Why you should read The Great Gatsby…
1. Fitzgerald’s writing is lyrical – he is able to paint a scene by
using lush imagery as well as express the subtle nuances of
human nature.
2. Gatsby is an unforgettable, tragic character who represents the
best and worst of our American nature.
3. The Great Gatsby is a cautionary tale about the “American
dream” that still resonates today.
4. Nick Carraway, the narrator, recounts the events of one crazy
summer in such an engaging and ironic manner, the reader feels
an instant kinship with him.
5. Short and accessible!! It is possible to read in one sitting with
an investment of only 3 or 4 hours.
Why you may struggle with The Great Gatsby…
1. At the end you may be reeling as if having just escaped a party
that was too wild, too extravagant, and -- similar to how Nick
Carraway (the narrator) feels -- we are left exhausted and a bit
jaded.
2. Fitzgerald’s view of the “American dream” emphasizes what
can result when individuals refuse to take responsibility for
their actions and instead embrace the pursuit of pleasure.
3. Although short in length, the first half focuses on character
development over plot. Most of the action of the novel occurs
in chapter 5, so plot-lovers must be a little patient.
Fast Facts – The Great Gatsby
Pages – 180 (Scribner Paperback Edition)
Author – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Date Published -- 1925
Setting – Long Island/New York City/1922
Point of view – first person narrator: Nick Carraway
Genre – Drama
Issues/Conflicts – The American dream/one’s relationship to the past/lost love/social
class/The Jazz Age
Beyond the Basics…
Interesting article on why Gatsby has endured and is considered a classic:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100958.html
Information on the cover art:
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/essays/eyes/eyes.html
Web site on 1920’s:
http://mcgee.berlinschools.org/Library/socstudies/1920.htm
The Great Gatsby -- Author Information
Frances Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St.
Paul, Minnesota and was named after his famous second cousin three
times removed. He attended Princeton for three years then enlisted
in the Army shortly before WWI ended. In 1918, “Scott” met Zelda
Sayre, and in 1920 they married and moved to New York City. They
came to represent the extravagance and excess of “The Jazz Age”
until Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1930. At the age of
44, after two heart attacks and recurring bouts with tuberculosis
complicated by alcoholism, Scott died. Zelda died eight years later in
a hospital fire. They had one daughter, Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald
Lanahan Smith.
Scott wrote four novels and six collections of short stories. His first
novel was This Side of Paradise, but his best loved is The Great
Gatsby, now considered one of the best American novels of the
twentieth century.
More information on Fitzgerald’s life and works:
F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary Home Page:
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/
More in depth biography and full bibliography:
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fsfitzg.htm
Even more biography, plus links to essays:
http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/fitzgeraldbio.html
Biographical information on Zelda Fitzgerald:
http://www.pbs.org/kteh/amstorytellers/bios.html
Printable Bookmark! Please print and then cut to use
use as a reference as you read!!
Only basic information has been provided to avoid “spoilers.” The “Intro” column
indicates the chapter in which each character is first introduced. Enjoy!
Character
Nick
Carraway
Daisy
Buchanan
Tom
Buchanan
Jordan
Baker
James
Gatz
George
Wilson
Myrtle
Wilson
Catherine
Mr. and
Mrs.
McKee
Owl Eyes
Meyer
Wolfsheim
Dan Cody
Michaelis
Henry C.
Gatz
Description
First person
narrator; 29
years old.
Nick’s second
cousin; married
to Tom.
Went to Yale
with Nick;
married to
Daisy.
Professional
golfer; friends of
Buchanans.
Jay Gatsby’s
birth name.
Garage owner;
married to
Myrtle.
George’s wife;
Tom’s mistress.
Myrtle’s sister
Attend party in
NYC given by
Tom and Myrtle;
photographer.
Guest at
Gatsby’s parties.
Business
associate of
Gatsby; “fixed”
1919 World
Series.
James Gatz’s
mentor.
