One of the first things I noticed while reading SMB was how much more directly water is involved in the story compared to TGG. In TGG the water is obviously an important part of the narrative, largely for its role as a physical representation of the divide between new and old money. The channel literally separates West and East Egg, and it’s also what keeps Gatsby apart from Daisy until Nick bridges the gap for him. It still serves this purpose in SMB, but because SMB is more about other social problems than specifically new vs. old money, it gets involved in other ways to keep that significance.

For example, one of the first things we learn about Daisy in SMB is that she supposedly fell into the channel while yachting with Tom, which sets up a parallel between her and Gatsby for readers who are already familiar with the ending of TGG. (Major event in the water) We later learn that she purposefully jumped into the water in order to swim out to have her pearl necklace fenced, which is another parallel between her in Gatsby, but specifically for this novel, when Gatsby (played by Nick), fakes his death face down in his pool. I also find it interesting that Gatsby’s water is fabricated (pool), while Daisy’s is a long-standing body of water. Could potentially be another representation of new vs old wealth?

The key points of Nick and Gatsby’s romance also almost all happen by the water, such as when they meet being while Nick is walking home from the channel, when they go swimming in Gatsby’s pool (which co-insides with their developing relationship), and later when they swim in the channel itself after Gatsby confesses. The water is there for a sizable portion of this story, almost as a character itself. It starts as a uniting factor between Nick and Daisy, as they used to swim in the creek together, becomes a divide between characters in West and East Egg, and comes back around to being a uniting factor when it brings Gatsby and Nick together, as well as being what gave Daisy that opportunity to get a substantial amount of money back to her family. It is also the method through which Daisy is able to separate from Tom, when the group fakes Gatsby’s death.

Funnily enough, the water having a more active role in this story echoes Nick’s more proactive personality as opposed to his detachment in TGG. Throughout SMB Nick also compares himself to the moon, in reference to orbiting around Gatsby (earth), who follows the sun (Daisy). The moon, though, affects the tides on Earth. This is something Nick doesn’t bring up, but I fully believe was intentional by the author. Nick doesn’t realize what an effect he has on Gatsby.