In the book How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster includes chapter 16 It's All About Sex, in other words sex scenes are often suggested rather than what truly meets the eye. One can assume that chapter 2 has many "suggested" sex scenes or contains sexual content. For example "The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let the barges through.." (24) The foul river and valley of ashes could in fact be concluded to a women's vagina (after all it starts with a va) As I stated during the open forum a drawbridge opens and closes to let ships through, but could this in fact be a metaphor for a women opening and closing her legs to men (ships)? Fitzgerald continues to suggest such content, "One of the three shops it contained was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant, approached by a trail of ashed; the third was a garage repairs. George B. WIlson. Cars bought and sold." (24-25) Could this infact be an underlying statement for prostitution with three women? One being "rented" another an "all-night restaurant" and the last being simply "garbage" In the following sentence Fitzgerald also includes "The interior was unprosperous and bare" (25) is one of the "naked" prostitutes (all-night restaurant) being described as a thriving young women? I also noticed the sentence "wiping his hands on a piece of waste" (25) Prostitutes aren't usually ranked as high class women, often talked down upon as they sell their soul for money. This could imply the fact Tom is wiping away the filth of his one night stand. Sex isn't always implied when it comes to novels and when they are it's not always what the reader may think. Authors use these sort of tactics to keep their readers guessing and promptly on their toes begging the question.