Study Guide: The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Students should be able to show various symbols the author used and explain
their significance.
Students should be able to illustrate the American Dream as portrayed in the novel
and to show how and what was successful or unsuccessful and explain why.
Students should be able to show a character’s flaw and cite specific actions that
may have led to their downfall.
Students should understand the concept of morality and be able to cite specific
actions which lead to a judgment or understanding of a character’s morality.
Students should be able to cite an author’s use of irony and explain its significance.
Students should be able to plot the events in the novel and explain their
significance to plot development.
Students should be able to understand the author’s character development and the
importance of specific traits and actions of characters to the development of the
novel.
Standards
RL. 11. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7, 9, 10
L. 11.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
SL. 11. 1
W. 11. 4
Vocabulary Chapters 1-2
1. epigram
2. supercilious
3. extemporizing
4. rotogravure
5. peremptory
6. oculist
7. contiguous
8. hauteur
Chapter 1
1. How does the narrator describe Gatsby?
2. From where did the narrator come and why?
3. Describe the narrator's house.
4. Describe the Buchanan’s house.
5. How does Nick know Daisy and Tom?
6. Describe Tom. What is our impression of him in Chapter 1?
7. What kind of person is Daisy?
8. What did Miss Baker tell Nick about Tom?
9. When asked about her daughter, what does Daisy say?
10. How is Gatsby introduced into the novel?
11. What are the recent events in Nick's life, which have most vividly affected his personality?
12. How does Nick perceive himself?
13. How does Nick feel about Daisy and Tom after his first visit with them?
Name:
14. How does Nick fit into the East Egg and West Egg societies?
15. How does Fitzgerald introduce the theme of superficiality?
16. How much do we know about Gatsby at the end of this chapter?
Chapter 2
1.What is the "valley of ashes"?
2. What are the "eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg?
3. Who did Tom take Nick to meet?
4. Identify Myrtle and George Wilson.
5. What did Mrs. Wilson buy while she was out with Tom and Nick?
6. Where did they go? What was at 158th Street?
7. Identify Catherine and Mr. & Mrs. McKee.
8. What does Mr. McKee tell Nick about Gatsby?
9. What reason did Myrtle give for marrying George Wilson?
10. What did Tom do to Myrtle when she mentioned Daisy's name? Why?
11. What kind of place must one pass through on the way between East/West Egg and New York City?
12. How does the get-together in the New York apartment highlight the theme of the American Dream?
13. How is Myrtle contrasted with Daisy?
14. Why does Nick agree to go along with Tom to New York to meet Myrtle's friends?
Chapter 3 Vocabulary
1. omnibus
2. erroneous
3. innuendo
4. convivial
5. obstetrical
6. rivulets
7. caterwauling
8. affectations
9. subterfuges
Chapter 3
1. Describe Gatsby's wealth. List some of the things that represent wealth.
2. What kind of people come to Gatsby's parties?
3. Why did Nick go to the party?
4. How does Nick meet Gatsby?
5. What are some of the stories about Gatsby?
6. Is Gatsby a "phony"?
7. Describe Nick's relationship with Jordan.
8. What symbolic correspondence is Fitzgerald asking us to make between the preparations for Gatsby's party and
the arrival of the guests?
