(These questions come from a resource guide published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.)
Chapter One The Great Gatsby
1. What is the advice Nick’s father has given him that he has been "turning over in
his mind?"
2. As a consequence of that advice, what habit has Nick developed?
3. What does Gatsby represent to Nick?
4. What "extraordinary gift" does Nick find in Gatsby?
5. Nick says, "No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end." What is it that bothers
Nick?
6. What does Nick go east to learn?
7. What season and year does Nick go east during?
8. Nick says that the environment of the place where he lives gives him "that
familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."
Nick’s environment has been compared to the Biblical Eden. It exemplifies a fresh beginning.
If we sustain this comparison to Eden, what do you predict will happen in the end?
9. What state does the novel take place in?
10. What part of the state does Nick live in? How does he compare it with East Egg?
11. Who is Nick’s neighbor?
12. Give a brief description of his neighbor’s house.
13. Who lives in East Egg whom Nick knows?
14. What had Tom Buchanan done at New Haven?
15. Nick says at the beginning of the novel that he is "inclined to reserve all
judgment." Later he says, "I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking a little
wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game." Is he
reserving all judgment here? What do you think is Nick’s opinion of Tom?
16. Daisy’s first words are "’I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’" What is your first
impression of Daisy?
17. Chapter one contains the first reference to the automobile.
What does Nick say about the rear wheels of the cars?
18. How old is Tom and Daisy’s daughter?
19. What is our first indication that Tom abuses Daisy?
20. Notice all references to eyes in the novel. What do a person’s eyes say about him
or her? How does Nick describe Daisy’s and Jordan Baker’s eyes?
21. What is Tom upset about?
22. What causes Jordan Baker to "Sh!" Nick? What is she listening for? What does
she reveal to Nick about Tom?
23. Daisy tells Nick, "I’m pretty cynical about everything." Based on what you know,
what do you believe has caused Daisy to become cynical?
24. Tom and Daisy’s home is crimson and white. Based on your knowledge of color
symbolism, what could these two colors symbolize or tell us about their marriage?
25. What is the only thing that Nick can determine Gatsby is stretching his hands to
in the dark?
Chapter Two The Great Gatsby
1. What is half way between East Egg and New York?
2. What might ashes symbolize?
3. What appears out of nowhere in the Valley of Ashes? (hint: remember the
importance of eyes to the novel)
4. Why does Nick meet Tom’s mistress even though he has no desire to meet her?
5. What three shops are located on the Main Street of the Valley of Ashes?
6. What is George B. Wilson’s occupation?
7. What are four descriptions Nick gives of George Wilson?
8. What springs into George Wilson’s eyes when he sees Tom and Nick?
9. What instructions does Tom give Myrtle Wilson?
10. Nick says he got drunk that afternoon for only the second time in his life.
If he is drunk, can the reader be certain that everything Nick tells us about the day is accurate?
11. Is Myrtle really experiencing what it is like to be rich, or is she playing house at
Tom’s amusement?
12. Catherine tells Nick that she had attended one of Gatsby’s parties. What does
this seem to imply about Gatsby and his popularity?
13. Where does Myrtle believe Gatsby gets his money?
14. Catherine confides to Nick, "’Neither of them can stand the person they’re
married to." Do you, at this point in the novel, believe this is true or false?
15. Why would Tom lie to Myrtle about Daisy’s being Catholic and that preventing
their divorce?
16. Why did Myrtle marry George Wilson?
17. What seemed to be a great disappointment for Myrtle concerning her marriage to
George? What does her reaction to the episode tell you about where she places
value?
18. What causes Tom and Myrtle to fight around midnight?
19. What does Tom do to Myrtle?
20. At the end of the chapter, why is Nick rambling to the point of utter confusion?
Chapter Three The Great Gatsby
1. What simile does Fitzgerald use to describe the way people came and went to
Gatsby’s parties?
