IB Literature II—Pfeiffer
Year Two, Second Semester 2013-2014
Vacation Assignment: The Great Gatsby
Now that we have completed Part Two of the IB curriculum, we move on to the last, Part Three, and our next book, F. Scott
Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s novel is one of the four you can use on the May IB exam, so it is wise to know it
well. (The novels you will focus on for the comparative essay of Paper Two on the May exams are The Things They Carried, The Great
Gatsby, Beloved, and Disgrace). Here are some quotes to whet your appetite for the memorable character of Gatsby:
If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there
was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the
promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate
machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.
It was testimony to the romantic speculation he inspired that there
were whispers about him from those who found little that it was
necessary to whisper about in this world.
He smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly. It was
one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it,
that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or
seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then
concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It
understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed
in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it
had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to
convey.
He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued
everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew
from her well-loved eyes.
The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from
his Platonic conception of himself.
Over the vacation please do the following:
1.
Enjoy reading The Great Gatsby. Besides being a dramatic story of love and deception, it is a beautifully written
novel. The point of view and tone are fascinating; the narrator Nick is involved, and he judges those around him—
and you will see that they deserve to be judged!
2.
Annotate The Great Gatsby by our first Semester 2 class, Thursday, 23 January. As usual, look up and
write down the definition of words or allusions you do not know (keep the Great Gatsby Study Guide next to you;
you will see that I have already helped with most allusions). For annotation of this important novel, my minimum
expectations are that each page should have a minimum 2 notes about content and form, for example,
themes, character development, tone, or Fitzgerald’s writing choices (the usual marginal comments, a noted
word/phrase/sentence—remember that mere labeling, underlining or highlighting does not count) and a word-orphrase page heading that indicates what is going on in the scene, on that page (e.g. “Tom shows his brutality” or
“Gatsby tells Nick about his past”). These page headings will be invaluable when you review this novel in April for the
May exam.
3.
Read over the Great Gatsby Study Guide. I distributed my Study Guide in class (and in case you need it, a PDF
is on Pfeifferopolis in case you need it). There are a lot of questions on the guide to help you check your
understanding and know what is important to analyze, but I am not requiring you to respond to those questions in
writing. Do know, however, that they will be the focus of our discussions and written work in January-February—
not to mention again that it’s a novel for the May exam; therefore, as you read it would be wise for you to at least
write down relevant page numbers by the questions and think about those questions so that you can contribute to
our discussion and analysis of the novel.
4.
Look for 3 possible poems to work for the late February class round of the HS English Department’s Poetry
Recitation 2014. See Pfeifferopolis for the information, guidelines for selection, and the list of poets. At the end of
January, you will give me your list of top 3 poem choices.
5.
[My suggestion; this is not required] Re-read The Things They Carried. Plan to re-read this May-exam novel before
mid-April. Whether you choose to do it during the long holiday, over Carnaval, or some other time is up to you.
I will collect The Great Gatsby to check your annotations on that first day back in January. It will be your first grade of your
last semester at Graded, so start your graduation year 2014 with something of which you can be proud.
Read and annotate the right edition!
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner edition). ISBN: 07432-7356-5
IB Literature II—Pfeiffer
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) Study Guide
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Love affairs, wild parties, shady business dealings, fast cars, murder and suicide—these are
just a few of the intriguing elements found in this novel, a novel that vividly evokes the era
from 1919 when World War I ended, to the stock market crash of 1929. Fitzgerald called
this period the Jazz Age for the pulsing, brash, uniquely American music that made its way
up from New Orleans and bloomed nationwide as touring big bands and the newly
invented radio spread it from coast to coast. During the 1920s, Americans gave
themselves over to the task of making and spending money, with little concern for social
welfare or global cooperation. Corruption was blandly accepted by most people, just as
most of Fitzgerald’s characters accept Gatsby’s mysterious dealings; intolerance toward
ethnic, religious, and culture differences thrived. Although the nation’s wealth grew
spectacularly, its benefits were unevenly distributed. Technology transformed the nation as well: the automobile
decreased physical isolation, created new opportunities for leisure, speeded up life in general, and quickly became a
status symbol; radio and movies became particularly influential during this decade, a decade known for decadence.
KEY CHARACTERS
Nick Carraway: the narrator, a 1915 Yale graduate and WWI veteran; moves from the Midwest to the east when he
is 29 years old to enter the bond business, renting a small, run-down bungalow next to Gatsby’s mansion.
