The Great Gatsby Study Guide

On pages 159-160, George and Michaelis's conversation about the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg develops the theme that...

American have given up moral behavior and begun worshiping wealth.

How do Meyer Wolfsheim's cuff buttons add to his characterization? (Page 72)

By making him seem dangerous

On pages 35-36 Myrtle discusses suits worn by both George and Tom. What do these descriptions symbolize?

Class

What happens to Gatsby?

George Wilson shoots Jay Gatsby to death because he believes that Gatsby was the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife Myrtle.

What is the "indiscernible barbed wire between" Gatsby and "such people" as Daisy (148)?

Social class

What effect did Fitzgerald most likely intend with the letter from Wolfshiem on page 166?

To build sympathy for Gatsby

One page 125, why does Nick describe Tom as "feeling the hot whips of panic"?

Tom has lost control of both important women in his life.

What does Myrtle's silver dog leash symbolize?

The restricted role of women in society

Reread the following passage from page 61: "'He's a bootlegger,' said the young ladies, moving somewhere between his cocktails and his flowers. 'One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil.'" Why did Fitzgerald most likely choose to introduce these rumors before letting Gatsby tell his own story?

The rumors contrast with Gatsby's depiction of himself as a sad, romantic wanderer.

Reread the following conversation between Nick and Mr. Gatz from page 168: "'If he'd of lived, he'd of beena great man. A man like James J. Hill. He'd of helped build up the country.' 'That's true,' I said, uncomfortably." Why does Nick use the word "uncomfortably" to describe his response?

He knows it is a lie, but does not want to hurt Mr. Gatz.

Reread the following passage from page 83: "I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of side line, you understand. And I thought that if you don't make very much -- You're selling bonds, aren't you, old sport?...Well, this would interest you. It wouldn't take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing." Why does Gatsby tell Nick that his "side line" is "rather confidential'?

Gatsby is involved in something illegal.

What are Gatsby's parties like?

Gatsby's party is almost unbelievably luxurious: guests marvel over his Rolls-Royce, his swimming pool, his beach, crates of fresh oranges and lemons, buffet tents in the gardens overflowing with a feast, and a live orchestra playing under the stars.

Who are George and Myrtle Wilson, and how are they connected to Tom Buchanan?

George Wilson is a gas station and garage owner living in the 'Valley of Ashes' between Eggs and New York City. Wilson's wife, Myrtle, is engaged in an affair with Tom Buchanan.

Reread the following passage from page 141: "Picking up Wilson like a doll, Tom carried him into the office, set him down in a chair, and came back.. 'If somebody'll come here and sit with him,' he snapped authoritatively. He watched while the two men standing closest glanced at each other and went unwillingly inot the room. Then Tom shut the door on them and came down the single step, his eyes avoiding the table. As he passed close to me he whispered: 'Let's get out.'" What do Tom's actions reveal about him?

He cares for George.

How does Gatsby try to prove to Nick that he is telling the truth about himself?

He has a medal and a photograph to prove it!

What theme about appearance and reality does Fitzgerald develop by revealing Tom's extra-marital affair?

Appearance cannot be trusted

Reread the following passage from page 41: "Suddenly one of these gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas platform. A momentary hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and there is a burst of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray's understudy from the Follies. The party has begun." How does the description of the dancer in this passage contribute to the mood?

By demonstrating that the party guests act more wildly than they normally would

What does the phrase "her voice is full of money" reveal about Gatsby?

He is drawn to Daisy's wealth and class.

When Daisy talks to Gatsby on page 89, she calls him "Jay." What is Fitzgerald suggesting with this word choice?

Daisy is in a more intimate relationship with Gatsby than anyone else is.

Reread the following passage from page 104: "I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy's eyes." What does Nick imply in this passage?

Daisy sees West Egg as inferior to East Egg.

What is the best meaning of "incredulous" as it is used in the following sentence on page 66? "With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter."

Disbelieving

Reread the following passage from page 106: "I knew that except for the half-hour she'd been alone with Gatsby [Daisy] wasn't having a good time. We were at a particularly tipsy table. That was my fault --Gatsby had been called to the phone, and I'd enjoyed these same people only two weeks before. But what had amused me then turned septic on the air now." In this sentence, the word "septic" most closely means...

Disgusting

How does Fitzgerald create tension in this chapter?

Fitzgerald uses the heat to build tension as the temperature rises and the mood dims, establishing a depressing tone that the reader can infer represents the bad things that are about to happen later in the chapter.

Nick says that Gatsby "found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail" (149). Read the information below about the word grail and then answer the question. Grail: in Christian tradition: the cup Jesus drank from during the Last Supper, endowed with miraculous powers. In the legends of King Arthur, knights make heroic quests to find the Grail. What does this word choice suggest?

He now views Daisy as a magical object he must win at all costs.

Reread the following passage from pages 91-92: "He had passed visibly 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 has 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 reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock." What does this suggest for Gatsby's future?

He will be happy with Daisy.