2. What does Gatsby’s Rolls-Royce seem to become on the weekends?
3. What arrives at Gatsby’s every Friday?
4. What leaves Gatsby’s every Monday? What change has occurred?
5. How does Gatsby provide music for his parties?
6. What is present at Gatsby’s parties that the Volstead Act of 1919 prohibited?
7. What about Nick is different from the other guests at Gatsby’s parties?
8. Nick says, "People were not invited." What does he say that they do instead?
9. What rules of behavior seem to apply at Gatsby’s parties?
10. Who comes to invite Nick to Gatsby’s party? What color, specifically, is his suit?
11. What adjective does Nick use to describe Gatsby’s handwriting?
12. What color does Nick dress in to attend Gatsby’s party? What meaning might this
color convey?
13. Nick calls the groups of people "swirls and eddies of people I didn’t know." What
could he mean by this metaphor?
14. Who appears as a rescue for Nick from his plans "to get roaring drunk from sheer
embarrassment"?
15. What sport do we learn that Jordan plays?
16. Several women at the party recognize and seem to have met Jordan at some of
Gatsby’s other parties. What does Jordan’s inability to recognize or remember
these people say about the relationships established at these parties?
17. What’s one of the first rumors we hear about Gatsby?
18. What’s the second piece of gossip we learn?
19. What contradicts the second piece of gossip?
20. What does the woman who thinks Gatsby a murderer base her opinion on?
21. What is the owl-eyed man in the library most surprised about? What does his
astonishment tell you about the society of the day?
22. What has the owl-eyed man been for about a week?
23. What quality does Gatsby’s smile possess?
24. How old does Nick assume Gatsby to be?
25. Gatsby receives a message from his butler that "Chicago was calling him on the
wire." Based on any prior knowledge of Chicago and the 1920s, what might you
assume about Gatsby?
26. What has Gatsby told Jordan about himself?
27. What message does Fitzgerald send about uncontrollable drinking through the
scene of the automobile accident as Nick leaves Gatsby’s party?
28. Owl Eyes is the man driving the car. What is his first disclaimer about his
knowledge concerning cars? What is his second disclaimer about his knowledge
concerning driving? What does this tell you about the situation?
29. What information from Owl Eyes shocks the crowd?
30. Who does Nick find again in midsummer?
31. How does Nick describe what he begins to feel for Jordan?
32. What causes Nick to remember a story about Jordan’s past?
33. What about Jordan’s past nearly reached a scandal?
34. How does Nick describe Jordan’s driving? What does her driving ability reflect
about her character?
35. What does Nick define as one of his cardinal virtues?
Chapter 4 The Great Gatsby
1. Where are the people when the Church bells are ringing on Sunday morning? What
might this tell you about their morality?
2. What is the next piece of gossip we hear about Gatsby’s possible career?
3. Based on the list of people who attend Gatsby’s parties, how could these people be described?
4. What does Mr. Klipspringer become known as and why?
5. Gatsby arrives at Nick’s house early one July morning. What is his purpose?
6. Gatsby’s car is something to admire. What might his car be symbolic of?
7. What disappoints Nick about Gatsby?
8. What replaces Nick’s first impression of Gatsby?
9. What, exactly, does Gatsby reveal to Nick about himself?
10. What three habits of Gatsby’s speaking make Nick believe he may be lying about
his past?
11. Do you believe Gatsby? Why or why not?
12. Where does Gatsby say his money comes from?
13. What simile does Nick use to describe his fascination?
14. What proof does Gatsby offer Nick that he was in the army and involved in Montenegro?
15. What does Gatsby carry as proof of his education at Oxford?
16. How does Gatsby’s character change as he nears the city?
17. What do Nick and Gatsby pass through on their way to the city?
18. What does Gatsby’s waving off of the policeman with a supposed card from the
commissioner suggest about his character?
19. Whom do we meet at lunch with Gatsby?
20. Meyer Wolfshiem is a foreshadowing of Gatsby’s past. What do you infer Mr.
Wolfshiem to be involved in based on his fragmented conversations with Gatsby?
21. Wolfshiem juxtaposes his story of the deaths of
five men involved in illegal action with his statement "I understand you’re looking
for a business gonnection." What could this suggest about Gatsby’s tie to
Wolfshiem?
22. What occupation does Gatsby attribute to Wolfshiem? What scandal does Gatsby
link to Wolfsheim?
