The Great Gatsby

Chapter One:
1. How does Nick describe himself at the beginning of the book?
He is tolerant and doesnt make snap judgments about people. People therefore
tend to confide in him. He is also restless, seeking something he cannot name.
2. How does Nick describe Tom Buchanan?
Tom is aggressive, arrogant, pugnacious, and extremely wealthy.
3. Who is Jordan Baker?
A friend of Daisy.
4. What does Nick find appealing about her?
She is aloof and self-sufficient.
5. Describe the ambiguity in Nicks initial descriptions of Gatsby.
Nick says that Gatsby represented everything for which I have an unaffected
scorn, yet he also says that There was something gorgeous about him, and that
he turned out all right.
6. How does the tone of Nicks description of Tom reveal Nicks feelings about
Tom?
He describes Toms manner as supercilious, his body as cruel, and his voice
as gruff and husky, which added to the impression of fractiousness he
conveyed. These physical descriptions indicate the flaws that Nick sees in Toms
character.
7. How would you describe Daisys state of mind during dinner?
Daisy seems flighty and upset.
8. What does she say and do that help reveal her inner conflicts?
She confesses to Nick that she has become cynical and overly sophisticated and
implies that she is deeply unsatisfied with her marriage.
9. Nick thinks that, given the state of their marriage, Daisy should leave Tom, but it
is clear to him that she has no intention of doing so. What indication is there that
Tom and Daisy are closely linked despite their marital difficulties?
The most significant link between Tom and Daisy is implied after Daisys
outburst to Nick when she smirks as if she had asserted her membership in a
rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.
10. What indications are there that the green light will have a powerful emotional
significance to Gatsby?
Gatsbys gesture and his trembling help to highlight the significance of the green
light.

Chapter Two:
1. How does Nick meet Toms mistress?
Tom meets Nick on a train to New York, and while the train is stopped at a
crossing, he takes Nick to the garage where she lives.
2. How does Myrtle react to Toms arrival?
Myrtle is excited by Toms presence. She makes no effort to hide her feelings
from her husband.
3. Describe George Wilson.
George appears to be a meek, unassertive and unperceptive man.
4. How does he react to Toms arrival?
He is interested in Toms arrival because of a business deal, and apparently he
doesnt notice his wifes feelings.
5. How does Myrtle behave as the party progresses?
She becomes more affected and arrogant as the evening goes on.
6. Describe the setting of the Valley of Ashes where George and Myrtle live.
It is a desolate areas where everything is covered with dust and ash.
7. How does Fitzgerald describe Myrtle Wilson?
She is in her mid-thirties, stout, and not particularly beautiful.
8. Does Myrtles physical appearance reflect her character in any way?
Her physical coarseness reflects her inner coarseness. However, she also has a
sensuality and vitality about her that account for Toms attraction.
9. Compare the setting of the party in this chapter with the setting of the party in
Chapter One.
The Buchanan mansion is light, airy, and elegant, while the apartment is small,
dark, and filled with tasteless appointments. Like Myrtle, the apartment is a kind
of parody of gracious living.
10. Why does Tom attack Myrtle at the end of the party?
He attacks her because she mentions Daisys name. His cold cruelty is displayed
by the attack, which is swift, brutal, and without remorse.

Chapter Three:
1. Describe the two ways in which Nick differs from the other guests at Gatsbys
party.
Nick has been invited to the party by Gatsby. Once he is there, he tried to find
Gatsby and introduce himself.
2. What does Nick think of Gatsby when he first meets him?
Nick finds Gatsby charming. He is totally different from what Nick expected.
Nick is fascinated, and now wants to know the truth about Gatsby.
3. Describe the events and atmosphere of the party.
The party is very crowded with wealthy people, most of whom were not invited
by Gatsby. No one really knows the truth about him, but they all spread rumors
they have heard. There is a lot of drinking and dancing. The atmosphere gets
more wild and desperate as the evening progresses.
4. What does the owl-eyed man in the library find extraordinary about Gatsbys
library?
He is amazed by the fact that the books are real.
5. What does Nick learn about Jordan Baker after he has spent some time with her?
He learns that she is incurably dishonest.
6. How does Nick characterize the guests at Gatsbys party?
Nick characterizes most of Gatsbys guests as self-indulgent and ill-mannered.
They are rude to each other and often comically, but hopelessly, drunk.
7. What do his characterizations tell us about how Nick feels about most of these
people?
He scorns their behavior.
8. What sense of life in the Jazz Age do we get from the description of this party?
The party as a whole provides a cutting satirical portrait of the Jazz Age.
9. Describe two incidents involving automobiles in this chapter.
a. The incident at the end of the party
b. Jordans near-accident later in the summer.
10. What role do automobiles seem to play in the novel so far?
They are dangerous implements in the hands of careless people.

