Opportunity:
Ch. 1 – Nick seizes the
opportunity to jump into
the bond business and
heads east
Ch. 5 – Gatsby finally gets
to meet up with Daisy; does
he make the most of it?
- Nick turns down Gatsby’s
offer (when Gatsby wants
to bring him into “the
business”)
Ch. 6 – Meets Dan Cody
(flashback) and assumes a
new identity
Ch. 7 – Missed opportunity;
Daisy refuses to tell Tom
she never loved him
Ch. 8 – Gatsby has lost all
opportunities
Love/Desire
Ch. 1 – Broken
marriage/affair
- Love from afar
Ch. 2 – Love as physical
harm
Ch. 4 – Jordan tells us D &
G’s history
Ch. 5 – Daisy and Gatsby
meet
Ch. 6 – The party goes
awry; we see Gatsby lose
Daisy in flashback
Ch. 7 – Love dies, Myrtle
dies, and the whole thing
falls apart
Ch. 8 – The grieving lover
(George) kills the wrong
man
Ch. 9 – Tom crying over
dog biscuits
Community/Class
Ch. 1 – Moving east, seeing
the divide between East and
West Egg; note Tom’s
racism and the casual
acceptance of it at the table
Ch. 2 – Valley of Ashes
introduced
Ch. 3 – Community based
on superficiality, gossip,
and poisonous tradition;
Gatsby is clearly not fit for
this world, even though he’s
“in power”
Ch. 4 – Daisy marries into
her own class (leaving
Gatz/Gatsby for Tom)
Ch. 7 – Tom’s racism
bubbles up again
Ch. 9 – Community is fake;
no one cares enough to
grieve for Gatsby
Hope
Ch. 1 – Nick hopes to leave
his past behind by moving
east
Ch. 3 – Corners Jordan to
ask her about Daisy
Ch. 5 – Gatsby’s hope
almost overwhelms him as
he prepares to meet Daisy
(hope leads to nervousness)
Ch. 7 – Gatsby’s hopes are
dashed in the argument
with Tom
Ch. 9 – Nick’s closing
speech
Truthfulness
Ch. 1 – Daisy knows Tom is
cheating on her (open
secret); also, we sense that
Daisy is not genuine (the
“I’m so sophisticated!”
moment)
Ch. 2 – Tom goes to see
Myrtle (the pretense of his
meeting with George)
Ch. 3 – No one believes
Gatsby is being truthful
about his past; Jordan is
dishonest
Ch. 4 – Gatsby tells Nick
the “truth” – shows him the
picture and medal – and
Nick suddenly believes him
Ch. 6 – He hides his true
name (and, by extension,
himself)
Ch. 7 – Gatsby protects
Daisy by taking the blame
for Myrtle’s death; does
Daisy tell Tom the truth
after the fact (during their
dinnertime conversation)?
Ch. 8 – George (offscreen)
believes the lies Tom tells
him and kills the wrong
man
Ch. 9 – At the funeral, no
one came; we see the nature
of how people “connected”
to Gatsby (leeching off his
wealth and infamy)
- Nick confronts Tom
about the murder
Independence
Ch. 1 – Nick heads out on
his own
Ch. 2 – Myrtle is independent of George – she
has her own separate life
Ch. 4 – Daisy meekly goes
along with the marriage
Ch. 5 – Nick resists
Gatsby’s attempts to join
his line of work
Ch. 6 – Meeting Dan Cody
and starting a new life
Ch. 7 – Daisy faces a
terrible choice – will she go
with Gatsby?
Ch. 8 – George! Totally
manipulated by everyone.
At the same time,
remember, he acts on his
own – and that’s how he’s
portrayed by the press in
Ch. 9
Ch. 9 – Nick severing all
ties to the East and heading
home
Secrets
Ch. 1 – Affair – the nonsecretive secret
- Don’t forget Nick’s lady
back home (the one he’s
running away from)
Ch. 2 – The discussion with
George (the hidden threats)
as well as the apartment
Ch. 3 – Who the heck is
Gatsby?