23. What happens to Gatsby’s face when he meets Tom?
24. The word Fay is synonymous to fairy. Daisy’s maiden name symbolizes her free
spirit. What color do we seem to most often associate with Daisy?
25. Who does Jordan meet for the first time in 1917? Whom is this person with?
26. What rumor circulates about Daisy in 1917?
27. How does Jordan know details of Daisy’s wedding day?
28. What two items are in Daisy’s hands as she lies drunk on her bed a half and hour
before her bridal dinner?
29. Based on what you have learned about the events of 1917, whom might this letter be from?
30. What is Gatsby’s reason for purchasing his house in West Egg?
31. What then, in addition to the green light, was Gatsby reaching out to and
trembling for at the end of chapter one?
32. What does Gatsby want Nick to arrange for him?
33. Why is it important that Daisy and Gatsby reunite at Nick’s home and not at
Jordan’s or elsewhere?
34. What phrase rings in Nick’s ears? Translate that phrase to mean something to you.
35. Does Daisy know about the meeting?
Chapter Five The Great Gatsby
1. What is Gatsby doing at two in the morning? What is his real intention?
2. Gatsby doesn’t want to put Nick to any trouble. What does this tell you about
him?
3. What does Gatsby suggest in order to try to help Nick with his financial state?
4. What does Gatsby do to Nick’s home to prepare for his tea with Daisy?
5. What colors make up Gatsby’s attire? What do these colors symbolize?
6. What is Gatsby’s emotional state prior to Daisy’s arrival at Nick’s?
7. What surprises Nick on his reentry into his living room?
8. What description does Nick give of Gatsby standing at his door?
9. What is the atmosphere in the room when Daisy and Gatsby first reunite?
10. What change occurs in Daisy’s character?
11. What does Gatsby first believe about the arranged meeting?
12. Rain is an important symbol in literature. What could it signify in chapter five?
13. What, according to Nick, are Americans occasionally willing to be? What does he
mean by this statement?
14. What change has occurred in Gatsby upon Nicks reentering the house?
15. Why is it important that Daisy see Gatsby’s house?
16. How does Gatsby contradict his past in telling Nick the time it took him to earn
his money for his house? How does he correct himself? What do you believe is the
true story about Gatsby’s money?
17. Your bedroom is supposed to be a true revelation of who you are. What does
Gatsby’s bedroom say about him?
18. Daisy justifies her crying by saying, "It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such
beautiful shirts before." Why is she really crying?
19. What does Gatsby reveal to Daisy about the placement of her house?
20. Who is in the picture that Nick notices?
21. Nick says, "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy
tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault but because of the
colossal vitality of his illusion." Has Gatsby made Daisy out to be more than she
really is?
22. We don’t know what happened in the exchange between Gatsby and Daisy while
Nick stands in the rain outside of his home. What things do you believe might
have been said? Remember, Nick returns to find Daisy’s face streaked with tears.
Chapter Six The Great Gatsby
1. Who arrives to investigate Gatsby?
2. What was Gatsby's legal name?
3. At what age did he change his name?
4. What event initiated the changing of his name?
5. Who created Jay Gatsby?
6. What had James Gatz been doing before he met Dan Cody?
7. What was James Gatz's financial state?
8. Fitzgerald alludes to a famous American writer. To whom does he allude in the
following statement: "He stayed there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious
indifference to the drums of his destiny . . ."
9. What does Fitzgerald say about Gatsby in making this allusion?
10. What does Dan Cody's yacht represent to Gatz?
11. What does Gatsby do for Dan Cody?
12. What does Cody leave to Gatsby? Why does he not get it?
13. When do Gatsby and Tom meet? Under what circumstance?
14. Do Tom, Mr. Sloane, and the woman really want Gatsby to come along on
horseback?
15. What adjective does Fitzgerald use to describe Tom's eyes? What does this
adjective reveal about the man?
16. How does Tom want to look at famous people? What does his remark say about
him?