Jay Gatsby: lives in a mansion in West Egg, next to Nick; is about 30 years old and has limitless wealth from
unspecified sources; has loved Daisy for years, but lost her to Tom.
Daisy Buchanan: comes from a wealthy family in Louisville, Kentucky; in her early 20s, is Nick’s second cousin, Tom’s
wife, three-year-old Pamela’s mother, and a childhood friend of Jordan.
Tom Buchanan: knows Nick from college; is 30 years old and has been married to Daisy for five years; the
Buchanans are enormously wealthy and live in a mansion in East Egg.
Myrtle Wilson: a woman in her early 30s, married to George Wilson, who is an owner of a car repair garage in the
industrial wasteland between West Egg and New York City.
Jordan Baker: a childhood friend of Daisy’s; a golf champion who has cheated during a tournament.
SETTING
The Great Gatsby takes place in the summer of 1922 and includes
several settings: two wealthy fictional suburbs on the eastern tip of
Long Island; in an industrial wasteland located between those suburbs
and New York City; and in Manhattan. The suburbs are called East Egg,
home of “old money,” and West Egg across the bay, province of the
newly rich. Manhattan, the pinnacle of materialism, is the site of several
of the novel’s key scenes. Other take place on the long train or car
ride through the wasteland, which Fitzgerald calls the “valley of ashes,”
or in the valley itself. Each place has distinct characteristics; while
reading, gather details and think about how setting reflects the
characters who live or are in it. For example, the huge, palatial home
of Gatsby in West Egg suggests that its sole occupant, in reality once penniless, has always been boundlessly rich. The
Buchanan home in East Egg, a Georgian colonial mansion, reflects Tom and Daisy’s position as children of inherited
fortunes. Nick’s weather-beaten bungalow nestles incongruously beside Gatsby’s place. In a larger sense, Fitzgerald is
comparing the East Coast/New York/Long Island as a whole with the Midwest, both his original home (he was born in
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St. Paul, Minnesota) and that of the narrator, Nick. The West represents the promise of the American dream, a fresh
start in a new land, free from the constraints and decay of the past. To Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanans, however,
other regions lack the East’s glamour. Besides geography, Fitzgerald also uses seasons as part of his setting, for the
story takes place in summer and ends in fall—think about the implications of this choice.
POINT OF VIEW & STRUCTURE
The novel is told in the past tense by a first-person narrator who is himself one of the main characters. Because Nick is
not omniscient, and learns some of the key facts bit by bit, belatedly, the reader sometimes gets a narrow view of
characters and events, which becomes clearer as Carraway himself finds out more. Although two years have passed
since the last of the events he recounts took place, he does not reveal all that he eventually learned to us at once, in
chronological order, He reveals the story gradually, flashing backward and forward in time, as if to mirror his own
earlier and limited state of knowledge. He often repeats other characters’ accounts of their pasts verbatim. In one
instance he yields the role of narrator to Jordan, who speaks directly to us as she describes Daisy’s wedding day. In the
fragmented way that we obtain Gatsby’s story, we have to make assessments about him not only by thinking about
what we learn but by what we don’t learn.
SOME OTHER ELEMENTS OF STYLE
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald said that he wanted “to write something new—something extraordinary and beautiful
and simple and intricately patterned.” His style is well crafted: every image, scene, character, and theme seems to refer
to a counterpart that is similar or contrasting. These cross references sometimes carry through the entire novel,
producing a unifying effect. The simplicity of the story lets Fitzgerald concentrate on the “intricate pattern” and surface
beauty of his prose. His highly polished, evocative style was the product of much reworking and revising. Fitzgerald uses
dialogue to reveal characters and their social class, and he masterfully wields figurative language (such as similes and
metaphors) and imagery on almost every page. You will see particularly vivid imagery associated with color, eyes or
vision, the wasteland, Gatsby’s shirts, Gatsby’s smile, cars, time, light/dark, weightlessness, and death. You will find
symbolism as well, of the settings mentioned above, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, Dr. T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes,
Gatsby’s library, his old schedule/list of resolves, cars, Wolfsheim’s cuff buttons, Gatsby’s letter to Daisy, the
mantelpiece clock, and Tom’s garage. Watch also for Fitzgerald’s use of juxtaposition, irony, flashback, and
foreshadowing.
SOME THEMES
The corruption of the American Dream (“the extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness”); hope and idealism;
self-discovery, belief in romantic destiny; revisiting and trying to regain the past; insight and blindness; reality versus
illusion; possessiveness and jealousy; emptiness of lives and decay of morals; carelessness and entitlement; effects of old
and new wealth.
