Chapter 1 – Question 1. Nick tells us at the beginning of the chapter that he is “inclined to reserve all judgments”. What do you think this means? Does this mean we can trust him to tell the story truthfully and without bias? We can trust Nick to tell the story truthfully but he is telling it from his perspective so everything is how it it is seen by Nick. He says he is “inclined to reserve all judgments”, Nick has already said some very judgemental statements about various characters he has met, this means he is being truthful.
Describe your initial impressions on the following characters: Nick: Nick so far has shown to be curious and always assuming peoples backgrounds and current situations. Tom: Tom is a racist, self centred narcissistic, abusive man that believes the world revolves around him. Daisy: Daisy appears to be very cheerful and chatty but this is just to hide that she believes she is stuck in the marriage and has nowhere she can go. Jordan: Jordan is slightly aloof and just generally not wanting to fully socialise.
Explain the relationship between Tom And Daisy. What seems off about it? Tom and Daisy’s relationship is very complicated and many issues are apparent. Tom has another partner other than Daisy so he isn’t loyal and he also does not respect Daisy. Daisy feels she is trapped in the relationship and has no where to go, there also is the baby that neither Daisy or Tom seem to care about.
At the end of the chapter, Nick sees mr. Gatsby reaching towards a light. What seems strange about this? Do u think Gatsby has a special connection to it? Mr Gatsby reaching towards a light seems strange because he was trembling and it was like Gatsby and the light had a connection.
The Valley of Ashes – “… the motor road hastily joins the railroad… so as to shrink away (a subtle cringe movement/ personification) from a certain desolate area of land(desolate – empty, bleak). This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into the ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses(everything about there world is bleak and grey) and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort(beyond or above the range of normal or physical human experience, just living/existing takes more effort for this group, not how ‘most’ people live), of ash- grey men who move dimly(slow, difficult, quiet, alone) and already crumbling(breaking apart, dying), through the powdery air.”
Chapter 2 – Question 1: How does the scene at the apartment develop our perception of Tom? The scene at the apartment showed us that Tom definitely is an arrogant man and will physically hurt anyone who challenges him or his views. It also shows us that Tom doesn’t want to get married to Mrs Wilson because he hs lied to her saying Daisy is catholic.
Question 2: Nick states that he “was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” What do you think he means by this? Nick isn’t apart of this life style as it is his first time getting drunk and does not fit in with the group although he is there. He is fascinated in the way the people in the room live but also disgusted by it at the same time.
“East Egg(old money-protect it) Condescending to West Egg(new money-flaunt it), and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic (range of bright coloured light) gaiety (cheerful, lighthearted).” East Egg doesn’t want to taint itself with the bright crazy lifestyle of West Egg.
Chapter 4 – Question 1: Who is Meyer Wolfsheim, and what do we know about him? Meyer Wolfsheim is a gambler who was involved in a fixed match of baseball in 1919 which was the world series.
Question 2: What is weird about Nick’s drive into New York with Gatsby? Nick’s drive into New York with Gatsby is weird because Gatsby is constantly trying to prove who he is and tell Nick about his life and showing him evidence to support this. Gatsby also showed a policeman a card after he was caught speeding and was let off without charges.
Question 3: List at least three things about Gatsby in the car scene that strike you as odd. 1. White card allows Gatsby to speed – 2. Gatsby sharing his life story with props to back it – 3. Gatsby saying he’s from the mid west and San Fransisco which is not in the mid west
Question 4: Jordan recalls the time in 1917 when she saw Gatsby and Daisy together. From Jordan’s description, do you think Daisy was genuinely interested in Gatsby? Daisy was genuinely interested in Gatsby and the only reason they didn’t marry is because Gatsby had to go to war. Daisy cried with a letter in hand supposedly from Gatsby. Daisy was going to see Gatsby before he left for war.
Question 5: Nick says, “Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night” when Nick first spotted Gatsby reaching out across the bay. What does Nick now realise about that night and about Gatsby’s real estate purchase? Gatsby solely bought the house because Daisy was across the bay.
“‘If it wasn’t for the mist(water/rain), we could see your home across the bay.’ said Gatsby, ‘You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock’.. he seemed absorbed(Gatsby is having a personal revelation) in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance(of really large importance)of that light had now vanished forever(The significance of the idea(Daisy and his life with her)will never return). Compared to the great distance(the great distance between G+D is social class structures and Time – 5 years) that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon(simile, at first glance, these seem to be right next to each other. In reality they are universes apart). Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted(possibly this is the first moment where his belief in the enchantment he has created begins to falter) objects had diminished by one).”
“There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams(Gatsby dreams of 5 years ago when he and Daisy fell in love) – not through her own fault(this is his illusion), but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion(power that keeps life going – strength – Gatsby’s illusion(the idea that he + Daisy can live happily ever after) is extremely strong. This illusion is the thing that keeps his life going). It had gone beyond her, beyond everything(this isn’t actually about daisy anymore – it’s about the idea of her from 5 years ago. It’s much bigger than just a relationship now). He had thrown himself into it(given it everything) with a creative passion(made it his own), adding to it all the time, decking it out(made it more than expected) with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart(nothing in reality can change the belief that Gatsby has held so close to his heart for so long. As a consequences, everything will be disappointment).”
