Discussion questions Great Gatsby
Pre-Reading
- Why are we still reading a book written in the 1920's? What gives a book its longevity?
- How was the 1920's a reaction to WWI?
- Some people think that having money leads to happiness. Do you agree? Why or why not? What are the advantages or disadvantages of being wealthy.
- What is the "American Dream"? Where did it originate, and how has it changed over the centuries?
- Have you ever wanted to relive a moment from your past, to redo it? Describe the situation. How and why would you change the past?
Return to topChapter 1
- Notice how many times Fitzgerald uses the words hope, or dream. Why does he do this?
- Nick starts the novel by relaying his father's advice "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." List Nick's advantages. Does he reserve judgement in the novel?
- Pay attention to time. What is the day and year during the first scene at Daisy's house?
- Describe Nick. What facts do you know about him, and what do you infer about him? What kind of a narrator do you think he will be?
- What image does the author use to describe Jordan Baker? What does it mean?
- How does Nick react to Jordan?
- What does Tom's behavior reveal about his character?
Return to topChapter 2
- Describe the "valley of ashes." What does it look like and what does it represent?
- Describe Mr. Wilson and Myrtle. Do they seem to fit into the setting?
- What more have you learned about Nick in this chapter? Is he similar or different than the people he spends his time with?
- Describe the violent act Tom comitted against Myrtle. What does this reveal about him?
Return to topChapter 3
- Pay attention to Nick's judgements. What do they reveal about his character that he does this (especially in relation to his opening comments)?
- Describe Gatsby the first time Nick sees him.
- What rumors have been told about Gatsby? Why does Fitzgerald reveal rumors rather than fact?
- What does Nick think of Gatsby after meeting him?
- How is Gatsby different from his guests?
- Why does Nick choose to share his thoughts and feelings with Jordan?
- Nick thinks he's one of the few honest people he knows, why? Do you think he is honest?
Return to topChapter 4
- List all of the rumors told about Gatsby.
- Why does Fitzgerald list all of Gatsby's party guests?
- Why does Gatsby tell Nick about his life? Do you believe Gatsby? Does Nick?
- What role does Meyer Wolfsheim play in the novel? Why is there so much focus on his nose and what does this tell you about Fitzgerald's politics?
- What does Jordan's story of Daisy's marriage reveal about Daisy?
- Why did Gatsby want Daisy to see his house?
- Nick says, "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." What does Nick mean? How does each character in the novel fit into this schema?
Return to topChapter 5
- Why does Gatsby deliver so many goods and services to Nick's house?
- Describe the effect of rain on the plot.
- Why does Gatsby offer Nick work? How does Nick feel about this?
- Explain the significance of the green light.
- Why does Gatsby get so many phone calls? What does this say about him?
Return to topChapter 6
- How truthful was Gatsby when he relayed the story of his life to Nick? Why does Fitzgerald tell the story of Jay Gatz now?
- Describe the meeting of Tom and Gatsby. What does this meeting reveal about them?
- Why did Daisy and Tom find Gatsby's party loathsome?
- How did Gatsby measure the success of his party?
- When Nick told Gatsby that "you can't repeat the past", Gatsby replied, "Why of course you can!" Do you agree with Nick or Gatsby?
Return to topChapter 7
- Who is Trimachio? Explain how this describes Gatsby.
- Describe Daisy and Gatsby's new relationship.
- Compare George Wilson and Tom. What did each man learn about his wife and how did they each react?
- If Daisy says she's never loved Tom, is there someone whom she thinks she loves?
- Describe the fight between Gatsby and Tom. What do these men think of each other? How are they similar and how are they different?
- What was significant about Nick's 30th birthday?
- What do you think Tom and Daisy were saying to each other in the kitchen? Do you think that Tom knew Daisy was driving the "death car"? Why, why not?
- At this point, how would you end the novel?
Return to topChapter 8
- How does Fitzgerald achieve a melancholic mood in the beginning of this chapter?
- How are seasons used in constructing this novel?
- Who is Dan Cody and what is his significance in Gatsby's life?