Chapter Four:
1. What does Gatsby tell Nick about himself?
He says that he comes from a wealthy family in the Midwest and was educated at
Oxford. When his parents died, he inherited their money. He traveled the world
trying to forget something from his past and eventually became a war hero.
2. What accomplishment of Meyer Wolfsheims does Gatsby describe to Nick?
Meyer Wolfsheim fixed the 1919 World Series.
3. How does Nick react to this?
Nick is shocked by this piece of information. He never realized that one man
could have the power to do something that could affect so many people.
4. According to Jordan, what did Daisy do on her wedding day?
She got drunk, presumably because she got a letter from Gatsby on the same day.
5. Why does Gatsby want to have tea with Daisy in Nicks house?
Gatsby wants to be alone with Daisy.
6. Why doesnt Gatsby ask Nick for this favor himself?
He is afraid that Nick will be offended by his request and has Jordan ask him.
7. What does Gatsbys friendship with Meyer Wolfsheim imply about his own
background?
It implies that Gatsbys past may not be completely honest.
8. How does Daisy behave after Gatsby goes overseas?
St first, she dates only men who have no chance of getting into the army. Then in
February, she gets engaged to one man and in June marries another. She is
emotionally depressed and desperate.
9. What does her behavior show about her feelings for Gatsby?
It shows that she is probably truly in love with Gatsby.
10. Do you think Gatsby would agree with Nicks phrase: There are only the
pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired? Explain.
It is a good, cynical view of the characters and their behavior. Gatsby with his
extreme idealism, would probably not agreeit is the kind of phrase that arises
from association with the universal skepticism of Jordan.

Chapter Five:
1. What does Gatsby offer Nick in return for Nicks cooperation in inviting Daisy to
his house?
He offers to give Nick some business.
2. What is the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy like initially?
They are very embarrassed and awkward with each other.
3. How are Daisy and Gatsby different when Nick returns to the house after a half an
hour?
They are no longer embarrassed. Daisy has been crying. Gatsby is glowing and
confident.
4. What are Gatsbys feelings by the end of the chapter?
He seems dazed and bewildered. Hes been living with a fantasy of Daisy for so
long that he doesnt quite know how to react to the reality of her.
5. What does Gatsby reply when Nick asks him how he makes his money?
He says, Thats my affair. Gatsby has once again given contradictory
information about his background.
6. Why does Nick find that significant?
Nick realizes that right now Gatsby is so preoccupied with Daisy that he doesnt
know what he is saying.
7. Why do you think Daisy sobs when Gatsby shows her his shirts?
She is moved by the intention behind Gatsbys gesturethat all of this acquisition
is somehow in the service of his love for her.
8. What is the weather like in this chapter?
It alternates between rain and sun.
9. How does it reflect the emotional climate of Gatsby and Daisy?
It reflects the emotional swings that Gatsby and Daisy are experiencing.
10. In this chapter, Gatsbys dream seems to be fulfilled. What indications are there,
though, that reality cannot satisfy his dream?
Gatsby seems bewildered, and Nick realizes that there must have been
momentswhen Daisy tumbled short of his dreamsnot through her own fault,
but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.