Chapter 5 – Question 1: Describe Gatsby’s feelings toward the meeting with Daisy. Find two quotes to support your description. Explain why he might be feeling the way you have identified. “… he got up and informed me, in an uncertain voice, that he was going home”. “I went out and opened it. Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.” These two quotes show how extremely nervous Gatsby was before Daisy had arrived and how gloomy he was feeling.
Question 2: A new symbol becomes apparent in this chapter. Find three quotes which mention rain, the ocean, mist or water of some kind. Write them down and consider what connection they might have to Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship. It shows how Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship may seem to be getting better but eventually it gets back to the stale position it will always be in just like the rain fading and returning. Also the water represents the gap between Gatsby and Daisy which they can never fill.
Question 3: Discuss the connection between Gatsby and the clock that he breaks on the mantelpiece. A quote to help you understand this might be “He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.”- Nick, chapter five. Like the clock Gatsby had been solely focused on one thing (his illusion) for so long and now he is breaking down.
Question 4: Why do you think that Gatsby wants Nick to host this afternoon tea? How important is it to Gatsby that Daisy sees his house? Gatsby wants Nick to host because then Daisy can have the comparison between Nick’s humble home and Gatsby’s eccentric mansion.
Question 5: Why do you think Daisy cries over Gatsby’s shirts? She cries over the shirts because she realises what she has missed by not waiting for Gatsby to get back from the war. This includes his personality and his materialistic things.
“The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg Long Island, sprang from his platonic(A Greek Philosopher he believed that ideas are seperate from reality, Our reality is what we believe.) conception of himself(his conception is the person he created, Jay Gatsby)… he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby a seventeen-year-old boy is likely to invent, and to the conception he was faithful to the end(Gatsby’s conception has became his life and is no longer the James Gatz from those years ago.”
Chapter 6 – Question 1: Give an overview of where Gatsby came from. How different is this to the rumours that we have heard about him? How true do you think his story about the war and Oxford is now? Gatsby came from a humble farm in North Dakota and left his parents in search of more extravagant life, this is very different to his story he has created about going to Oxford.
Question 2: Find two quotes that show us Gatsby ‘reinvented’ himself. “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career.”
Question 3: Consider the quote “a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing.” What do you think this has to do with the idea that you can design your own reality? How do you think this applies to Gatsby? Someones life can be founded on something not real, in Gatsby’s case his whole life is based on the character he has created himself to be.
Question 4: Describe Daisy’s reaction to the party. Find two quotes to support your observation. “But the rest offended her – and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion, she was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented ‘place’ that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village.” “Lots of people come who are haven’t been invited… They simply force their way in and he’s too polite to object. Daisy hates the way people act at Gatsby’s party and the type of people it brings in.
Question 5: Why is it significant that Daisy says “I’m giving out green” during the party? Because green is associated with hope so she is essentially saying she is giving out hope.
Question 6: Gatsby seems to think that Nick’s opinion that “You can’t repeat the past” is insane. Find his response to this line in the novel and write it down. Why do you think he needs to hold this opinion? “Why of course you can.” If Gatsby did not believe he could not repeat the past his purpose in life would be lost because this means he would not be able to get back together with Daisy.
Chapter 7 – Question 1: Nick observes that “the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes.” What do you think he means by this? Note: the quote relates to Gatsby and Daisy and is near the beginning of chapter one. Now that Daisy is unimpressed by the parties Gatsby has lost interest in hosting them.
Question 2: Why do you think Fitzgerald set the events of this chapter on the hottest day of the story so far? Consider how this might connect to the water symbolism. On a hot day water evaporates and this symbolises the 5 years time between Gatsby and Daisy has dissapeareed.
Question 3: Gatsby tells Nick that “Her voice is full of money” in regards to Daisy. Explain what this means. Money represents green and green represents hope so it means Daisy’s voice is full of hope.
Question 4: High in a white palace, the kings daughter, the golden girl”. This line appears as Nick is describing Daisy and her voice. Why do you think it is significant? What does it tell us about her? This is showing how Gatsby values Daisy higher than anything even himself.
Question 5: Comment on the situation at the palace hotel. Do you think Daisy ever had any intention of leaving Tom? Find a quote to support your answer. ‘Not that day I carried you down from the Punch Bowl to keep your shoes dry?’ There was a husky tenderness in his tone. ‘… Daisy?’ ‘Please don’t.’ Her voice was cold, but the rancour was gone from it.” When Daisy remembers the good times with Tom she knows she will not leave him.
Question 6: Break down the following quotation, as we have done as a class on the board. Explain what is revealed about ‘the dream’ in this quote.
“But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself(Daisy was now removed from the room and lost in her thoughts), so he gave that up, and only the dead dream(Gatsby and Daisy being together is no longer possible) fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, despairingly, towards that lost voice across the room.” Gatsby keeps fighting for the dream of being with Daisy but it is gone.