17. What does Tom guess about the source of Gatsby's wealth?
18. What does Gatsby want of Daisy?
19. What advice does Nick give Gatsby about the past?
20. What does Gatsby plan to do to gain Daisy's favor?
Chapter 7 The Great Gatsby
1. What change occurs at Gatsby's on Saturday night?
2. What reason does Gatsby give for firing all of his servants?
3. Who comes to see Gatsby in the afternoons?
4. Nick says, "So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the
disapproval in her eyes." Why has Gatsby made all of these changes in his
home?
5. Chapter 7 takes place near the end of the summer. What might this setting
symbolize?
6. What simile does Fitzgerald use to describe how Daisy and Jordan are laying on
the couch? What colors are mentioned? What is important about these colors?
7. Gatsby stands on the crimson carpet as he learns that Tom is in the house.
What might the color of the carpet and the placement at his feet symbolize?
8. Daisy tells Gatsby, "You know I love you." Is she telling the truth? Why or
why not?
9. What had Gatsby not believed in the existence before this day?
10. What metaphor does Daisy use to describe her child?
11. Jordan says, "life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." How is
Jordan's statement ironic? (Hint: Think about what happens in nature in the
fall of the year.)
12. What does Gatsby recognize Daisy's voice as being full of?
13. Why do Tom, Jordan, and Nick stop at Wilson's garage?
14. What car is Tom driving when he stops at Wilson's?
15. What color is Gatsby's car (the one Tom's driving)?
16. What has Wilson discovered about his wife?
17. Who is watching Tom, Nick, Jordan, and Wilson?
18. Who is Myrtle really watching? Whom does she believe this person to be?
19. What two people are slipping from Tom's control?
20. What is happening beneath the parlor suite at the Plaza Hotel as Tom and
Daisy's marriage is dissolving? What literary device is being employed here?
21. What causes Nick to have a renewal of his faith in Gatsby?
22. Tom gives an intense lecture about the family institution. How is this lecture
ironic?
23. What does Gatsby tell Tom about Daisy's love?
24. Why does Daisy not marry Gatsby?
25. Tom proclaims, "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off
on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my
heart I love her all the time." Think deeply. Do Tom and Daisy really love
each other?
26. What, specifically, does Gatsby want Daisy to tell Tom?
27. What confuses Gatsby about Daisy's love for him?
28. What can Daisy not say about her love for Tom?
29. What does Daisy plan to do?
30. What does Gatsby really sell at his drug stores?
31. Once again we have the possible allusion to the Garden of Eden. Nick notices
in Gatsby's face "the babbled slander of his garden." What has happened to
Gatsby's dream?
32. What adjective does Fitzgerald use to describe Gatsby's dream? Why is this
adjective so appropriate to the story?
33. What does Michaelis witness in front of his restaurant?
34. A "well dressed Negro" identifies the car which killed Myrtle. What color
does he say the car is? Using your inference skills, who are the two possible
murderers?
35. Who is waiting in the bushes outside of the Buchanan house? Why is he
there?
36. Who was driving the "death car"?
37. How does Gatsby describe Myrtle's approach to the car?
38. Fitzgerald writes, "They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the
chicken or the ale--and yet they weren't unhappy either. There was an
unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have
said that they were conspiring together." Now, think about these words
carefully. Do Tom and Daisy love each other? Explain your answer in detail.
39. What does Nick say Gatsby is watching over?
Chapter Eight The Great Gatsby
1. What happened in the previous chapter that causes Nick to lose sleep?
2. Why does Nick suggest Gatsby go away?
3. What is Gatsby clutching to?
4. What increases Daisy's value in Gatsby's eyes?
5. Gatsby takes Daisy under false pretenses. What are these false pretenses?
6. When does Gatsby find out that Daisy has moved on? How does she notify
him?
7. Why does the servant plan to drain the pool? What season is approaching?
8. Nick says, "I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I
ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end." Why
would Nick give someone he disapproves of such a compliment as "You're worth
the whole damn bunch put together"?
9. What has changed about Nick's feelings for Jordan?
10. Michaelis tells George, "you ought to have a church, George, for times like
this." How is this a commentary on the morals of the society?
