Name: ______________________________________ Period: ______ Date: _______________________________
Chapter Six Classwork
Episode One
1. Will the real Jay Gatsby please stand up? In the area below, list five details about Gatsby past…his real past.
2. How do the true details of Gatsby’s past relate to Gatsby’s current persona?
3. Through Gatsby’s development, explain F. Scott Fitzgerald’s view of the American character and Gatsby’s connection
to the American Dream.
4. Explain Dan Cody’s role in Gatsby’s development.
Episode Two
In this section, Fitzgerald sets-up a complication in the novel that creates a major source of tension. Explain the tension
Fitzgerald creates and explain the significance and potential effects of this tension on later events in the novel.
Episode Three
1. Refer to chapter three and Nick’s description of Gatsby’s party. In a text-based response, explain the tone Nick
establishes at the first party.
2. Look at Nick’s description of Gatsby’s party as Nick presents it in chapter six. In a text-based response, explain the
tone of this party.
3. In a single sentence, sum-up the difference in tone between the two parties.
4. Gatsby throws these parties in order to impress Daisy. How does Gatsby’s plan pan out?
5. Explain the dangers inherent in Gatsby’s obsession with the past. **Note Nick’s warning to Gatsby.
6. Read Nick’s recounting of Gatsby’s discussion of the past. In Gatsby’s eyes, how does this memory capture his
idealized version of the past?
7. Each of the following examples shares one key word in common:
“Perhaps you know that lady.” Gatsby indicated a gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman who sat in state
under a white plum tree. Tom and Daisy stared, with that peculiarly unreal feeling that accompanies the
recognition of a hitherto ghostly celebrity of the movies.
It was like that. Almost the last thing I remember was standing with Daisy and watching the moving-picture
director and his Star. They were still under the white plum tree and their faces were touching except for a pale,
thin ray of moonlight between.
They [Gatsby and Daisy] came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight.
They stopped here and turned toward each other.
His [Gatsby] heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed
this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like
the mind of God.
a. The word is: _________________________.
b. Normally, the connotations of this word indicate:
c. Do these common associations of this word apply in the context of The Great Gatsby? Explain.