In The Great Gatsby, how do Jordan and Catherine compare and contrast as they are presented in Chapters I and II?

Jordan and Catherine share some similarities. Both are
unmarried women, young and slender. Catherine is about thirty years old, Jordan a bit
younger. Catherine and Jordan live independent lives. Jordan has no family except for an
elderly aunt, and Catherine lives with a friend, another single woman. Jordan and
Catherine both live in New York City, although Jordan's tenure there is temporary. Each
of the women travels. Jordan is on the golfing circuit; Catherine has visited Europe
with a friend. Neither woman condemns Tom and Myrtle's affair. Catherine thinks Tom and
Myrtle should divorce their spouses and marry each other. Jordan's only criticism of
Tom's affair is that Myrtle should not call him at home.

In
regard to their differences, Jordan is presented as being attractive, sophisticated, and
self-contained. When Nick first sees her, Jordan reclines gracefully on a couch, a
vision in white, seemingly oblivious to Nick's presence. When she does nod at him
"almost imperceptibly," Nick feels somewhat stunned by her "exhibition of complete self
sufficiency." Jordan is physically appealing to Nick, with her erect athlete's carriage
and "wan, charming, discontented face."

Catherine, however,
is common. When visiting Monte Carlo, she tells Nick, she and her friend had twelve
hundred dollars, but were "gypped out of it all" when gambling and had difficulty
getting home. Catherine, unlike Jordan, is a quite dynamic presence, unrestrained and
ungraceful in her physical movements. When Myrtle's nose is broken, she responds by
flying about the room with Mrs. McKee:

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. . . scolding and consoling as they stumbled
here and there among the crowded furniture with articles of aid . . .
.

This image of Catherine
contrasts vividly with Nick's first image of Jordan lying in repose on the
couch. Catherine's appearance is unappealing, as
well:

[She
had] a solid sticky bob of red hair and a complexion powdered milky white. Her eyebrows
had been plucked and then drawn on again at a more rakish angle but the efforts of
nature toward the restoration of the old alignment gave a blurred air to her face. When
she moved about there was an incessant clinking as innumerable pottery bracelets jingled
up and down upon her
arms.

Jordan is cool and
confident to the point of being haughty; Catherine lacks Jordan's sophistication and
grace.