11. Who does Wilson identify as being God?
12. Where does Wilson reappear after he disappears from his garage?
13. Where does Gatsby go that he hasn't gone all summer?
14. What does Wilson do to Gatsby?
15. What completes the "holocaust"?
16. In literature, water can symbolize many things. It most often symbolizes
baptism, a cleansing, a rebirth. Gatsby has "paid a high price for living too
long with a single dream." What could his death in a pool of water signify
about the man and his life?
Chapter Nine The Great Gatsby
1. What does Nick remember about the day of Gatsby's death?
2. What four adjectives does Nick use to describe the newspaper reports of
Gatsby's and Wilson's deaths?
3. What literary device explains this situation? Gatsby, a man who was always
surrounded by people, dies with only Nick on his side.
4. What does Nick learn about Tom and Daisy?
5. What does Nick try to do for Gatsby?
6. Who is Henry C. Gatz?
7. What does Kilpspringer call about?
8. What rule does Wolfshiem live by concerning friends?
9. What is his rule after that?
10. What does Mr. Gatz show to Nick in the "Hopalong Cassidy" book?
11. What does Mr. Gatz believe this says about his son?
12. What does Nick identify the middle-west as being to him?
13. When Nick says, "I see know that this has been a story of the West, after
all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and
perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly
inadaptable to Eastern live." What does Nick mean by this observation?
14. When does Nick go home?
15. What does Nick do before he goes home?
16. What does Nick learn about Jordan before he leaves?
17. Who is the other "bad driver" Jordan has met?
18. What comment does Nick make about being thirty?
19. Who do we learn was Wilson's informant?
20. Why does Nick classify Tom and Daisy as careless?
21. What does Nick believe Gatsby believed in? What meaning did the green light
hold for Gatsby?
22. Explain what Nick means by his closing statement: "So we beat on, boats
against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
The Novel as a Whole (These questions come from a resource guide published by
Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.) for Socratic Seminar. Use evidence from the text to support your
answers.
1. Discuss Nick Carraway's character. How reliable is he as a narrator? What
aspects of his character make him an effective narrator?
2. Why is the first-person narrative an effective and appropriate way of telling
this story?
3. Discuss the title of the book. In what way is Gatsby "great"?
4. An epigraph is a quotation at the beginning of a work that reflects on that
work. How does the epigraph to the novel reflect on Gatsby's story?
5. Discuss the relationship between Tom and Daisy. What do they have in
common? Why do they stay together? Does their relationship change at all
during the course of the novel?
6. How does Fitzgerald use Gatsby's parties to present a satirical portrait of the
Roaring Twenties?
7. Compare and contrast the characters of Daisy and Myrtle Wilson.
8. Discuss the relationship between Nick and Jordan Baker. How does it reflect,
if at all, on the story of Gatsby and Daisy?
9. Discuss Fitzgerald's use of the automobile in this novel. What do you think
might have made the automobile an appealing symbol to Fitzgerald in the early
1920s?
10. Contrast the setting of the Valley of Ashes with that of East Egg and West
Egg.
11. Describe the gradual revelation of Gatsby's character. What do we learn
about him and when? Why is this an appropriate way of learning about him?
12. Tom and Daisy, we are told, drifted around before settling in East Egg, and
Nick expects them to continue to drift. Other characters in the novel, while
not drifters, appear to be rootless. How much does rootlessness have to do
with the characters' problems, do you think?
13. How would you describe the theme of this novel?
14. Gatsby's tragedy is that he chooses the wrong dream (Daisy). Has he been
corrupted by society? Or is his choice an indication that he is part of the
corruption?
15. Nick says that Gatsby "represented everything for which I have an unaffected
scorn," and yet he also says that Gatsby "turned out all right at the end,"
and he tells Gatsby that he is "worth the whole damn bunch put together."
With these quotations in mind, analyze Nick's attitude toward
Gatsby.
16. Compare and contrast the characters of Tom and Gatsby. In what ways are
they similar? In what ways are they different?
17. Once critic has written that "the theme of Gatsby is the withering of the
American Dream." What evidence can you find in the novel which supports this contention?
18. In an essay, analyze Fitzgerald's use of symbolism in The Great Gatsby. How
does his use of symbolism help advance Fitzgerald's thematic interests?