Name _____________________________________ Task 3.

The Great Gatsby

Chapter 4 Study Guide
1. What is the significance of the date on the timetable?

The date is July 5, 1922- the day after Independence Day. It indicates the party goers are enjoying and
celebrating a freedom they didn’t fight for.

2. What is significant about the names of the party guests in relation to where they live?

The East Egg’s list includes reputable, American sounding names from reputable, stuffy places. The West
Egg’s list includes names of those connected with movies, gamblers, theatrical people, and more ethnic-
sounding names from less-reputable businesses or places.

3. What does Fitzgerald use as a symbol of Gatsby’s wealth and what theme does this reinforce?

His car. It reinforces the theme of the American Dream.

4. Why does Nick suspect Gatsby may be lying? What causes him to change his mind?

His body language, changes in speech pattern, and that he says he’s from the Middle West- San
Francisco, convince Nick that Gatsby is lying. When he produces the medal and a picture of him from
Oxford, then Nick thinks he is telling the truth.

5. Why does Gatsby divulge the details of his life to Nick?

It’s very important to Gatsby that Nick not think he was just a nobody.

6. How does Gatsby explain his fortune?

He claims he inherited it from family who died.

7. How did Gatsby get out of trouble with the cop?

He flashed a Christmas card from the commissioner.

8. Who is Wolfsheim and what is he known for?

An associate of Gatsby’s. He’s known for being the man who fixed the World Series in 1919.

9. What do Buchanan and Wolfsheim each represent?

Buchanan represents established, legal institutions and Wolfsheim represents the underworld or that of
organized crime.
10. What is the significance of Gatsby’s statement “Miss Baker’s a great sportswoman, you know, and she’d never
do anything that wasn’t all right?”

This reflects the changes taking place in the world during the 20s. Being great has nothing to do with
being honest. Since Nick already knows that Jordan is a chronic liar he isn’t fooled.

11. What information does Jordan divulge to Nick?

She tells him the story of Gatsby and Daisy’s love. She knows about this because she was a bridesmaid at
Tom and Daisy’s wedding.

12. What does she ask him to do?

She asks Nick to invite Daisy over without Tom and then let Gatsby come over.

13. What causes Daisy to be so upset on her wedding day?

She receives a letter which we assume is from Gatsby that gives her second thoughts.

14. Why does Gatsby want Daisy to see his house?

He lost her once to established money and knows that if she doesn’t see he is now established, he will
never have a chance with her.

15. What is the overall purpose of the three major events that take place in chapter 4?

They give us a better understanding of Gatsby’s past and therefore his present.
 The Great Gatsby
Chapter 5 Study Guide
1. Why does Gatsby suggest that he and Nick “go to Coney Island,” or “take a plunge in the swimming pool?”

Gatsby is wondering whether Jordan has spoken to Nick, but instead of asking, he circumvents the issue
until Nick offers the information.

2. How does Gatsby let Nick know that he’s grateful for Nick agreeing to call Daisy?

Gatsby offers Nick a job, a confidential sort of thing.

3. What literary device is used in this sentence: “The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o’clock a greenhouse
arrived from Gatsby’s…” and what effect is created?

Hyperbole is used to emphasize Gatsby’s extravagance and the desperateness of his quest- the lengths
the lengths to which he feels he must go in order to win his lost love.

4. What does Gatsby do to Nick’s house for Daisy?

He cuts the grass and brings in an abundance of flowers

5. How long has it been since Gatsby and Daisy have seen each other?

Almost five years

6. What does Daisy’s agreeing to come to Nick’s house without Tom tell us about the theme of changing moral
values?

She comes expecting to enter into an affair that a generation earlier would have been unthinkable.

7. How does Fitzgerald show the changes in Gatsby?

The self-assured, easy-going Gatsby is visibly ill at ease. He is as pale as death with his hands shoved into
his pockets.

8. What is the literary purpose of the broken clock?

The clock is like Gatsby who, when he realized he was poor and would never get Daisy, stopped ticking.
He is trapped in his dreams just as the clock is trapped in a moment. I may also imply that he is frozen in
time.

9. What does Gatsby say to Nick when they’re in the kitchen?

He thinks the meeting is a mistake

10. What does Gatsby say that makes him sound like Tom?

When Daisy arrives at his house he says, “My house looks well, doesn’t it?” It’s the same type of
comment Tom made when Nick first when to their house.
11. What cause Nick to be suspicious about Gatsby’s past?

