a synonym for “faerie” — an appropriate name for someone of Daisy’s ethereal nature). On one memorable day, she saw Daisy with a young officer, Jay Gatsby, who looked at Daisy “in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at.” The memory stayed with Jordan “because it seemed romantic.” However, she didn’t put the Jay Gatsby in Daisy’s car with the Jay Gatsby of West Egg until the night of the party.