9. What purposes do the two digressions (Owl-Eyes in the library and the car wreck) serve?
10. What is happening to Nick's reaction to Jordan Baker? What is their relationship?
Chapter 4-5 Vocabulary
1. labyrinth
2. raja
3. somnambulatory
4. denizen
5. receptacles
6. corrugated
7. nebulous
Chapter 4
1. Who is Klipspringer?
2. What does Gatsby tell Nick about himself?
3. What "matter" did Gatsby have Jordan Baker discuss with Nick?
4. Who is Mr. Wolfshiem? Where does Nick meet him?
5. What does Mr. Wolfshiem tell Nick about Gatsby?
6. What does Jordan tell Nick about Daisy, Gatsby and Tom?
7. What is the common denominator to all the stories about the people who meet at Gatsby's parties?
8. How does Nick know that Gatsby is lying when he starts his recitation of his life-story?
9. What is the essence of Gatsby's materialistic dream?
10. What symbolic value does Daisy hold for Gatsby, and how is it the culmination of all his dreams?
Chapter 5
1. Describe the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy. Why was he so nervous?
2. How long did it take Gatsby to make the money to buy the mansion?
3. Why did Gatsby want Daisy to see the house and his clothes?
4. What had the green light on the dock meant to Gatsby?
5. What had Gatsby turned Daisy into in his own mind?
6. How does the Gatsby facade start to fade when he comes over for tea?
7. What is significant about the scene with Gatsby's shirts?
8. How does Daisy begin to fail Gatsby as a dream-girl?
Chapters 6-7 Vocabulary
1. meretricious
2. euphemisms
3. caravansary
4. contingency
5. inexplicable
6. libertine
7. expostulation
8. traversed
9. scrutiny
Chapter 6
1. What is Gatsby's real history? Where is he from, and what is his name?
2. Why does Nick tell us the story of James Gatz now instead of earlier in the book?
3. What did Dan Cody do for Gatsby?
4. What is Daisy's opinion of Gatsby's party? How does this affect him?
5. What does Gatsby want from Daisy?
7. What does Gatsby mean by his fierce reaction to Nick's statement about not repeating the past?
8. How do we see Nick's coming to understand the totality of Gatsby's vision?
Chapter 7
1. What was Gatsby's reaction to Daisy's child?
2. What did Wilson do to Myrtle? Why?
3. Why do the five drive into the city on such a hot afternoon?
4. How deftly does Fitzgerald handle the mechanics of getting the people to New York?
5. What does Gatsby think about Daisy's relationship with Tom?
6. What is Daisy's reaction to both men?
7. What happens on the way home from New York?
8. How do these people react to Myrtle's death:
a. Wilson:
b. Tom:
c. Nick:
d. Gatsby:
9. Why does Gatsby insist that Daisy say she never loved Tom?
10. Why does Gatsby take the blame about the accident?
11. What is ironic about Gatsby's watching the window for a signal, to make sure that Tom is not abusing Daisy?
12. What is the true relationship between Daisy and Tom by the end of this chapter?
Chapters 8-9 Vocabulary
1. redolent
2. corroborate
3. pneumatic
4. amorphous
5. addenda
6. unpunctual
7. provincial
8. incoherent
9. pandered
10. commensurate
Chapter 8
1.
What does Gatsby tell Nick about his past? Is it true?
2.
What does Michaels believe caused Myrtle to run?
3.
Why did she run?
4.
Why does Wilson believe that Gatsby killed Myrtle?
5.
What does Wilson do?
6.
How satisfactory is Nick's explanation of Gatsby's attraction to Daisy?
7.
How do you explain Gatsby's remark that Daisy's love for Tom was insignificant because it was just "personal"?
8.
Do we accept as coming from Fitzgerald himself Nick's pronouncement that Gatsby is worth the rest of the
others?
9. What is ironic about Gatsby's demise?
Chapter 9
1. Why couldn't Nick get anyone to come to Gatsby's funeral?
2.
Who is Henry C. Gatz?
3.
What is the book Henry Gatz shows Nick? Why is it important to the novel?
4.
What happens between Nick and Jordan Baker?
5.
What does Nick say about people like Daisy and Tom? How are we to judge Nick's reaction to Tom and Daisy?
6.
What is saddening about Wolfsheim's not coming to Gatsby's funeral?
7.
Why does Fitzgerald introduce the character of Mr. Gatz?
8.
What do we learn about Gatsby's dream-future in his ledger in his copy of the Western novel?
9.
Why does Nick return to the Midwest?
10. What significance lies in the passage about the Dutch sailors? About the boats going against the current?
*Give examples of Nick’s morality and conservatism in the book
* What is the Valley of Ashes and how is symbolic? Contrast the description of it to the description of
New York City.
* What is the significance of automobiles to the story?
* Compare and contrast Tom Buchanan and George Wilson.
* Why is Gatsby never really corrupted by his money?
* How does Nick judge Gatsby at the end of the book and why is it significant?
* What is ironic about the fact that it is Wilson that murders Gatsby?
* What does Fitzgerald say about the American Dream in the novel?
* What things are learned through flashback in the novel?
* How is the plot unified in spite of the many plots/subplots and various flashbacks?
*How did the symbols in the story represent morality? Was this area “moral” for the time period? Provide evidence from the
text.
*Does The Great Gatsby illustrate the American Dream? Is it corrupted by the desire for wealth? Provide evidence from the
text.
*What led to the downfall of Gatsby’s dream?