Greek restaurant
owner who
witnesses
accident.
James Gatz’s
father.
Intro
I
I
I
I
I
II
II
II
II
III
IV
V
VII
IX
Menu Ideas – Inspired by The Great Gatsby
Since The Great Gatsby is a much loved American classic and is
dominated by parties and the “Jazz Age,” it lends itself well to hors
d’oeuvres and desserts, and there are a number of sites that offer
“Gatsby” menu ideas. Here is a list of what Nick noticed at his first
Gatsby party:
5 crates of oranges
5 crates of lemons
spiced baked ham
salads of harlequin designs
pastry pigs and turkeys
gin
Here is what one hotel designed, inspired by Gatsby’s parties:
http://www.stimsongreen.com/htm/great_gatsby.htm
A fun site on the background of entertaining in the 1920’s:
http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/academic/english/1project/99
gg/99gg2/food.htm
An interesting site on speakeasies and other Prohibition-era
http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html#speakeasy
Any menu that involved tiny, extravagant appetizers and cocktails would be
appropriate!
One more menu from The Colony Hotel:
http://www.thecolonyhotel.com/maine/groups/corporate_packet.doc
The Great Gatsby
Stations located throughout our Beautiful Grand Dining Room
(Minimum of 75 people)
Stationary Items
Domestic and Imported Cheese display garnished with Fresh Seasonal Fruit
and Assorted Crackers
Fresh Vegetable Crudité display served with a selection of Dips
Mini Kennebunkport Lobster Rolls
Grilled New Potatoes with Sour Cream
Chafing Dishes
Colony Crab Cakes with a Roasted Pepper Aioli
Grilled Salmon Medallions with Citrus Herb Vinaigrette
Medallion of Chicken with Wild Mushroom Marsala Sauce
Baked Mushrooms Gatsby with a Duxelle of Toasted Cashews
Quiche of Spinach and Boursin Cheese
Grilled Baby Lamb Chops with English Mint Dressing
Butler Canapés
Cornets of Genoa Salami
Smoked Salmon Pinwheels with Trempherbe
Canapés Boursin with Spiced Pecans
Fresh Asparagus wrapped in Rare Sirloin
Carving Station
Tenderloin of Beef Wellington
Slow Roasted Turkey with a Cranberry Relish
Crêpe Station
Entrée Crêpes with the Popular Fillings
Dessert Station
Fresh Strawberry Shortcake assembled to Order
$56.00++
The Great Gatsby – Creating the Mood!!
Here are some ideas to set the mood, get the conversation started, and put
dishes on the table that compliment Fitzgerald’s classic. Enjoy!
Introductory Game Ideas:
Since this novel represents the “Jazz Age” so vividly, consider throwing a
cocktail party, complete with period music, hors d’eovres, and cocktails.
Appropriate music would include: Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Bessie
Smith, and Louis Armstrong.
Here are some warm-up games to get people “in character”:
When members arrive, give each an index card with a name of one of the
characters (Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan, Nick
Carraway, George Wilson) and have members write one sentence that their
character might say. Then have each member read their sentence and have
members try to guess each identity.
Variation: If your group has a dramatic flair, trying having a conversation “in
character.” For example, the leader could present a topic like “love” or
“money” and then ask everyone to discuss the topic as their characters.
Variation: Play “Would You Rather” in character – i.e.: Ask Daisy: Would you
rather be a millionaire or live with your true love?
Here is a site with “would you rather” questions:
http://www.bzoink.com/S7792/Would_You_Rather...((with_some_unu
sual_questions..)).html
Literary Terms – The Great Gatsby
Exposition – the introduction of the setting, characters, conflict(s) at
the beginning of a novel. Many of my questions focus on the
exposition since our first impressions are so influential to our
enjoyment and impressions of the novel. After finishing a novel,
skim the first chapter again to see how the author shaped and
influenced your first impressions. Focus questions: 1, 2, 3, 4
Diction – word choice. Notice how formal, colloquial, or archaic
the word choice is and how that influences your reading speed as well
as enjoyment level. Notice how Gatsby calls people “Old Sport” and
how angrily Tom reacts to this. Focus question: 9
Syntax – style of sentence structure. Does the author employ
complex, verbose, formal, or simplistic sentences? How does the
author’s crafting of syntax affect your engagement as a reader?
