Chapter I Discussion Questions/prompt
 Respond to the question/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate, or if “challenged” to do so
o Take a look at Nick’s opening lines. If this advice is the lens through
which we read The Great Gatsby, how does it affect our view of the
events that transpire? Does refraining from criticism promote
compassion, or amorality?
o Why does Nick describe Daisy’s voice in the way that he does: “...an
excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult
to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen’, a promise that
she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there
were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.” (14) Do you
think he is the only person to be affected that way by her voice? Why?
Who else might be affected by Daisy’s voice?
o Could Daisy be a symbol/allegory for anything? What? Why?
o What impression do we get of Gatsby from Nick’s description of him at
the end of the chapter?
Chapter II Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o Scholars have asserted that the eyes of TJ Eckleburg are symbolic of the
eyes of God. What evidence is there in the text to support this?
o In this chapter we are introduced to the Valley of Ashes. In what ways is
this area different from the descriptions of East and West Egg? What is
Fitzgerald trying to accomplish through his description? What might
the Valley represent or be symbolic of? Why?
o Tom says of Wilson: “He’s so dumb he doesn’t even know he’s alive.” Why
does Tom have this opinion of Wilson? What does this tell us about
Tom? About Wilson?
o Afterwards in Pennsylvania Station, how do you think Nick Carraway
feels about the evening he has just spent?
Chapter III Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o What differences are there between Nick’s first visit to Tom’s house in
East Egg and Gatsby’s house in West Egg? Tom and Gatsby are both
wealthy; what do you think is the reason for the difference? Even if we
don’t get to see a party on East Egg, what do you think it would be like?
Why?
o Is it possible to “buy” your way into a certain social class? Why or why
not? What evidence is there in the text to support your answer?
o Why do you think Nick thinks of himself as being one of the few honest
people he has ever known?
Chapter IV Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o Does it seem weird that Gatsby has a medal from World War I in his
pocket? Why do you think he has it there? Why do you think he takes
the trouble to show Nick?
o Gatsby tells us a lot about himself in this chapter. Do you believe him?
Why? Why not? What evidence from the text can you use to support
your conclusions?
o Daisy’s voice is mentioned again in this chapter, this time by Jordan.
What do you think is the “something” that is in her (Daisy’s) voice?
Why? What evidence can you find in the text to back up your
conclusions?
o How does Gatsby contribute to the air of mystery and intrigue that
surrounds him?
Chapter V Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o What was Gatsby really doing with all of those lights blazing in his
house at that late hour?
o Do you think that Gatsby likes Nick? Is it possible that Nick is being
“used”? Why? What evidence in the text is there to support your
answer?
o What do you think Gatsby was hoping would come out of his “reunion”
with Daisy? What evidence is there in the text to support your answer?
o Why does Gatsby seem to reevaluate his possessions based on what
Daisy thinks of him?
Chapter VI Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o What problems are there with someone trying to BE the Platonic
conception of themselves?
o Is the love that Tom and Gatsby have for Daisy genuine/real? Why?
Why not? Do they believe they love her?
o What does Nick mean by “it is invariably saddening to look through new
eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of
adjustment”?
o What does Daisy’s comment, “These things excite me so,” tell us about
her? What else do we learn about her in this chapter?
Chapter VII Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o
o
o
o
What might be symbolized by the fact that Tom and his friends had
horses to ride but Gatsby only had a car?
What might be symbolized by the fact that Tom and his friends left
before Gatsby was ready?
Can you repeat the past? Why? Why not? Why does Gatsby believe that
you can?
Why is Gatsby so excited about telling Tom the truth about himself and
Daisy? What is revealed in this scene about Gatsby and Daisy? Do they
grow closer together in the scene, or farther apart?
Chapter VIII Discussion Questions/prompts
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o Thus far in the novel what is there to make Gatsby “great”? Why?
o The Valley of Ashes makes infrequent appearances in the novel. A quick
Internet search will bring up several possible things symbolized by the
Valley and the eyes of TJ Eckleburg. What do you think these things
symbolize? Why? How can you support your answer from the text?
o What do you think Gatsby was hoping would happen as he waited
outside Daisy’s house? Why?
o Why do you think Fitzgerald so often uses imagery of ghosts and
shadows in the novel (as on p. 159)?
o As Nick leaves Gatsby, why does he call out, “You’re worth the whole
damn bunch of them put together”? Do you think Nick believes this?
What does he like about Gatsby?
Chapter IX Discussion Questions/prompts?
 Respond to the questions/prompt(s), defending your answer with the text as
appropriate
o Why do so few people show up for Gatsby’s funeral or even seem to care
that he is dead? What does this suggest about him and his friends and
acquaintances?
o Did Gatsby achieve the American Dream? If yes, when did he lose it? If
not, why? What is the “American Dream”?
o As Nick remembers his earlier returns to the Midwest from school, why
does he “see now that this has been a story of the West, after all?” What
might have been the “deficiency” possessed by all of them in the story
that made them “subtly unadaptable to Eastern life”?
o As you look back at the novel, why do you think Fitzgerald used the
word “great” to describe Gatsby in the title? Was Gatsby in any way
“great,” or is Fitzgerald being ironic?