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Who is Dr. Webster Civit in The Great Gatsby?

In chapter seven, Tom and Daisy join Nick and Jordan at a party at Gatsby's home.  They gather at "a particularly tipsy table" where a guest, Miss Baedecker, is so drunk that she tries to slump against Nick's shoulder.  She had apparently been yelling, and some of the guests had ducked her head in Gatsby's swimming pool to try to sober her up.  Doc Civet, also a guest at the party, is summoned.  He suggests to Miss Baedecker "you ought to leave it alone," meaning that she should stop drinking.  She rudely tells the doctor "Speak for yourself! Your hand shakes. I wouldn't let you operate on me!"  Earlier, in chapter four, Nick recalls that Doctor Webster Civet "drowned last summer up in Maine", which presumably was later this same summer of 1922.


Shortly thereafter, Nick observes "it was like that" to understate that the party was full of unsavory behavior and antics that ultimately appall and offend Daisy.

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