Complexity of syntax does not determine literary merit; the pairing of
syntax to meaning does.
Tone – author’s attitude toward subject. Think “tone of voice.”
Tone is created through diction and can be very subtle, but is
extremely important. If you misinterpret the tone, you most likely
misinterpret the meaning or theme of the narrative. Notice the
quotes referred to in question 9. Your answer reflects Fitzgerald’s
tone. Focus questions: 3, 9, 10, 11, 20, 22
Mood – emotional atmosphere of novel. Mood is considered an
aspect of the setting (time, place, atmosphere). When we read a novel,
we “read ourselves,” so think about what type of mood your favorite
novels tend to have and how different moods may influence your
enjoyment level. Focus questions: 8, 7, 40
Theme – main idea that runs through and unifies novel. Theme
should be stated as a complete thought and not one word, which
would instead be a topic of the novel: instead of “love,” consider
what the author is saying about the nature of love in the novel. In
classics, themes are frequently not “morals” of the novel; they may or
may not represent the ideal. Focus questions: 2, 6
Irony – the opposite of what it expected. Dramatic irony is when
the reader has more information than the character does, providing
the reader with an all-knowing perspective. Situational irony is
when a situation turns out differently than expected. Verbal irony is
when the speaker means the opposite of what is said, so correctly
interpreting tone becomes crucial to the reader’s understanding of the
events and particularly of the themes. An example of verbal irony in
The Great Gatsby is when Tom criticizes how little people value
“family life” and “family institutions” despite his numerous affairs,
including one affair weeks after his wedding.
Focus questions: 4, 10, 34, 35
Imagery – the use of words that engage the senses. Notice the
language that addresses the sense of sight in the following passage:
“Already it was deep summer on roadhouse roofs and in
front of wayside garages, where new red gas-pumps sat
out in pools of light…the wind had blown off, leaving a
loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a
persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth
blew the frogs full of life. The silhouette of a moving cat
wavered across the moonlight, and turning my head to
watch it, I saw that I was not alone…”
This scene occurs moments before Nick, the narrator, first sees his
neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Focus questions: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19
Symbolism – when an element of the story (object, character, color,
etc.) is both literally present in the novel and has significance or
represents something beyond itself. The green light at the end of
Daisy’s dock has great significance to Gatsby. The eyes of T.J.
Eckleburg gain significance to George Wilson when he realizes his
wife has been having an affair.
Focus questions: 13, 14, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, 38
Foil – when two characters contrast each other. The characters do
not need to be enemies – or even be aware of one another. In
Gatsby, Daisy and Myrtle would be considered foils.
Focus question: 16
Foreshadowing – when the author provides hints to future events.
The car accident at the end of the first Gatsby party Nick attends
foreshadows the accident at the climax of the novel in that none of
those responsible hold themselves accountable.
The Great Gatsby Discussion Questions
The following questions approach the novel from a number of
different angles, i.e., how the novel functions as a work of art, how it
reflects the time period, how it addresses fundamental questions of
humanity, and how it engages the reader. A good discussion tends to
start with our “heads” and end with our “hearts.” So, you may want
to save subjective opinions of taste until after you have discussed the
more objective elements of why this work is considered a classic. It
is tempting to begin with, “What did everyone think?” But if a
number of people really didn’t like the novel, their opinions may
derail a discussion of the novel’s merits. On the other hand, I
recommend starting with a few accessible questions and asking every
member to respond to ensure that all voices are present and heard
from the beginning. Just a few suggestions! Enjoy…
Warm up questions:
Which character did you empathize with the most? Which
characters did you dislike the most and why?