EPIGRAM: “Then wear the gold hat…”—a poem excerpt by Thomas Parke D'Invilliers, a character in Fitzgerald’s
quasi-autobiographical first novel, This Side of Paradise, considered a roman à clef. Most critics believe that D'Invilliers is
a fictionalization of the poet John Peale Bishop, a college friend of Fitzgerald’s.
CHAPTER 1 (pages 1-21)
Buccleuch: Scottish aristocracy.
Great War: World War I (1914-1918)
Midas: mythical King of Phrygia who had the power to turn anything into gold.
Morgan: family of financiers, of whom the most famous was J.P. Morgan (1837-1913).
Maecenas: Roman statesman and man of letters, now a symbol of a wealthy patron of the arts.
Cunard, White Star Line: luxury cruise lines.
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1. Looking at Fitzgerald’s characterization, what can we already infer about Nick? Why did Nick come east?
2. How does Fitzgerald build suspense regarding Gatsby?
3. Why do the Buchanans invite Nick to dinner? What impressions to you gain from his visit about their lives and
attitudes?
4. How does the narrator describe Tom? What is revealed by his comment about “civilization going to pieces”
(12)?
5. What are the attitudes of Jordan and Daisy? How does Daisy respond to the phone calls from Tom’s “woman
in New York”?
6. Why doesn’t Nick call to Gatsby when he first spots him on the lawn? What is significant about the first
descriptive image given of Gatsby?
7. The green light becomes an important symbol in the novel. How does Fitzgerald use it in this first chapter?
CHAPTER 2(pages 23-38)
John D. Rockefeller: oil baron and philanthropist.
1. How does the setting description contrast with that of the first chapter?
2. What attracts Tom to Myrtle? What is suggested by the contrast in the names of the two women in his life?
3. Why does “white ashen dust” veil Mr. Wilson’s “dark suit and his pale hair”?
4. What is significant about Catherine’s statement made about Gatsby: “I’m scared of him. I’d hate to have him
get anything on me”?
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5. What does the incident of Tom’s purchase of the dog for Myrtle add to the story?
6. According to Catherine, why has Tom not left Daisy to marry Myrtle?
7. Why does Nick, observing the events in the apartment, identify with “the casual watcher in the darkening
street”?
8. What does Tom’s breaking of Myrtle’s nose indicate about his respect for her and for Daisy?
9. What examples are given in the first two chapters that show Nick is a good listener?
CHAPTER 3 (pages 39-59)
Castile: region in Spain, former medieval kingdom.
Frisco: Joe Frisco, a celebrated comedian of the 1920s.
Gilda Grey: well-known actress of the 1920s.
Follies: Ziegfeld Follies, from 1907 to 1931, an elaborate Broadway theatrical production.
Belasco: David Belasco, a theatrical manager and producer.
rent asunder: torn into parts.
1. Contrast the parties/get-togethers in the novel—there have been three so far. Why does Gatsby throw huge,
expensive parties for people he doesn’t know? How do they fit with his image? What kinds of “romantic
speculations” about Gatsby are mentioned at the party?
2. What is interesting about the man (Owl Eyes) in the library and what he says?
3. What is unusual about the way Nick meets Gatsby? What quality of Gatsby’s is reflected in Nick’s first reaction
on meeting Gatsby? What is Nick’s assessment?
4. What does the reaction of Owl Eyes and the drivers of the wrecked automobile suggest about the values of
Gatsby’s guests?
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5. What do Jordan Baker’s leaving “a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down” (57) and her golf
tournament scandal reveal about her?
6. What does Nick see as his “cardinal virtue”?
CHAPTER 4 (pages 61-80)
Bois de Boulogne: a park in Paris.
Montenegro: country overrun by Austro-German forces in 1915 and united with Serbia in 1918.
Nicolas Rex: King Nicholas II, ruler of Montenegro.
Herman (“Rosy”) Rosenthal and Charles Becker: well-known criminals of the 1920s.
bucks: prejudiced term for a young black man.
victoria: horse-drawn carriage.
“The Shiek of Araby”: a popular song first published in 1921.
1. Why does Fitzgerald seem to be saying with Nick’s lengthy catalogue of party guests on the train schedule?
2. When Nick asks Gatsby what part of the Midwest he is from, Gatsby replies, “San Francisco.” What does Nick
surmise from Gatsby’s answer? Why does Nick not at first believe Gatsby’s summary of his life? Does he
eventually? Do you believe it?