- How does Nick's statement "You're worth the whole bunch put together" show a change in Nick from the beginning of the novel?
- How does T. J. Eckleberg affect Mr. Wilson?
Return to topChapter 9
- Why did Nick take care of Gatsby's funeral?
- How was Jay Gatz's childhood schedule consistent with the adult Gatsby's behavior?
- Who attended Gatsby's funeral? How and why is this significant?
- What is the purpose of Nick's last meeting with Jordan?
- Why does Nick call Tom and Daisy "careless people"?
Return to topPost Reading
- Does this novel have villains and heroes? Why, why not? If yes, who fits into these categories and why?
- Nick is both part of the action and acting as an objective commentator. Does this narration style work? Why, why not?
- How did Fitzgerald use weather to reflect the mood of the story?
- Again, why are we still reading a book written in the 1920's? What gives a book its longevity? And which of its themes are eternal in the American psyche.
Return to
The Great Gatsby Index Page.
Within my group, there was Valerie, Michelle, Alex, and myself (Danielle). We fully discussed the pre-reading and almost completed the questions for chapter one.
ReplyDeletePre-Reading:
Regardless of the fact that The Great Gatsby was written in the 1920's, we all agreed on the fact that we still read this book because it shows how society has changed over the years and how ones needs have differed from how they were ninety years ago. In regards to question three, we believe that having money leads to happiness to a certain extent. For example, if one was in poverty and had nothing, they would strive to make some sort of income. This would fulfill this sense of happiness to the point where they are back on their feet. However, once they have reached their needs to make them economically stable, money will no longer make them happy. Purchasing all of these materialistic items won't get them no where, in fact it will only make them more unhappy. The "American Dream", as portrayed within the novel, would be to obtain money and to find love. It originated from the lower classes because they didn't have large sums of money, like those of the higher classes did, and all they wanted was to advance themselves within society.
Chapter One:
Fitzgerald used the words hope and dream a lot within the course of the first chapter to emphasize the feelings of those who tried to obtain the "American Dream". Some of Nick's advantages are that he's able to communicate with a variety of people and befriend everyone. He reserves judgment when talking with others, but truly inside, he may feel a different way. He's an average guy and one can assume that he will be an informative and reliable narrator. When Nick meets Jordan, he's curious about her. He knows that she is dishonest and is a puzzle, but all he wants to do is try and put the pieces together to figure her out.
Our group Aubrey, Chastity, Darnell, Gaelynn, Sam, Zach.
ReplyDelete1. We discussed how we read many books from different times long ago (Shakespeare), yet we can still related to them even today. People are still chasing the American Dream today. People today still want the American Dream, maybe not in the same fashion of that time, but still the same over all dream.
2. For the people that did not go to war, the ones that stay home, it was more or less a time of rest, a calm time, which for some almost boring. Many enjoyed life for what it was, and very much so enjoying the time of peace.
3. Our group agreed in disagreeing with this statement. There are many cases that were there are rich people that find that they have no real happiness. Most people are happy with having just have what they need, not a great amount of money, but at the same time not really poor. At times there can be advantages to being wealthy, one who has a little extra money have they to open up more opinions. But at the same time wealth has disadvantages that a person could become lonely, and might no bring any happiness, but instead more problems.
4. The American Dream at this time was more or less, many a lot of money and have the husband and, or wife that you love them, and they love you deeply back. Have a family; a few kids; and live of the investments that started little and turn into the wealth that you have now. Be successful and happy!
This 1920s dream has changed somewhat seen then, but the main points of the whole dream are the same now as they were then. Be successful and happy! The American Dream might no longer have the loving husband and or wife, or having a family with a few kids any longer. It also might be, at least as much, wanting to be just crazy wealthy, but still there some line of money that is included within this.
Sometime in order to get this American Dream, one would think that you would have to work really hard, and not live in the moment but rather of the future, how things would be in the long run. Others think that all the wealth should just come to them easily for doing small things, and living completely in the moment. Both believe brought many people to what people could call the American Dream. This whole section could be discussed upon for many different believes.