Would you have wanted to be invited to one of Gatsby’s
parties? Why/not?
How do Gatsby, Nick, Daisy, Tom, Myrtle and Jordan each
represent aspects of America?
1. The title page includes an quote by Thomas Parke D’Invilliers:
“Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!’”
D’Invilliers is actually a pen name of Fitzgerald’s and a character
in his autobiographical This Side of Paradise. Why do you think
Fitzgerald begins with this quote? What first impression is he
trying to create?
2. The narrator, Nick Carraway, begins with a quote from his
dad:
“’Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all
the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’…as my
father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental
decencies is parceled out unequally at birth”
What does Nick want us to believe about him? Why does he
believe his father’s belief is “snobbish?” Which characters are
best described by this quote?
3. Nick spends the beginning of the first chapter telling us who he
is. Although Nick believes he is “inclined to reserve all
judgments,” who does he judge the harshest in the novel (and
why)? Who is he most compassionate towards? He then states
that “Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.” What
does he mean by this and do you agree?
4. Nick tells the story as a flashback and warns us:
“When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in
uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions
with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his
name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented
everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”
Why does Nick not judge Gatsby – even to the extent of
naming his novel after him?
5. Right after this passage, Nick reflects on the concept of
“personality”:
“If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was
something gorgeous about him [Gatsby], some heightened sensitivity to the
promises of life…”
Do you agree with his assessment of what constitutes
“personality”? In what way is Gatsby “gorgeous” to Nick? Do
you agree?
6. Nick states that:
“Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust
floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the
abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.”
What does Nick believe is “the foul dust” that preyed on
Gatsby?
7. The setting is crucial to the story – Nick believes the East is
corrupt and the Midwest wholesome. Notice how he states
that his family had lived in the Midwest for three generations,
then downplays his graduation from Yale (indicated by “New
Haven”). He also downplays his involvement in WWI. How
do these facts contribute to our first impressions of Nick? Is
he a credible narrator? Do we like him? Believe him?
8. Nick introduces the setting of West Egg and East Egg in the
following way:
“I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most
superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.”
Why is the contrast of the two sinister to Nick? Do you agree
with his use of this strong word?
9. Notice how Nick introduces the reader to Tom and Daisy:
“[Tom] had changed [since college]…now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of
thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant
eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always
leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes
could hide the enormous power of that body…It was a body capable of enormous
leverage—a cruel body.”
“[Daisy] laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a
moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she
so much wanted to see. That was a way she had…[Daisy’s] was the kind of voice
that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that
will never be played again. Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it,
bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice
that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget…”
We are set up to dislike Tom and like (or at least be intrigued
by) Daisy. Do we like Daisy? Do we judge her by the end of
the novel?
10. Soon after it becomes clear that Tom is having an affair,
Daisy tells Nick that after she gave birth to Pammy, she
“…asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and
so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I
hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little
fool.’”
Why does Daisy say this? Do you think she really believes it?
11.Soon after this scene, Nick thinks to himself,
“The instant her voice broke off ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the
basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the whole
evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me. I
waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on
her lovely face, as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret
society to which she and Tom belonged.”
What does this foreshadow at the end? Why doesn’t Daisy
leave Tom?
12.Fitzgerald is known for his lush imagery:
“The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on
which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon.
They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had
just been blown back in after a short flight around the house…Then there was a
boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about
the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly
to the floor.”
“Inside, the crimson room bloomed with light. [Jordan] read aloud to [Tom] from
The Saturday Evening Post—the words, murmurous and uninflected, running
together in a soothing tune. The lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the
autumn-leaf yellow of her hair, glinted along the paper as she turned a page with a
flutter of slender muscles in her arms.”
“There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his
blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and
the champagne and the stars.”
Any other passages that resonated with readers?
13.Nick’s first impression of Gatsby is as follows:
“…I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be
alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as
I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced
seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way,
that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had
vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.”