Ch. 4 – Secret line of work
of MW, plus Gatsby wants
Daisy to meet him at Nick’s
house (catch her
unawares!)
Ch. 5 – Gatsby’s presence is
revealed to Daisy!
Ch. 6 – Tom suspects
Gatsby of pursuing his wife
Ch. 7 – Tom confronts
Gatsby (over said pursuit)
- Cover-up for DB!
Ch. 8/9 – Tom lies!!!
Ch. 9 – Jordan is engaged!
Enlightenment
Ch. 1 – Nick gets his first
glimpse of Daisy’s/Tom’s
home life, the East, and
Gatsby
- The marital difficulties of
Tom and Daisy seem
illuminating – although it
turns out they reveal
something entirely different
Ch. 2 – George is
unenlightened – blind to the
fact that his wife is
unhappy
Ch. 4 – We get a more fully
fleshed out picture of
Daisy/Gatsby’s past –
reveals a great deal about
our central characters
Ch. 5 – Nick’s insights into
the human condition re:
Daisy/Gatsby
- Gatsby and Daisy
realizing they’re essentially
living in the same space
Ch. 6 – We find out
Gatsby’s entire backstory –
finally understand the
character, and why he’s so
desperate to achieve his
goal
Ch. 7 – Everything is
brought out into the open
(see: Secrets)
- The dog-collar discovery
brings everything out into
the open in our other
setting (v of Ashes)
Ch. 8 – Tom misleads
George, who kills himself –
still ignorant of the truth
Ch. 9 – We see Nick
heading home, musing on
the ways of the world
Betrayal:
Ch. 1 – Tom’s affair
Ch. 2 – Tom betrays
George (in Ch. 1, the
betrayal is Daisy-specific)
Ch. 4 – Gatsby is betrayed
by Daisy while at war (she
marries Tom)
Ch. 5 – Gatsby and Daisy
reunite – betrayal of Tom??
Ch. 7 – Daisy betrays
Gatsby again! (Possibly
twice!)
- Myrtle’s treachery
surfaces!
Ch. 8 – The Last Betrayal
of George
Ch. 9 – No one shows to
“Gatsby’s last bash” (the
funeral)
Death/Decay:
Ch. 1 – Decay of “upperclass” values (marriage!)
- Decay of “small-town”
values (Nick is fleeing!)
Ch. 2 – Check out the
Valley of Ashes – a land
filled with decay and trash
- What does Tom’s assault
of Myrtle represent?
Ch. 7 – Myrtle’s death
Ch. 8 – Gatsby dies, George
dies
- The eyes of God (T.J.E.)
staring out at the whole
rotten scene
Every chapter – social
decay!
Disappointment:
Ch. 1 – Daisy –
disappointed with Tom
- The book begins with
disappointment – Nick’s
tired of everyone’s business
Ch. 2 – The party is
severely boring; everyone
just sits around talking
emptily, drinking to kill the
stifling emptiness of it all
Ch. 3 – When Gatsby is
introduced, it’s kind of a
let-down – we don’t see him
as “great” because he’s
already been damaged in
our eyes
- Jordan is dishonest – and
remember, Nick is one of
the only honest people he
knows
Ch. 4 – Gatsby damages
Nick’s newfound trust in
him by introducing him to
Wolfshiem
Ch. 5 – Disappointed by the
reunion initially (he gets
over it)
Ch. 6 – Gatsby is sad that
Daisy is unhappy at his
bash
- In his past, he was denied
his inheritance
Ch. 7 – Gatsby’s
disappointed by Daisy
Ch. 8 – Gatsby refuses to be
disappointed by Daisy (even
though all signs point to his
need to abandon the
pursuit)
Ch. 9 – Disappointed with
the world – with humanity
(Gatsby’s leeches don’t
show up), with society (for
its inherent corruption),
and with himself
Revenge:
Ch. 2 – Tom beats Myrtle
up for talking about Daisy
Ch. 5 – Daisy’s silent “stab
in the back” – going to meet
Gatsby without telling Tom
Ch. 7 – Daisy’s
unintentional “revenge”;
Tom rips apart Gatsby’s
dreams in front of him, and
then sends Daisy home in
his car to rub it in
Ch. 8 – Tom’s revenge on
Gatsby/George’s “revenge”
on the person he thought
killed his wife
Identity:
Ch. 1 – Nick moves East,
separating himself from his
childhood; the Buchanans
are superficially
sophisticated – living
empty, two-faced lives
Ch. 2 – Valley reflects the
lives of those inside it
Ch. 3 – Gatsby’s identity is
based on lies – and our first
impression of him is as well.
