THE GREAT GATSBY
CH.1 READING LOG MODELING
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER(S) ASSIGNED:
• Narrator receives advice from father: “Whenever you feel like
criticizing anyone … just remember that all the people in this world
haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” (5) – Implication =
narrator comes from an upper class life (“advantages”)
• Meaning = don’t judge others
• Narrator seems to have mixed feelings about Gatsby (6)
• “Prominent” background (7) – family wholesale hardware business
• Narrator’s father agrees “to finance me for a year and after
various delays I came east, permanently, I thought, in the spring of
twenty-two.” (7)
• Decides to be a bonds man
• Lives in a bungalow rental at $80/month – had a dog (ran away)
and Finnish woman made his bed and cooked breakfast for him
(8)
• Well-read, went to Yale (8)
Setting
• Lives on an “egg” in New York
• “I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two,
though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and
not a little sinister contrast between them.” (9)
• “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard – it
was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with
a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw
ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of
lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion.” (9)
• “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East
Egg glittered along the water …” (10)
TOM
• Strong physically, dominating presence, arrogant …
• “Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could
hide the enormous power of that body – he seemed to fill
those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and
you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his
shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable
of enormous leverage – a cruel body.” (11)
• “ ‘I’ve got a nice place here,’ he said, his eyes flashing
about restlessly.” (12)
• “Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear
windows and the caught wind died out about the room
and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women
ballooned slowly to the floor.” (12)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What purpose do the first four paragraphs serve? What advice
does Nick's father give him? Why does Fitzgerald have Nick
share his father's advice with the reader?
Define the setting of the story. How is West Egg different from
East Egg? What details lead you to this conclusion?
Interpret the oxymoron: “Two old friends whom I scarcely knew
at all.” Why does the narrator say this?
Describe Tom Buchanan. What tone does the author use in his
description?
Define the relationship between Tom and Daisy. What details
give you this impression?
What does Daisy mean when she said, “I'm glad it's a girl. And I
hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this
world, a beautiful little fool.”?
When Nick starts the engine of his car, Daisy stops him by
making the statement, “We heard you were engaged to a girl
out West.” What does Nick's answer reveal about his
character?