Chapter 6:
1. When does James Gatz change his name?
He changes his name when he first meets the millionaire, Dan Cody.
2. Why does he make this change?
He knows this is the chance he has been waiting for to change his life, and he
wants to put his new image of himself forward.
3. What is Daisys real response to the party, according to Nick?
She was offended by its vulgarity.
4. What does Gatsby tell Nick he wants Daisy to do?
Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him.
5. How is the comparison of Gatsby with Christ (he was a son of Godand he
must be about his Fathers business) ironic?
Gatsby is completely in contrast with the ideals of Christ.
6. If the comparison with Christ were to continue throughout the book, what would
happen to Gatsby?
He would be betrayed by his friend and killed.
7. What is Gatsbys view of the past?
He thinks the past can be repeated.
8. When Nick says that Gatsby wanted to recover something, some idea of himself
perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy, what do you think he means?
It is difficult to say exactly what Gatsby wants to recoverperhaps innocence, an
integrity of his dream which, because it now rests with Daisy, is in danger of
being destroyed.
9. At the end of the chapter, Nick describes Gatsby kissing Daisy in Louisville five
years before. What is Gatsby giving up when he kisses her?
He gives up the freedom of purely dreaming.
10. Why?
He knows that his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.

Chapter Seven:
1. Why does Gatsby stop giving parties?
Daisy disapproves of them.
2. When does Tom first realize that Daisy is in love with Gatsby?
Daisy stares at Gatsby and says he always looks so cool.
3. Why is Myrtle Wilson upset when she sees Tom and Jordan?
Myrtle thinks Jordan is Toms wife and is jealous.
4. Why does George Wilson lock Myrtle in the bedroom?
He has realized that she is having an affair, but he doesnt know with whom. He
wants to prevent her from seeing her lover until they can move away.
5. How does Gatsby characterize Daisys voice?
He says that her voice is full of money.
6. What do you think he means by this?
He means that her voice is his fairy-tale dream of wealth and love.
7. Why does Gatsby lose Daisy during the confrontation at the Plaza?
The main reason is his insistence that she deny the truth and claim that she loved
only him. He could have compromised at almost any point and avoided the
confrontation, but to do so would have been to violate the principal aspect of his
relationship with Daisy, which is to possess her in a dream world of the past,
before she knew Tom.
8. Why does Tom insist that Daisy go home with Gatsby?
He does it to emphasize his defeat of Gatsby.
9. What do you think this tells us about Toms character and his relationship with
Daisy?
It shows his cruelty and demonstrates that much of his relationship with Daisy is
based on power rather than love.
10. At the end of the chapter, Gatsby is standing alone, looking out at Daisys house.
Where else in the novel does he do this?
He is standing the same way at the end of Chapter One, but then he was watching
over a dream. Now he is watching over nothing.

Chapter Eight:
1. What does Gatsby tell Nick the night of the accident?
Gatsby tells Nick the story of his origins and his love for Daisy.
2. Did Gatsby want to go to Oxford?
No, he wanted to get back to Daisy.
3. How does George Wilson spend the night after the accident?
He spends the night talking with a neighbor, Michaelis, about his relationship
with Myrtle.
4. What evidence had Wilson found that his wife was having an affair?
He found a dogs leash.
5. What would you say is the principal reason for Daisys appeal to Gatsby?
His wealth and mystery.
6. What do the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg SYMBOLIZE to George Wilson?
They symbolize the eyes of God.
7. What is significant about this symbol?
They are looking over the valley of ashes, or the wasteland that modern life has
become.
8. How does Nick characterize Gatsbys state of mind before he is killed?
He imagines that Gastby has discovered a grotesque and frightening new world,
material without being real.

Chapter Nine:
1. What is the motive publicly given for Wilsons murder of Gatsby?
He is deranged by grief.
2. What does the telephone call from Chicago tell us about Gatsbys business?
It tells us that Gatsby is definitely involved in the big criminal activity that Tom
referred to in Chapter Seven.
3. What does Klipspringer want from Nick?
He wants his tennis shoes.
4. How does Nick react to this?
Nick is frustrated and angry because none of Gatsbys so called friends want to
come to his funeral.
5. Why is Gatsbys father so proud of him?
Mr. Gatz believes that his son was a hard working, self-made man who achieved
great success.
6. What does Tom confess to Nick when they meet that fall?
He admits that he told George Wilson that Gatsby killed Myrtle.
7. Does he regret what he has done?
He feels Gatsby got what he deserved.
8. What does the green light SYMBOLIZE at the end of the novel?
It symbolizes the future that is always beyond our grasp. It symbolizes the
promise of a dream, something we strive for, rather than its fulfillment which may
or may not make us happy.