ENGLISH III FINAL EXAM REVIEW 2015
I. THE GREAT GATSBY – Multiple Choice Questions, True/False, Quote Matching
II. SHORT ESSAY – over the novel
Questions to help you review the novel as a whole:
CHAPTER I
 When does the story take place? (year/time in history)
 East Egg - Which characters live here and how is it different from West Egg?
West Egg - Which characters live here and how is it different from East Egg?
 Why is Nick telling us the story of his experience in the East? How did this experience affect
him? **Many students missed this question on the Ch. 1-5 test, so make sure you reread the
first two pages of the novel.
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Why has Nick come to New York?
What does Nick—from the start—tell us that he likes and/or admires about Gatsby?
What’s Daisy’s outlook on life that she shares with Nick?
How would you describe Daisy and Tom’s interactions with one another?
Review Nick’s initial descriptions of Tom, Daisy, and Jordan
CHAPTER II
 Valley of Ashes – Which characters live here and what kind of environment is it?
 Reread the initial descriptions of Myrtle and George Wilson.
 What attracted Myrtle to Tom when they first met? What has he told her about why he can’t
divorce Daisy?
 What rumors about Gatsby come out at Myrtle’s party?
 How does Myrtle view her husband? When did she realize marrying George was a mistake?
CHAPTER III
 What rumors about Gatsby does Nick hear at Gatsby’s party?
 What is Fitzgerald trying to show us about behavior in the 1920s by the way he describes his
guests and their actions?
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What kind of party host is Gatsby? How does he behave at his own party?
What does Nick conclude about Jordan and why? (end of Ch. 3)
What does Nick tell us about himself? (end of Ch. 3)
CHAPTER IV
 During their car ride in Ch. 4, what information that Gatsby offers about himself seems legit
to Nick and what seems sketchy….and why?
 Who is Meyer Wolfsheim? What does he do for a living?
 What’s Jordan’s role in reuniting Daisy with Gatsby?
 What has Gatsby done in an attempt to reunite with Daisy?
 What happened the day before Daisy married Tom?
CHAPTER V
 What’s Gatsby’s mood like when he first shows up at Nick’s to reunite with Daisy?
 According to Nick, what are the different stages Gatsby goes through during the tea and tour
of his house?
CHAPTER VI
 What truths about Gatsby does Nick reveal to us at the beginning of this chapter?
 How does Daisy feel about the party she attends at Gatsby’s?
 What plans regarding Daisy does Gatsby share with Nick at the end of the chapter?
CHAPTER VII
 Why might Nick dread or be wary of the lunch invitation from Daisy and Gatsby?
 Why does George Wilson feel sick and want to move away?
 What truths are revealed during the showdown fight at the Plaza Hotel?
 How does Nick feel about turning 30? What does this reveal about his outlook on life?
 How does Myrtle die and who is responsible?
 How does Tom react to Myrtle’s death?
 Why does Gatsby wait outside the Buchanan’s house? What does Nick see when he goes to
check on Tom and Daisy and what does his report to Gatsby reveal about Nick’s feelings
towards Gatsby?
CHAPTER VIII
 How does Nick advise Gatsby after Myrtle’s death? What does he suggest and what does he
not suggest?
 When Gatsby first met Daisy, why was he drawn to her? What does he mean when he says
that she was the first “nice” girl he had known? Why did he have “no right to touch her
hand”?
 How did George Wilson find out that Myrtle was cheating on him?
 What’s George’s theory about who “murdered” Myrtle and what does he do to find the killer?
 How does Nick’s relationship with Jordan end?
 What are Nick’s final words to Gatsby?
 How does Nick imagine Gatsby’s outlook might have changed right before his death?
 How does Gatsby die?
CHAPTER IX
 What happens to Tom and Daisy?
 Who actually shows up for Gatsby’s funeral and who doesn’t?
 What are Nick’s final thoughts on West Egg and the East? Why does he talk a lot about the
Midwest—where he came from?
 What does Nick discover/confirm during his last interaction with Tom?
 In the last two pages of the novel, look for themes—what are the big ideas—Fitzgerald
addresses.
Also review:
 Wolfsheim – what role does he play in Gatsby’s life and how does he react to Gatsby’s death?
(Ch. 2, Ch. 9)
 Catherine – how does her testimony affect the outcome of the “inquest” into Gatsby’s death and
Wilson’s actions? (Ch. 9)
 Dan Cody – what role does he play in Gatsby’s life and how does he die? (Ch. 6)
 Gatsby’s father – What does he think of his son? What is he proud of? (Ch. 9)
 Dr. T.J. Eckleburg – who is he and what’s his role in the story? (Ch. 2, Ch. 8)
A Brush-up on D&E (Details and Elaboration)
Here are some good and bad examples using Into the Wild.
BAD:
“We talked for hours about books; there aren’t that many people in Carthage
who like to talk about books.” (p. 67) This quote shows…
(Quote is dumped and citation is wrong. No “p” is needed.)
BAD:
Mrs. Westerberg loved that she and Chris “talked for hours about books” (67), she
says “there aren’t that many people in Carthage who like to talk about books.”
(Citations always go at the END of the sentence and this is a RUN-ON! Remember the Turney
Test: Take away the quotation marks and put one period at the end. Is the sentence
grammatically correct? It should be!)
GOOD:
Though she’d not known him long, Mary Westerberg felt a close connection with
Chris. She recalls that while eating dinner with him, she loved the fact they “talked
for hours about books” since “there [weren’t] many people in Carthage” who
enjoyed discussing literature (Krakauer 67).
(**Notice this includes ELABORATION (Context), and only key parts of the quote are
woven into an original sentence.)
Original word was “aren’t”. Verb tense
is changed to match the tense of the rest
of the verbs in the sentence.
You need to provide ELABORATION (Context) with your DETAILS. (You don’t always need
all of these, but definitely some of them are very important when presenting evidence.)
 Who is saying, thinking, or doing this?
 When is it? Where is this occurring?
 What has just happened?
 Why is the character saying/thinking this?
 To Whom is the character speaking?
Zero Elaboration:
Tom Buchanan has “two shining arrogant eyes” and “the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward”
(7).
A Little Elaboration But Still Not Enough:
Nick describes Tom Buchanan as having “two shining arrogant eyes” and “the appearance of always leaning
aggressively forward” (7).
More Effective Elaboration: (Details have been paraphrased to provide setup and context for the reader)
When Nick first arrives in the East and attends dinner at the Buchanan’s mansion in East Egg, he describes Tom as
having “two shining arrogant eyes” and “the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward” (7).