The Great Gatsby
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
VOCABULARY AND STUDY QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 1
Vocabulary: feigned, levity, plagiaristic, tolerance, scorn, exempt, eye-sore, reproach, supercilious, arrogant,
effeminate, desolate, anon
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Who is Tom Buchanan? Describe.
Who is Daisy Buchanan? Describe.
Who is Jordan Baker? Describe.
Who is Nick Carraway? Describe.
Who is narrating the story?
Explain East and West Egg. Document the page reference.
Who is Nick’s neighbour?
Compare the homes of the Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanans.
Though we do not meet Gatsby until chapter 3, we hear references of him in the conversation of others. List
these references. What impression to we have thus far?
10. What does the narrator mean by “Old Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book was exempt from
my reaction – Gatsby who represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn”?
CHAPTER 2
Vocabulary: transcend, oculist, contiguous, cower, Airedale, pastoral, haughty, apathetic, ectoplasm, hauteur,
flounce, gypped
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What is symbolic about the “valley of ashes”? Who is Dr. T.J. Eckleburg? How are the ‘eyes’ symbolic?
Who are George and Myrtle Wilson?
When is this chapter taking place?
Evaluate Myrtle’s talk of her marriage. Is she happy or unhappy? What evidence does she provide to
support this?
5. Explain the following spoken by Nick: “Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have
contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too,
looking up and wondering. I was within and without…”
6. How did Tom and Myrtle meet?
7. Does Nick enjoy the afternoon at the New York apartment? Why or why not?
CHAPTER 3
Vocabulary: escort, sinister, audible, incessant, affection, subterfuge, insolent
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Using a T-Chart, compare the party in Chapter 2 to this one.
What are the descriptions of Gatsby’s place on the night of the party and on the following day?
What are the most prominent COLOURS at the party?
Why is Gatsby giving this party? What is strange about Gatsby’s participation?
How does Nick react to Gatsby?
Why do you think Fitzgerald informs the readers of the two accidents after the party? What would be the
significance?
7. At the end of this chapter, Nick and Jordan meet again. What does this second meeting reveal about
Jordan’s character? How does their relationship develop?
CHAPTER 4
Vocabulary: punctilious, proprietor, evasion, incredulous, somnambulate, succulent, denizen, benediction
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When did Nick start keeping a record of who went to Gatsby’s parties and what did he write it on?
Describe Gatsby’s car?
Discuss the details that Gatsby shares with Nick about his past.
Does Nick believe his story? Why or why not?
What two things does Gatsby always carry with him? Why?
Who is Meyer Wolfsheim? What appears to be his connection to Gatsby?
Jordan informs Nick about Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom. Summarize her story.
Why does Gatsby have his parties?
CHAPTER 5
Vocabulary: suppress, reluctance, boarder, reproachfully, ecstatic, exhilarating, counterfeit, abortive, obstinate,
exultation
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Why is Gatsby so anxious to see Nick at the beginning of this chapter?
Gatsby’s actions in preparing for Daisy’s arrival seem both absurd and flamboyant. What does he do?
How do we know that Gatsby is nervous? How does he impress Daisy?
How does Daisy feel about seeing Gatsby? How long has it been since they have seen each other?
Why did Gatsby want Daisy and Nick to go to his house?
Who is Mr. Klipspringer?
At night, how could Gatsby see where Daisy lived across the bay?
CHAPTER SIX
Vocabulary: laudable, meretricious, effable, genial, chafed, elude
1. Who is James Gatz? What do we learn about him?
2. Who is Dan Cody and in what way was he involved in Gatsby’s destiny?
3. Describe Tom’s meeting with Gatsby at Gatsby’s house.
4. What is deeply ironic in Tom’s statement when he says, “…I may be old fashioned in my ideas, but women run
around too much these days to suit me”?
5. What does Gatsby call Tom that he does not like?
6. How does Daisy feel about West Egg?
7. What is Gatsby expecting of Daisy that prompts Nick to warn him, “I wouldn’t ask too much of her…You can’t
repeat the past”?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Vocabulary: dilatory, harrowing, morbid, incredulous, contemptuously, inexplicable, libertine, prig, scrutiny, vigil
1. Why did the “lights go out” at Gatsby’s house? Why were there no more parties?
2. Why did Gatsby fire all his servants and hire a few new ones to replace them?
3. At the luncheon party at the Buchanan’s, what did Daisy do once Tom left the room?
4. What is Gatsby’s reaction to Daisy’s child?
5. At what point does Tom realize that Daisy loves Gatsby?
6. How does Gatsby describe Daisy’s voice?
7. Whose cars did Gatsby, Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan take to New York? Who drove each car?
8. Why does George Wilson need money?
9. What do Tom and George have in common at this point?
10. The “eyes” return in this chapter and play a significant role. What is it?
11. What does Gatsby do that makes Nick want “to get up and slap him on the back”? Why does Nick feel this way?
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Does Daisy know what love is? Whom does she really love?
Nick thinks, “The transition [of Tom] from libertine to prig was so complete”. What does he mean?
What does Daisy mean when she says to Gatsby, “Oh you want too much!”?
According to Tom, how did Gatsby make all of his money?
On the return trip from New York to Long Island, who rode in what cars?
This is Nick’s birthday. What is the significance and how old is he?
Who is Michaelis?
What happens to Myrtle?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Vocabulary: incessant, wan, indiscernible, redolent, ravenous, unscrupulous, strata armistice, corroborate,
interminable, garrulous, forlorn, protégé
1. Why does Nick suggest that Gatsby goes away?
2. What are Gatsby’s intentions at first when he met Daisy?
3. How long did Gatsby and Daisy go out before he left for the war?
4. What happened to Gatsby after the war? What did Daisy do while he was away?
5. What has prompted Gatsby to suddenly speak freely to Nick now, when was so unwilling to do so in the past?
6. What further information do we learn about Gatsby?
7. What is the compliment that Nick pays to Gatsby? Why does Nick feel compelled to commend Gatsby?
8. How does Wilson view the “eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg”? Does Wilson’s statement have a symbolic level for the
novel as a whole? Explain.
9. The words “…and the holocaust was complete” refers to what two immediate events, and suggest what larger
meaning?
CHAPTER NINE
Vocabulary: inquest, grotesque, circumstantial, deranged, defiance, solidarity, reverent, resolve, reluctant,
deficiency, borne
1. At the inquest, what testimony does Catherine give regarding her sister Myrtle?
2. What makes Nick assume responsibility for the funeral arrangements? Why does Nick feel ‘comfortable’ for
getting someone for Gatsby?
3. What does Nick learn when calls Daisy up to tell her about Gatsby’s death?
4. Who says, “Look here, old sport, you’ve got to get someone for me. I can’t go through this alone”? Whom is it
said to and what does it mean?
5. Why doesn’t Wolshiem come to see Gatsby when Nick sends for him?
6. Who is Slagle? Why does he hang up the phone when Nick says, “Looks here – this isn’t Mr. Gatsby. Mr.
Gatsby’s dead”?
7. What does Slagle mean when he says, “Young Parke is in trouble”?
8. Who is Henry C. Gatz?
9. How does Gatsby’s father learn of the tragedy? To what extend does the father know his son?
10. Discuss the significance of Gatsby’s boyhood program for self-improvement?
11. What is the irony in Gatsby’s funeral?
12. What is the significance of including Jordan in this last chapter?
13. What moral judgment does Nick make about Tom and Daisy? Explain.
14. What does Nick mean by the last sentence in the book?