a letter of introduction

p. 37:

‘Ask Myrtle,’ said Tom breaking into a short shout of laughter as Mrs. Wilson entered with a tray.  ‘She’ll give you a letter of introduction, won’t you, Myrtle?’

A capsule study of the extraordinary cruelty of Tom Buchanan.  He mocks the slightly desperate Mr. McKee, whose sad artistic ambitions as a photographer cause him to ask the wrong man for a favor.  Much worse and more directly, he mocks his own mistress with a careless puncture to her fantasy of upper class status.

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