Why did Gatsby buy a mansion in West Egg?

In the hopes that he would win Daisy back.

Reread the following passage from page 68: "Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." Why is this an apt setting in which to hear Gatsby tell her personal history?

It depicts the city as a place where magical things can happen.

How is the conversation between Nick and Klipspringer on pages 168-169 important to the chapter as a whole?

It emphasizes Gatsby's lack of true friends.

How does Jordan's story about Daisy's marriage (Pages 76-77) develop Daisy's characterization?

It implies that Daisy still regrets marrying Tom.

Reread the following passage from page 176: "Even when the East excited me most, even when I was most keenly aware of its superiority to the bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond the Ohio, with their interminable inquisitions which spared only the children and the very old --even then it has always for me a quality of distortion." What does this passage reveal about Nick's ultimate view of the East?

It is corrupt.

How does the conversation about Gatsby on page 44 contribute to his characterization?

It makes him seem dishonest.

How does learning about Ella Kaye's treatment of GAtsby (pages 100-101) affect readers/ view of him?

It makes readers sympathetic towards Gatsby.

Reread the following passage from page 137: "Michaelis and this man reached her first, but when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that [Myrtle's] left breast was swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped a little at the corners, as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long." How is the description of Myrtle's dead body important to the novel as a whole?

It reinforces the danger of bootlegging and criminal behavior.

How does Nick and Jordan's interaction with the man in the "owl=eyed" glasses develop Gatsby's character? (Pages 45-46)

It shows that Gatsby presents a false image of himself.

What is the best meaning of "shiftlessness" as it is used in the following passage on page 32? "'I told that boy about the ice.' Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. 'These people! You have to keep after them all the time.'"

Laziness

What happens to Myrtle?

Myrtle is struck by a passing car that fails to stop, continuing its route out of the city.

Reread the sentence from page 3 "Instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe -- so I decided to go East and learn the bond business." What does this sentence reveal about Nick's view of the East?

Nick believes the East is a sophisticated place.

Who is Nick Carraway, and what is his role in the story?

Nick is a young man from Minnesota who, after being educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes to New York City to learn the bond business. He is the narrator of the novel.

Reread the following sentence from page 58: "But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires, and I knew that first I had to get myself definitely out of that tangle back home." What does the word "tangle" refer to?

Nick's former relationship

Reread the passage from page 14. "I was about to speak when she sat up alertly and said, "Sh! In a warning voice. A subdued impassioned murmur was audible in the room beyond, and Miss Baker leaned forward unashamed, trying to hear. The murmur trembled on the verge of coherence, sank down, mounted excitedly, and then ceased altogether." What do Jordan's actions reveal about her?

She is amused by gossip.

How does Fitzgerals develop the meaning of the green light in the chapter?

The lost love symbolized by the green light was one that Gatsby had discovered again after a long break. The light only served to show how near to Daisy's beloved past Gatsby had come, despite the distance that still separated them.

Reread the following passage from page 90: "With enchanting murmurs Daisy admired this aspect or that of the feudal silhouette against the sky, admired the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils and the frothy odor of hawthorn and plum blossoms and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate." What mood does Fitzgerald create with this imagery?

The mood is romantic.

Nick describes Gatsby as "liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world" (149). Later, he says Tom Buchanan has :a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position" (151). What do these contrasting descriptions emphasize?

The security that comes with wealth

Reread the passage from page 24. "The fact that [Tom[ had [a mistress] was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular cafés with her and leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew." How does the passage develop Tom's character?

They show he is careless.

Reread the sentence from page 28. Throwing a regal homecoming glance around the neighborhood, Mrs. Wilson gathered up her dog and her other purchases, and went haughtily in. How do the details in this sentence contribute to Myrtle's character development?

They show that she thinks her affair brings her higher status.

What scheme does Gatsby ask Nick to help him with?

To invite Daisy over for tea without mentioning Gatsby.

What does Gatsby want Daisy to do?

To leave Tom so that he can be with her.

Reread the sentence from page 11. "Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense are imperatively under mine, Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square." Why does Nick use the word "compelled"?

To show Tom's forcefulness

Reread the passage from page 44. "Instead of rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside --East Egg condescending to West Egg and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gaiety." Why does Nick describe East Egg as "condescending" to West Egg in this passage?

To show that East Eggers considered themselves better than West Eggers

On page 107, Tom says, "A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know." Why is his contempt for bootleggers ironic?

Tom drinks illegal alcohol every day.

Reread the following passage from page 107: "[Tom]] was silent for a moment. The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 'Well, he certainly must have strained himself to get this menagerie together.'" Fitzgerald uses the word "menagerie" to imply that...

Tom sees the party guests as low class and repulsive.

What character trait is Gatsby trying to project with his "white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie" (Page 84)?

Wealth

What do the settings in this chapter reveal about society in the 1920s?

Were distinguished by an expanding freedom and foolishness. by being given more freedom to act however they like. Gatsby's parties are filled with upper-class luxury.