Why is this an appropriate first image of Gatsby? How does it
echo later impressions of Gatsby?
14.At the beginning of chapter II, Nick describes the region
known as “the valley of ashes”:
“About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the
railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain
desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow
like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of
houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of
men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally
a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and
comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and
stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your
sight.
But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it,
you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of
Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They
look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which
pass over a non-existent nose…his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days
under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground…
The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the
drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at
the dismal scene for as long as half an hour…”
Other than a symbol of industrialization, in light of the fact that
Nick is about to meet Tom’s mistress, what does the “valley of
ashes” represent? What do the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg come to
symbolize to George?
15.After looking back on our first impression of George Wilson
(“He was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome.
When he saw us [Nick and Tom] a damp gleam of hope sprang
into his light blue eyes”), is it believable that this man would
eventually kill Gatsby?
16.Here is our first impression of Myrtle:
“…the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She
was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh
sensuously as some women can. Her face…contained no facet or gleam of beauty,
but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her
body were continually smouldering. She smiled slowly and, walk[ed] through her
husband as if her were a ghost…”
Myrtle is obviously a foil to Daisy -- why is Tom attracted to
Myrtle?
17.At the end of chapter II, Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose and Nick
leaves with Mr. McKee without reacting to the violence he just
witnessed. Do we judge Nick for not criticizing Tom? For not
defending or helping Myrtle? Why/not?
18.Chapter II ends with a surreal and obscure encounter with Mr.
McKee that begins with McKee asking Nick to lunch and the
elevator man telling him to “Keep your hands off the lever” and
ends with:
“…I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in
his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands…Then I was lying half asleep in
the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring at the morning Tribune, and
waiting for the four o’clock train.”
How do you explain this strange, ambiguous scene? Why does
Fitzgerald include it?
19.Notice Fitzgerald’s use of color in chapter III—the gardens
are blue, the cocktail music is yellow—how are those colors
appropriate?
20.Notice Nick’s description of his first meeting with Gatsby:
“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 as 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. Precisely at that point it vanished—
and I was looking at an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose
elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd.”
Until the last line, who else could this description fit?
21. Nick remembers that Jordan Baker was the golf pro accused of
cheating in a tournament. He realizes that
“Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was
because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought
impossible. She was incurably dishonest…It made no difference to me. Dishonesty
in a woman is a thing you never blame too deeply—I was casually sorry and then I
forgot.”
Do we forgive Nick this sexist comment? What does he mean by it?
22. At the end of chapter III, Nick states “Every one suspects
himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am
one of the few honest people that I have ever known.” After they
break up, Jordan disagrees with Nick on this point: “…it was careless
of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an
honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.”
Do we believe Nick that he is truly honest? Why/not?
23.In chapter IV we meet Meyer Wolfsheim and learn a little about
Gatsby’s “business.” How did meeting Wolfsheim affect your
impressions of Gatsby?
24.When we learn about Daisy’s history with Gatsby and how she
came to marry Tom, what is our reaction? Are we compassionate?
Why/not?
25.When Nick learns about Gatsby and Daisy’s past romance, he
realizes “Then it had not been merely the stars to which [Gatsby] had
aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly
from the womb of his purposeless splendor.” Why does Nick react
in this way? Why does his impression of Gatsby change?
26. Chapter V is the first time the weather begins to mirror the
events of the story in an obvious manner. Notice how it rains during
the time leading up to Daisy and Gatsby’s reunion, then the sun
comes out once they declare their love again? Then Myrtle’s death
occurs on a very hot day. Is this effective or heavy-handed?
27. When Gatsby is observing Daisy in his bedroom, he becomes
overwhelmed:
“’It’s the funniest thing, old sport,’ he said hilariously. ‘I can’t—when I try to—“ He
had passed through two states and was entering upon a third. After his
embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her
presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end,
waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in
the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.”
