The Great Gatsby
Jordan Baker
Daisy’s friend, a golfer
A cool, athletic friend of Daisy’s who plays golf tournaments, notices everything, and tells Nick Gatsby’s secret.
Jordan Baker is a champion golfer who travels the country for tournaments. She has an upright posture and a bored, self-contained manner, and she does not suffer careless people. She is one of the first friends Nick meets in East Egg, and she is the first to tell him that Tom has a woman in the city.
Jordan is a modern woman of the 1920s: independent, sharp-tongued and a little cynical. She knows Daisy from girlhood in Louisville and is quietly loyal to her. She says she likes Nick because he is a careful driver, and she says she is one of the few honest people she has ever known.
“You’re a careful driver, Nick. I hate careless people. That’s why I like you.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Jordan meets Nick again at Gatsby’s party and is called to the library for a private talk with Gatsby. Over tea at the Plaza she tells Nick about Daisy and Gatsby in Louisville in 1917 and about Daisy’s tears before her wedding. She also explains that Gatsby bought his mansion to be near Daisy, and asks Nick to arrange a meeting.
Jordan is with Daisy and Tom on the hot afternoon at the Plaza Hotel, and she is there at the Valley of Ashes when Myrtle sees her and mistakenly thinks she is Tom’s wife. After the accident Jordan is one of the people who knows more than she says.
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