The Great Gatsby
You will be answering questions on Chapters 6-9 in this
section. Use the same procedure as before, collecting
your answers together under the headings of characters,
setting and style. Use your sheets of themes, too.
Start off by reading Chapters 6 and 7 and answering the questions which follow:
CHAPTER 6
a) On their first reading most readers assume that having finally brought
Gatsby and Daisy together Fitzgerald will continue the story of their love
affair, but instead he chooses to break away from it and give another version
of Gatsby's background, this time the true one. Gatsby was a poor boy who
had assisted a millionaire. He had inherited nothing, but his imagination
had been fired by this view of wealth. Fitzgerald comments:
The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his
Platonic conception of himself…he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby
that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this
conception he was faithful to the end. (95)
Explain what you think this means.
b) The atmosphere at the next Gatsby party that the Buchanans attend has
changed. Re-read page 100, sum up the change and explain what caused it.
c) In the last three pages of the chapter Nick gives a warning to Gatsby, ‘You
can't repeat the past ’ and Gatsby rejects the advice/warning with 'I'm
going to fix everything just the way it was before’. What warning is Nick
giving and why does Gatsby want to recreate the past anyway?
CHAPTER 7
a) This chapter leads us to the climax of the novel. Gatsby changes his style
because of Daisy's disapproval and it is obvious that some resolution of the
situation is due. Re-read pages 108-111 and note two ways in which the
tension is built up.
b) Why is Gatsby surprised by the sight of Daisy's child?
c) Why does Gatsby say of Daisy 'her voice is full of money' and what is the
point of Tom's apparently irrelevant remark, 'You can buy anything at a
drug-store nowadays.'
d) What has changed at the garage and why is it such a shock for Tom?
e) The inevitable confrontation between Tom and Gatsby
comes in the Plaza Hotel. Re-read pages 120-129:
i.
Why does Fitzgerald comment on the music from the
wedding in the suite below?
ii.
Why does Tom challenge Gatsby over Oxford?
iii.
Why does Gatsby want Daisy to ‘tell…the truth, that
(she never loved Tom) and it (was) all wiped out
forever’, and what previous comment does this recall?
iv.
Why is Daisy unable to do as Gatsby has asked her?
v.
What does Tom tell Daisy about Gatsby's background, why does it
influence her decision and what does this tell us about Daisy's essential
nature?
vi.
What is meant by the phrase ' only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon
slipped away'?
vii.
Why does Tom send Daisy home with Gatsby?
viii.
How does Fitzgerald get around the problem of describing the fatal
accident at which Nick was not present and what effect does this have on the
tone?
f) Tom goes through several different emotions as he learns the details of
Myrtle's death. What are these?
g) Why does Gatsby want to protect Daisy by claiming that he was driving and
how does this fir in with what we already know of Gatsby?
h) What is unexpected in the description of Tom and Daisy glimpsed through the
pantry window and what does this prepare us for?
Before continuing with the last two chapters of the novel, think about the plot. The term
plot refers to the incidents and events of the story. Look back at your notes on each
chapter to work out the chronology of the plot. This is not as easy as it sounds, since
several scenes, such as the day before Daisy's wedding to Tom, are not described in
chronological order.
Write out a list of main events from Gatsby’s first meeting with Daisy to the
point when Nick is recalling the events in 1924/25. Some are done for you.
Nick Graduates
Nick stays in West Egg
Daisy and Gatsby fall in love
……………………………..
Gatsby goes to Oxford
Wedding of Tom and Daisy
…………………………….
Tom and Daisy go to France
Nick arrives in West Egg
Nick tells story
1915
1922
……
1917
1919
……
1920
……
1922
……
CHAPTER 8
a) You probably start reading this chapter assuming that Fitzgerald
will continue with the theme of Myrtle's death. Instead, as at the
beginning of other chapters, he switches the action to a different
theme, in this case Gatsby's version of his affair with Daisy in
1917. Re-read pages 140-144 and explain first how Gatsby saw
Daisy initially, what effect she had on him, and why she eventually
married Tom. What does this confirm about Daisy?
b) Nick meets Gatsby for the last time and says, 'They're a
rotten crowd... you're worth the whole damn bunch put together.'
Since Gatsby is a self-confessed racketeer, on what is Nick
basing this judgement?
c) Why does Nick reject Jordan at this point in the story?
d) What makes Wilson go to look for his dead wife's lover?
e) Re-read the description of the last few hours of Gatsby's life, pages 153-154.
Why does Fitzgerald stress the autumnal details? What is meant by the phrase
'he must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky'?
f) Why is so little detail given of either the murder or of Wilson's suicide?
CHAPTER 9
In one sense the story ends with the death of Gatsby, so the question to
keep in mind throughout this chapter is why write it at all, what does it
add to the story?
a) Why does Fitzgerald stress the two year gap between the events
and the actual writing at the beginning of the chapter?
b) What have Daisy, Wolfshiem and Slagle in common as far as
Gatsby is concerned?
c) What does the arrival of Gatsby’s father add to our view of
Gatsby?
d) Explain the irony behind the funeral of Gatsby. Why is it appropriate that
of all Gatsby's friends, it is only ‘ Owl-eyes' who attends? How far do you
agree with his epitaph 'The poor son-of-a-bitch'?
e) What point is Nick making about East and West in pages 166-167?
f) How and why does Nick's relationship with Jordan end?
g) In Nick's last meeting with Tom what suspicion does he confirm? Did Tom
know the truth about who killed Myrtle? Comment on Nick's last judgement
on the Buchanans, 'They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed
up things and creatures and then retreated back into their vast carelessness, or
whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the
mess that they had made...'
h) In his last visit to Gatsby's house Nick sums up what he feels about Gatsby and
his dream. In your own words explain what this judgement is.
FINAL BITS
Now that you have completed the book, this is a good time to tie up some loose ends.
Look at the three questions printed below and write a paragraph in answer to each.
a) Re-read Chapter 1, pages 7-8, and decide what these pages add to what you think Nick
now feels about Gatsby.
b) Look at the quotation that prefaces the novel and explain what it means and why it is
appropriate to the novel.
c) Why is the book called The GREAT Gatsby?
Add any relevant points from these paragraphs to your sheets of notes on themes and characters.
This might be a good time to view the film version of The Great Gatsby starring Robert
Redford and Mia Farrow. It's a visually attractive film and it keeps close to the text.
A new film version of the novel directed by Baz Luhrmann and with Leonardo Di
Caprio, Carey Mulligan and Isla Fisher will be released in Scotland in the new year. IMDb
website has more details http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343092/