3. Why does Gatsby show Nick the medal from “Little Montenegro down on the Adriatic Sea”?
4. Why is Gatsby such a legendary person? Why do so few people know him? What sets him apart?
5. What do Nick and Gatsby encounter as they cross the Queensboro Bridge?
6. What is the importance of Gatsby’s implied business connection with Meyer Wolfsheim? What does it show
about Gatsby? What ironic thing about Gatsby does Wolfsheim say to Nick?
7. What is interesting about the encounter with Tom?
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8. As revealed by Jordan, what was Gatsby’s original relationship with Daisy? What unusual quality of Gatsby’s is
revealed in her story? What is your opinion of him now?
CHAPTER 5 (pages 81-96)
Castle Rackrent: a short novel by Maria Edgeworth published in 1800, is often regarded as the first true historical
novel and the first true regional novel in English.
Kant: Immanuel Kant, the 18th century German philosopher.
Merton College: one of the colleges of University of Oxford.
“Ain’t We Got Fun” and “The Love Nest”: popular songs of the 1920s.
1. What offer does Gatsby make to Nick, and why does Nick refuse? Why does Nick agree to arrange a meeting
between Daisy and Gatsby? What does this reveal about Nick?
2. What are Gatsby’s feelings for Daisy? Why does he act “like a little boy” when Daisy first arrives at Nick’s?
3. After his private conversation with Daisy at Nick’s house, how has Gatsby changed? Do you think their
meeting went as he had hoped?
4. What do the interrupting phone calls suggest about Gatsby?
5. While taking Nick and Daisy through his house, what does Gatsby do that causes Daisy to “cry stormily”?
6. Who is Klipspringer, and why is he unable to refuse Gatsby’s request? How is the song ironic?
7. How might this chapter initiate Gatsby’s downfall?
CHAPTER 6 (pages 97-111)
Madame de Maintenon: second wife of King Louis XIV of France.
“Three O’Clock in the Morning”: a popular waltz published in 1921. The title is ironic in light of Fitzgerald’s oftenquoted comment: “In the real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.”
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1. Does Gatsby’s real story change your view of him? Is he more or less admirable, sympathetic? Why does James
Gatz of North Dakota row out to Dan Cody’s yacht?
2. What happened to Gatsby’s $25,000 inheritance from Dan Cody?
3. Why do Tom and the “Sloanes” (Mr. Sloane is with a woman who is not his wife) stop by Gatsby’s? Describe
the subtexts in the exchange between Tom and Gatsby. Compare and contrast Tom’s and Gatsby’s social
manners.
4. How does Daisy react to Gatsby’s party? Is she impressed or not?
5. Why didn’t Daisy marry Gatsby? How did this affect Gatsby’s life?
6. Explain what Nick means when he notes that the illusion of one’s world breaks down when outsiders enter it.
7. How does Gatsby feel after the party? When Gatsby tells Nick, “It’s hard to make [Daisy] understand,” what
does he really want her to do? What advice does Nick offer? How does Gatsby react?
CHAPTER 7 (pages 113-145)
Trimalchio: in the Satyricon by Petronius, a comic character who is “nouveau riche,” a vulgar upstart; one of the
Emperor Nero’s companions; now a synonym for an ostentatious gluttony.
1. What change takes place at Gatsby’s? Why?
2. How does Fitzgerald use weather on the day of the luncheon, to what effect? does Gatsby look at the
Buchanan’s child Pamela (Pammy) “with surprise,” having never “really believed in its existence before”?
3. Why is Daisy so obvious about her affection for Gatsby in front of Tom? How does Daisy reveal to Tom that
she is in love with Gatsby? What is Tom’s hypocritical reaction?
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4. What does Gatsby mean when he says that Daisy’s voice is “full of money”?
5. Why does Tom’s recollection of “that day I carried you down from the Punch Bowl to keep your shoes dry”
remove “the rancor” from Daisy’s voice?
6. What has Wilson learned? Why does he lock up his wife in anticipation of taking her West? Compare Tom’s
and Wilson’s response to their knowledge that their wives are having affairs.
7. What does Myrtle observe, and to what conclusion does she jump?
8. Discuss the confrontation between Tom and Gatsby in the hotel. Why does Tom press Gatsby about his
dealings with Wolfsheim?
9. In the hotel, what do you learn about Daisy’s character? With which man, Tom or Gatsby, do your sympathies
lie? Did Daisy ever intend to leave Tom?
10. After the hit-and-run accident, how does Tom react to the scene at Wilson’s garage?
11. What is Nick’s reaction to Gatsby’s story of what happened? After running Myrtle down, why doesn’t Daisy
stop the car?