No one else at the party
understands him, so they
deal in suspicions and
innuendos
Ch. 4 – Meyer Wolfshiem –
underscores Gatsby’s
shadiness and renews our
suspicions (as well as
Nick’s)
Ch. 5 – Gatsby’s accident
with the clock reveals his
fundamental problem – he
is a man stuck outside of
time, chasing something he
can’t control
Ch. 6 – Dan Cody arrives,
James Gatz dies, Jay
Gatsby is born; we see him
stuck in the past rather
than moving forward into
the present
Ch. 7 – Everyone’s true
nature, for better or for
worse, is on display
Ch. 8 – We see the final
piece of the “Gatsby origin
story”
Ch. 9 – Our memories of
Gatsby are corrupted by
the call from the crooked
bondsman
Desperation:
Ch. 1 – Tom is desperate to
recapture old glories and
get away from his stifling
life; Gatsby reaches out for
the green light
Ch. 2 – Myrtle engages in
an affair because she’s
bursting with life – and
suffocating in the Valley
Ch. 3 – see Ch. 4
Ch. 4 – Gatsby/Jordan –
Jordan’s presence provides
Gatsby with a link to his
past and present pursuit
Ch. 5 – Gatsby is panicked
by the prospect of actually
meeting Daisy, and is about
to call the whole thing off
when she arrives
Ch. 6 – When Daisy comes
to his party, he tries hard to
impress her – and his mood
goes downhill fast when he
fails; his decision to
abandon everything about
his old identity, from school
to his name, also smacks of
rashness
Ch. 7 – Gatsby tries to
convince Daisy to tell Tom
she never loved him; Myrtle
charges into the road as she
flees her husband
Ch. 8 – George kills Gatsby
and commits suicide out of
a desperate need to avenge
his dead wife
Ch. 9 – Nick imagines
Gatsby telling him that he
can’t endure death alone, so
he tries desperately to
convince someone – anyone
– to come to the funeral
Reputation
Ch. 1 – Nick flees the
reputation he’s built (with
the girl!) back home; Tom
and Daisy behave oddly for
people concerned with
appearances
Ch. 2 – Myrtle and Tom sit
in opposite places on the
train to maintain an air of
decency (even though
anyone watching them
would know what was
going on)
Ch. 3 – The party! Nick
hears a billion things about
Gatsby – and check that
chapter again for kernels of
truth in the suspicions
Ch. 4 – The medal and
photo cement Gatsby’s
identity/reputation in
Nick’s mind; Wolfshiem
has a reputation as a man
to be avoided; Daisy follows
the guidelines attached to
her moneyed heritage by
deciding to marry Tom
instead of Gatsby
Ch. 6 – He establishes a
new reputation as Dan
Cody’s assistant, then goes
and serves honorably
overseas; Tom makes digs
at Gatsby’s reputation
during the party
Ch. 9 – George is reduced
to a “crazy person” after
Gatsby’s murder, and the
truth regarding Tom’s
involvement is never
released to the public
In your opinion, does
Gatsby do the “right”
thing? Does it matter
whether he failed or
succeeded? Is his pursuit of
Daisy moral? Do you agree
with his actions? Finally,
put yourself in Gatsby’s
shoes; if you had the
opportunity to regain
something you had lost, if it
was almost within reach
again…would you go for it?