Gatsby tells Daisy that it took him just three years to earn the money to buy the house. Earlier, he told
Nick that he had inherited the money.

12. How does Gatsby change during Daisy’s visit?

First he seems embarrassed to see Daisy again. Then he is filled with joy and then he is consumed with
wonder.

13. What has Gatsby been collecting over the years?

Newspaper clippings about Daisy

14. Why does Daisy cry about the shirts?

She says it’s because they’re so beautiful. Really, she is mourning the fact that she could have had both
money and love. She could also be overwhelmed at the thought of being so close to a dream she cannot
attain.

15. How does Fitzgerald use weather to reinforce the mood throughout the chapter?

The morning that Gatsby and Daisy meet it is pouring rain which mirrors the storms within as they meet
again. Nick stands outside and the rain sounds like their voices. When the rain stops he does back inside
to find Gatsby radiant and glowing.

16. Read this passage: “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.” Explain what Fitzgerald means by each bolded line.

a. While Gatsby has moved across the bay from her and spent a great deal of time and energy attaining
wealth, his chances of being reunited with her seemed unlikely. That green light had been as close to
Daisy previously as Gatsby was at that moment.

b. His dream of being reunited with Daisy has been realized so the green light is no longer a symbol for
Gatsby- it’s just a light. Even if just for a second, he is with Daisy again and no longer needs to sustain
himself with symbols as he momentarily has the real thing.

17. Explain the statement, “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams.”

Often, when one dreams and builds such an illusion as Gatsby has of Daisy, when the dream comes to
fruition, it is often less than one had hoped for. For Gatsby, the romantic vision of Daisy that he had
created dissipates as the reality sets in that Daisy is only human.
 The Great Gatsby
Chapter 6 Study Guide
1. What is Gatsby’s real name?

James Gatz

2. How are his parents described?

Shiftless and unsuccessful farm people

3. What literary device is present in the following sentence and what purpose does it serve? “He was a son of
God…..and he must be about His Father’s business?

It’s an allusion that establishes Gatsby as a deity in his own self-perception. And it tells us he has
purposed wealth with almost religious zeal.

4. In this chapter we learn more information about Gatsby. Who is Jay Gatsby in reality?

James Gatz from North Dakota. At 16 he left home. He was a womanizer and went to a small Lutheran
college in Minnesota for a few weeks then went to Lake Superior. At 17 he met Dan Cody and joined him
on his yacht as his personal assistant.

5. How long was Gatsby employed by Dan Cody?

Five years

6. What did Gatsby inherit from Cody?

Absolutely nothing.

7. Why does Gatsby not drink?

He saw how alcohol affected Cody and was disgusted by its effects. He made a decision to never drink.

8. Describe Tom’s first visit to Gatsby’s house.

Tom, Mr. Sloane, and a woman arrive on horseback. Gatsby offers them refreshments. He reminds Tom
they have already met but Tom doesn’t seem to remember much about Gatsby. Gatsby accepts an
invitation from the woman for dinner and while he goes to get his coat, the three leave before Gatsby
returns.

9. How does Daisy explain Gatsby’s fortune to Tom?

She tells Tom he owns drug stores.

10. What does Gatsby want from Daisy?

He wants her to say that she never loved Tom.

11. What is significant about Fitzgerald’s choice of the word “menagerie?”

The denotation of menagerie is wild animal exhibit or diverse or exotic group of unusual people or
things. This word choice furthers the amusement park imagery associated with Gatsby’s home.

12. What are Gatsby’s expectations of Daisy? Are they realistic?

He expects Daisy to fall madly in love with him and confess to Tom she never loved him. He wants to go
back in time five years and erase all that happened. They are not realistic. Daisy is a married woman
who enjoys the kind of life Tom gives her.

13. Nick narrates the events of Daisy and Gatsby’s first kiss. He says that Gatsby knew that, after kissing Daisy, “… his
mind would never romp again like the mind of God.” What does this mean?

Earlier in chapter 6 Nick compares the transformation of James Gatz to Jay Gatsby and says Gatsby was
a “Son of God,” a self-proclaimed deity. He is, in a sense, the creator and controller of his self. Once he
kisses Daisy, though, he passes that control over to her.

14. Explain the narrative and structural purpose of chapter 6.

This chapter gives the reader more details about Gatsby’s past and points out the distinction between
new money and old money. Regardless of how wealthy one is, what matters is the source of money and
how long one’s family has had it.

15. In what way does this chapter epitomize the American Dream?

The reader sees that Gatsby has risen from rags to riches through his ingenuity and resourcefulness.