The Great Gatsby Vocabulary: 15 words from Ch 4 & 5
1. resourcefulness
the quality of being able to cope with a difficult situation
NOTES:
Gatsby has a resourcefulness of movement that allows him to balance on the dashboard
of his car, migrate from North Dakota to New York, and transform himself from a poor
soldier to a rich host. But he does not have the inner resourcefulness to pay his way
through college with janitorial duties or to earn his money through legitimate, timeconsuming work. A lucky meeting with Wolfsheim and a handsome face are the
resources Gatsby mined to become wealthy.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
He was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of
movement that is so peculiarly American--that comes, I suppose, with the absence of
lifting work or rigid sitting in youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our
nervous, sporadic games.
2. punctilious
marked by precise accordance with details
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of
restlessness.
3. retribution
the act of correcting for your wrongdoing
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
His right hand suddenly ordered divine retribution to stand by.
4. engrossed
giving or marked by complete attention to
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
They were so engrossed in each other that she didn't see me until I was five feet away.
5. tactless
revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse
NOTES:
Although Gatsby was trying to be grateful to Nick for agreeing to help him, his focus on
money is tactless because it would make Nick seem like he were pimping out his cousin
Daisy. Also, if Nick had accepted the offer, he might've ended up like Young Parke, who
got picked up by the police for using stolen or counterfeit bonds.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
But, because the offer was obviously and tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no
choice except to cut him off there.
6. defunct
no longer in force or use; inactive
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
His head leaned back so far that it rested against the face of a defunct mantelpiece clock
and from this position his distraught eyes stared down at Daisy who was sitting
frightened but graceful on the edge of a stiff chair.
7. incredulous
not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
"She's embarrassed?" he repeated incredulously.
8. vestige
an indication that something has been present
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
They were sitting at either end of the couch looking at each other as if some question had
been asked or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone.
9. confound
be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding.
10. inconceivable
totally unlikely
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
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.
11. defiantly
in a rebellious manner
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
There was a small picture of Gatsby, also in yachting costume, on the bureau--Gatsby
with his head thrown back defiantly--taken apparently when he was about eighteen.
12. vitality
the property of being able to survive and grow
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
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.
fluctuating
having unpredictable ups and downs
NOTES:
While Daisy's fluctuating voice is a deathless song that captivates Gatsby, her fluctuating
nature, which contrasts with his devotion, makes his efforts to be with her seem pointless
and eventually leads to his death.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
I think that voice held him most with its fluctuating, feverish warmth because it couldn't
be over-dreamed--that voice was a deathless song.
bewilderment
confusion resulting from failure to understand
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
As I went over to say goodbye I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back
into Gatsby's face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his
present happiness.
15. obscure
difficult to find
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
In a well-fanned Forty-second Street cellar I met Gatsby for lunch. Blinking away the
brightness of the street outside my eyes picked him out obscurely in the anteroom, talking
to another man.