Question 7: Reflect on the death of Myrtle Wilson and think about the fact that she was killed by a member of the ‘elite upper class’. Comment on what statement Fitzgerald is making about the privilege the very wealthy believe they possess. Gatsby and Daisy believe because he is in a higher class than Myrtle he can just leave her dead on the side of the road with no consequences.
Chapter 8: If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world(Gatsby lived in a world where he believed he would live happily ever after with Daisy. This world is now gone), paid a high price(He pays with his life, the price is death) for living too long with a single dream(The American Dream with Daisy). He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is(metaphor for how Daisy. A rose looks beautiful and perfect. It, however has thorns and can cause a lot of harm)and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real(Given he is about to die, this world exists for Gatsby but it will never be reality), where poor ghosts(his past comes back to life with his realisation), breathing dreams like air(his past comes back to life with his realisation), drifted fortuitously about … Nick believes Gatsby has a realisation about his obsession with Daisy.
Chapter 8 – Question 1: Comment on your reaction to Gatsby’s story about falling in love with Daisy. It’s a normal falling in love story, I would believe it would be more extravagant considering how attracted to Daisy Gatsby is.
Question 2: The idea of the golden girl is developed in this chapter. Comment on how the following quotes help us to understand Daisy’s status as the golden girl of the story: 1.“It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy- it increased her value in his eyes” Gatsby valued things that other people desired, this is why the fact that many men admired Daisy excited him. “He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn’t realise just how extraordinary a ‘nice girl’ could be.” Daisy being a ‘nice girl’ added more value to her in Gatsby’s eyes “Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.” This quote shows how Daisy is above and detached from the poor, Gatsby is attracted to this because he was once poor and does not want that lifestyle again.
Question 3: Nick says to Gatsby “They’re a rotten crowd…You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” Do you agree with Nick? Explain why/why not. I disagree with Nick because Gatsby is a nice man but I also slightly disagree as Gatsby has spent 5 years of his life clouded by his dream of Daisy
Question 4: Nick tells us the story of Wilson-or at least the version that the media published. In it, the symbol of the eyes is developed further. What does Wilson say to his wife about her actions? Who does he believe is judging her? Do you think that the eyes really symbolise God in this text? Wilson says that she was running out because she knew who was driving the car, even though they did a hit and run. The eyes are believed by Wilson to be god, I believe the eyes don’t symbolise god as they symbolise how no one is looking over them, just a billboard.
Question 5: Gatsby is shot and killed in his swimming pool. Comment on the significance of this particular setting in connection to Gatsby’s death. Think about the reason that Gatsby is killed and how this might connect with what we already know about the water symbolism. Gatsby dying in the pool shows how time (symbolised by water) eventually caught up with Gatsby eventing in his death.
Chapter 9 – Question 1: Why do you think no one came to Gatsby’s funeral? What does this tell us about “living too long with a single dream?” He spent so much time focusing on this dream that it pushed other people away.
Question 2: What was your impression of Gatsby’s father? Did you learn anything from Nick’s interactions with him that helps you to understand Gatsby better? Does your opinion of him change? Use quotes to support your answer. Gatsby’s father is a simple humble man compared to his eccentric son. My opinion slightly changes of Gatsby because before Nick’s interaction with Mr Gatz, I thought Gatsby would have left his family and never looked back instead but he provided financial support and frequent visits. “He had a big future before him, you know. He was only a
young man but he had a lot of brain power here.’
He touched his head impressively and I nodded.
‘If he’d of lived he’d of been a great man.”
Question 3: When Wolfshiem says “I raised him up out of nothing, right out of the gutter”, how is the idea of Gatsby ‘creating himself’ become more developed? Gatsby did not create himself completely, he had a lot of help from Wolfshiem who showed him the ins and outs of the business.
Question 4: Nick says that “After Gatsby’s death, the East was haunted for me…distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction.” What does he mean by this? What does he start to realise? Look for the comparison between West Egg and the El Greco painting to support your answer. Gatsby now sees the corruption in the east, how the rich control the poor. The comparison between El Greco’s painting and West Egg is, in these places wealth is valued more than the actual person who had the money.
Question 5: What final thing is established for us about Daisy in this chapter? What do we come to fully understand about her? Is she, in fact, the rose that Nick has described? She is definitely the rose that Nick described her as, she seem harmless and beautiful at first look, but really she can cause harm once you get closer to her.
Question 6: Tom tells Nick that Gatsby “threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s.” What do you think he means by this? How does this support the notion that Gatsby was an illusion? Tom sees how Gatsby has used his charm and wealth to blind people from the person he actually is. The dust is a cover for Gatsby’s true identity.
Question 7: Break down the following quotation: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” It supports the notion shown throughout the book that the wealthy can do what they want with little to no consequences, especially towards the poor. This includes murder.
8. Nick describes Gatsby’s home as a ‘huge incoherent failure of a house…” What does he mean by this? What is it symbolic of? This is symbolic of Gatsby’s life and how on the outside it looks grand and extravagant but really on the inside it is jumbled and unloved.
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