Has anyone experienced this reaction before? How do we respond
to Gatsby’s reaction?
28. Soon after this passage, Gatsby confesses to watching the green
light at the end of Daisy’s dock and Nick notices:
“Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now
vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy
it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star
to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted
objects had diminished by one.”
Has anyone experienced this before -- Where your “count of
enchanted objects…diminished by one”?
29. In chapter VI we learn about Gatsby—nee, James Gatz—true
identity. Which details were most surprising?
30. When Gatsby describes first kissing Daisy to Nick, he
remembers:
“Out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalks really
formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees—he could climb to it,
if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the
incomparable milk of wonder.”
We start to realize that Daisy has significance for Gatsby beyond
simply a romance. What does she symbolize to him?
31. Nick’s reaction to the above passage is:
“Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of
something—an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard
somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth
and my lips parted like a dumb man’s, as though there was more struggling upon
them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound, and what I had almost
remembered was uncommunicable forever.”
What did you make of this passage? What is Nick trying to
remember?
32. In chapter VII we meet Pammy, Daisy and Tom’s daughter.
What kind of mother does Daisy seem to be? Do we judge her for
this?
33. In this chapter, Daisy’s voice is described by Gatsby: “Her voice
is full of money.” How does this further suggest what she
symbolizes to Gatsby?
34. Notice the irony that Tom and George realize their wives are
having affairs nearly at the same time. How do they react differently?
35. How is the following pronouncement by Tom ironic:
“Self-control!” repeated Tom incredulously. “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back
and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea
you can count me out…”
36. When Daisy affirms her love for Gatsby to Tom, denies her love
for Tom, then changes her mind, do we feel compassionate toward
her? If so, why/not?
37. After Tom has “exposed” Gatsby, and tells Daisy and Gatsby to
ride back home together, Nick realizes it is his 30th birthday. Why is
this significant?
38.Nick’s last words to Gatsby are, “’They’re a rotten crowd,’ I
shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put
together.’ Why does he believe this? Do you agree with Nick?
Why/not?
39.What is the significance of Gatsby dying in his swimming pool?
40.At the end of the novel, Nick returns to the importance of setting:
“That’s my Middle West—not the wheat or the prairies or the lost Swede towns, but
the thrilling returning trains of my youth, and the street lamps and sleigh bells in the
frosty dark and the shadows of holly wreaths thrown by lighted windows on the
snow…I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby,
Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some
deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.”
How do you respond to this? Why doesn’t Nick include a
character born and bred in the East to contrast with the
“Westerners”? Do you agree with his conclusion that where
you are born determines crucial aspects of your identity?
Wrap-up Questions…
Which character did you relate to the most?
Would you recommend the novel?
If you could change anything, what would it be?
What adjective comes to mind when you reflect on the novel?
Why is The Great Gatsby considered by many “the great
American novel”? Do you agree?
Do you think The Great Gatsby would be as significant to
non-Americans?
The Great Gatsby – the film
A number of film versions have been made of The Great Gatsby. The most
well-known opened in 1974 and starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. The
most recent version was made for television in 2000. Your group could watch
a version of the movie together and discuss your impressions, or group
members could watch it before the meeting and then discuss impressions as a
group. Here are a few possible movie questions:
While viewing the movie, which characters were most unlike how
you pictured them while reading the novel?
Which characters seemed “right on” in their portrayal?
What plot elements were left out or changed in the movie?
How was your enjoyment affected by what was left out/changed?
If this movie were remade today, who would you cast as Gatsby,
Nick, Daisy, etc.?
This movie won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and
Best Music, a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
(Karen Black) and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Bruce
Dern and Sam Waterson) and Most Promising Newcomer (Sam
Waterson). Do you believe these awards and nominations were
justified? Which awards and nominations seemed best earned or
least earned?
More information on the film(s):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071577/
http://www.notstarring.com/movies/great-gatsby
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210719/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291928/