The Great Gatsby - Guided Questions
Directions: Staple this paper inside your journal. Write all answers in your journal and in
complete sentences that adhere to the standard rules of English. Loose leaf paper will NOT be
accepted. As always, Sarasota County Academic Policy applies; please work independently.
Chapter 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Who is the narrator, and from what part of the country does he come?
What is Nick’s background? In what economic class does he fit?
Nick begins his tale in what season?
Compare Gatsby’s house to the Buchanan’s house. Which is more prestigious and why?
Nick lives on ______Egg; Gatsby lives on ______ Egg; Tom and Daisy Buchanan live on ______Egg.
What diction choices describe Tom Buchanan.
Who is Jordan ? What does she reveal about the Buchanan’s marriage?
What does Daisy tell Nick that she did when she learned she had given birth to a girl? What might this reveal about
Daisy’s own life and sense of purpose?
9. At the end of Chapter 1, Nick sees his neighbor Gatsby reaching out to a green light. List your ideas about what the
color green might symbolize.
Chapter 2
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Describe the Valley of Ashes.
Who or what is Dr. T. J. Eckleburg?
Describe George Wilson.
Describe Myrtle Wilson.
Describe the change that takes place in Myrtle as she goes from the gas station to the New York City apartment.
One of the novel’s themes is the deceptiveness of outward appearances. How does the character of Myrtle illustrate
this theme? On what basis does she choose the men with whom she becomes involved?
16. How are the circumstances resulting in Myrtle’s broken nose ironic?
Chapter 3
17.
18.
19.
20.
Describe the behavior of Gatsby’s party guests.
List some of the rumors about Gatsby’s past.
Contrast Gatsby’s behavior with that of his guests.
The owl-eyed man discovers that Gatsby’s books are real. What had he suspected? What does he mean when he says
Gatsby “Knew when to stop, too – didn’t cut the pages”?
21. Who is blamed for the car accident in Gatsby’s driveway? Should he be blamed?
22. What do we learn about Jordan Baker’s personality?
Chapter 4
23. Look over the names Fitzgerald has chosen for Gatsby’s party guests. Through these people Fitzgerald symbolizes
the Jazz Age. What do the people’s names and descriptions say about the Jazz Age in general? What is the
significance of these names being written on a disintegrating timetable?
24. Gatsby tells Nick about his past. Name one detail that reveals Gatsby may not be telling the truth.
25. What might Gatsby’s encounter with the police officer suggest about Gatsby?
26. Who is Meyer Wolfsheim, and what are some interesting aspects of his character? What is implied about his
relationship with Gatsby?
27. Based on Gatsby’s assessment of Jordan Baker, is Gatsby a good judge of character? How do we know?
28. What does Nick learn about Gatsby and Daisy from Jordan Baker?
29. How does the reader know that Tom is unfaithful to Daisy almost immediately after their marriage?
30. What arrangement does Gatsby want Nick to make?
Chapter 5
31. Describe the clothing Gatsby wears to the tea. What symbolism is evident in his choice of colors?
32. Why is it important to Gatsby that Daisy see his house and his possessions? What does Daisy’s reaction to his shirts
suggest?
33. Why does Nick say, “Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by
one”?
The Great Gatsby - Guided Questions
34. The song Klipspringer plays is about the unimportance of money and the fun that poor people have, getting
enjoyment from each other. Explain the irony of these lyrics for each of the three present: Gatsby, Daisy and
Klipspringer
35. At the end of Chapter 5, Nick sees that “the expression of bewilderment had come back onto Gatsby’s face, as though
a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness.” Why do you think Gatsby looks bewildered?
How does his apparent bewilderment relate to the idea that a dream attained may be less satisfying than a dream pursued?
Chapter 6
36. Give Jay Gatsby’s real name and summarize his life.
37. Who is Dan Cody? What is he like? What did Gatsby learn during his tenure with Cody?
38. Explain the irony of Tom saying to Mr. Sloane, “…women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all
kinds of crazy fish.”
39. What is Daisy’s reaction to Gatsby’s party and his guests?
40. What is shown by Gatsby’s statement that you repeat the past?
41. Reread the last three paragraphs of Chapter 6. What are Gatsby’s “unutterable visions”? What is
the “incarnation” that is mentioned? How does this passage explain the next five years of his life?
Chapter 7
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
What is Gatsby’s explanation for why the parties stop? Why did he give the parties in the first place?
How does the weather help set the scene in this chapter?
What is Gatsby’s reaction to Pammy, Daisy’s daughter? Relate this to Gatsby’s statement in question 40.
Who rides with whom to New York at the beginning of Chapter 7?
On this day, Tom and George have both discovered that their wives are having affairs. How does the news affect
George? How does the news affect Tom?
Why is Daisy unable to say that she never loved Tom? Why do you think Gatsby in unable to accept the fact that she
has loved them both?
Tom suggests that Daisy ride with Gatsby on the return trip. Why does Tom no longer see Gatsby as a threat to his
marriage?
Who is killed in the car accident? The color of the car which causes the accident is ______. Tom assumes that
_____ is driving the car. George and Myrtle, earlier, had seen ________ driving this car.
At the end of chapter 7, why does Nick comment that Gatsby was “watching over nothing”?
Theorize about what has brought Tom and Daisy back together at this point?
Chapter 8
52.
53.
54.
55.
How had Gatsby deceived Daisy when he was a young serviceman?
According to Gatsby, why had Daisy married Tom?
Why does Nick tell Gatsby, “They’re a rotten crowd . . . You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”
Nick assumes that, as Gatsby waited for Daisy’s phone call, “He must have felt hat he had lost the old warm world,
paid a high price for living too long with a single dream.” How would you interpret this passage? In what way
does it summarize the main trust of the novel?
56.
________ lies dead in the pool, killed by _______.
________ lies dead in the grass, killed by _______.
Chapter 9
57. What does Nick learn when he calls Daisy to tell her the news of the death?
58. Why is the telephone call from Slagle important to Gatsby’s characterization?
59. Who is Henry C. Gatz? What mixed emotions does Gatz feel upon his arrival?
60. Why do you think none of Gatsby’s social and business associates come to his funeral?
61. Which party guest does come? How does he know where and when the funeral is taking place?
62. Nick returns to what part of the country at the novel’s end?
63. The novel ends in what season?
64. How are Daisy and Tom both responsible for Gatsby’s death? How does Tom justify his actions?
65. Nick’s strongest judgment of Tom and Daisy comes at the end when he says, “They were careless people . . . and let
other people clean up the mess they had made.” Why do you think Nick steps out of character? (he says in the
beginning that he is a person who withholds judgment) How do you think Nick feels about the Buchanan’s wealth?
The Great Gatsby - Guided Questions