12. What does the last paragraph of this chapter show? What is your view of Gatsby at the end of the chapter?
13. How does Fitzgerald use foreshadowing in this chapter?
14. Different characters view others in this chapter. What are some key examples of this viewing, and what the
scenes reveal?
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CHAPTER 8 (pages 147-162)
“Beale Street Blues”: a jazz work composed in 1917 by W.C. Handy.
1. Why does Gatsby refuse to go away, despite Nick’s suggestion?
2. Why does Fitzgerald include the flashback about Daisy? Had Gatsby first fallen in love with Daisy?
3. Why had Daisy married Tom? Why, after first admitting to himself that Daisy “might have loved [Tom] just for
a minute, when they were first married,” does Gatsby say, “In any case, it was just personal”?
4. Gatsby refers to a “grail.” (149) What is he alluding to, and why?
5. What is significant about the seasonal change? Why is there a “sharp difference” in the weather?
6. What does Nick sense when he shouts at Gatsby, “They’re a rotten crowd…You’re worth the whole damn
bunch put together”? Why is Nick glad that he said this? Nick says that this statement was the only compliment
he ever paid Gatsby because he disapproved of him from the beginning to the end. How can you resolve this
seeming contradiction? Why is he hesitant to leave Gatsby?
7. What does Nick realize about Jordan?
8. What does the fact that Daisy never called Gatsby reveal about her?
9. Besides representing an ordinary man, what else is illustrated through the character of George Wilson?
10. What has foreshadowed Gatsby’s death? What is ironic about Gatsby’s death?
CHAPTER 9 (pages 163-180)
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James J. Hill: American railroad builder.
American Legion: a veterans’ organization founded in 1919.
Hopalong Cassidy: a cowboy-hero, created in 1904 by Clarence E. Mulford and appearing in a series of popular
stories.
El Greco: a 16th century Spanish painter best known for his symbolically distorted figures and landscapes.
1. Why are the details of Gatsby’s funeral left to Nick? Why does no one come to Gatsby’s funeral except his
own father (Henry C. Gates), Owl Eyes, and Nick? What point does Fitzgerald seem to make with this?
2. Fitzgerald juxtaposes two views of Gatsby. What are they?
3. What does the call from Slagle tell us?
4. Why does Nick tell Mr. Gatz that he was a close friend of Gatsby’s?
5. Gatsby kept a list of his resolves. What do they show about him? What do they symbolize?
6. Why, after Gatsby’s death, does Nick decide to “come back home” to the Midwest?
7. What are Tom’s motives in telling Wilson that Gatsby owned the car?
8. What does Nick think of the Buchanans and people like them? Why, in the end, does Nick say that he cannot
forgive or like Tom?
9. Closely analyze the last three paragraphs of the novel. (They are some of the most famous passages in
American literature.) What is beautiful about Fitzgerald’s prose? What does the green light symbolize?
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OVERALL QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. What is the significance of the novel’s title? To what extent is Fitzgerald calling his protagonist “The Great
Gatsby” justified?
2. Compare Jay Gatsby to James Gatz. What does Fitzgerald mean when he writes that “Jay Gatsby of West Egg,
Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself”?
3. How does Fitzgerald present the history of Gatsby’s life?
4. What is Gatsby’s dream? Does he see Daisy as she really is?
5. How does Fitzgerald reveal that Gatsby is an isolated character?
6. How does Fitzgerald relate Gatsby’s dream to the American Dream? What seems to be his message about the
American Dream as expressed in the last two paragraphs of the novel?
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Nick as a first-person narrator?
8. How does Nick develop (particularly his moral development)?
9. Why is Fitzgerald’s use of flashback more effective than chronological storytelling?
10. What is significant about the novel’s narrative structure? How might the novel’s structure tie to its content?
11. Compare the homes of Gatsby, the Buchanans, Nick and the Wilsons. How does each reflect the character of
its inhabitants?
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12. Compare the female characters: Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. How does each act toward men? What seem to be
their motivations and goals?
13. What does the novel say about materialism? What are the connections to our own era? How is the novel an
indictment of the importance of money in American culture?
14. How is the theme of love related to the theme of money?
15. How is marriage depicted?
16. How does the theme of carelessness apply to the novel?
17. How does Fitzgerald use the East and West symbolically?
18. How does Fitzgerald use juxtaposition and paradox in the novel?
19. How does he use color?
20. Is there a hero in the novel? Whom do you admire and why? Whom do you condemn and why?
21. Who or what really killed Gatsby?
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