5. Me myself talking at this time, I find me often that I would want to redo many parts of my own past. An example from mine from more recently times would be to redo one test, and take more time pulling in the correct answers into the blue clickers. If I spent more time on this, I would have gotten an A+ instead of a B-. For myself, I would often want to go back upon past assignment, and test in school and retake them, studying, or taking more time on them. I think people often want to go back on test and on other things for school and spend more time with that instead of watch TV, or playing on the computer. For students, and especially for those in AP classes, they wish they did more, and had a chance to redo something.
ReplyDeleteThough to be one percent truthful, if it was actually possible for me to do all the things that I want to do over again, I wouldn’t ever do it. I am the person I am today because of everything that I did in my past. If I am not the person that I am now, who am I then?
1. Fitzgerald uses this words hope and dream to put emphasis on them, how this is want was wanted, (might not be want is happening).
2. Nick’s family was well off, his family was not super rich, but at the same time his family was not poor. He family seemed to be very supported of him. At the begging he said that he was reserve to judgment, but he quickly breaks way he says and often makes judgments.
3. The time of the year was summer time.
4. Nick is from the Middle West, he wants to be a stock-broker. He is pretty idealistic most of the time, and also form the stand point of telling the story seems to be pretty observant.
5. She is pretty, stuck up, and ignoring her surroundings.
6. Nick reaction to Jordan after starting up a conversation with her, Nick finds himself offended by her snob like behavior.
Note: We took most of the discussion time on pre-reading questions, and only just briefly just got to the other questions.
My group consisted of: Myself (Emma Doeblin), Maggie, Aireanna, Nadia, and Shayla. We discussed the Pre Reading questions, and chapter 1.
ReplyDeletePre Reading:
1. This book has longevity for the same reason that the American dream has it: it is something that everyone, whether inadvertently or not, yearns for. Whether it is the American dream, Canadian dream, Peruvian dream, Chinese dream, or whatever, it is still something very prevalent. Dreams, and how wishing for something all our lives for something we can never have is a particularly potent idea, and one that will remain so until the human ceases to exist.
2. Many people started rebelling against the aspects of society that had been engrained for centuries. Women were allowed to vote, the prohibition of alcohol brought about speak easy's and gangsters, and music started branching away from its traditional role and taking a new form in jazz. This war that completely swept the world away meant that people were willing to risk more because they saw how much they were able to lose.
3. Money doesn't lead to happiness at all. However, for many, money can make attaining your happiness a lot easier. Some people may be the richest in the world, but still unhappy, while others may not have much, but see their life as perfection. It depends on what your idea of happiness is. In about 98 percent of cases, though, only money and wealth can mean a life of unhappiness.
4. The American dream, in its original form, was earning money, having a house, and a yard, a happy marriage, and children, with opportunities paving the streets along with gold. This originated with all the immigrants that were coming to America, particularly in the earlier part of the 20th century. They were leaving their homeland, and all that they ever knew, to come to a place so foreign to them that they thought it could only hold happiness. This change has drastically changed because dreams have changed. As lifestyles have morphed, so has what we wish for and yearn for. If we constantly are yearning for the same thing, nothing will ever change.
5. If we could, we would have relived many small moments. The time I said something mean to my sister that really hurt her feelings, or not doing a homework assignment that was due the next day. I think that there is no sense constantly looking backwards, however, because you won't be able to appreciate the future.
My group consisted of: Myself (Emma Doeblin), Maggie, Aireanna, Nadia, and Shayla. We discussed the Pre Reading questions, and chapter 1.
ReplyDeleteChapter 1:
1. To emphasize how powerful the dream, and the hope that it instills in us, can be. He wants to show that it can remain forever only a hope, and only a dream, and that even if our lives are spent to fulfill it, we never reach it.
2. Nick is one of those people who has had life pretty good. He wasn't the rich of the rich, the creme de la creme one might say, but his family had solid jobs and were able to provide. He went to Yale University, and now is living in Long Island trying to become a stock broker in NYC. He seems to be a man who can adequately comment on the lives of the rich and famous without too much bias, because although he has some close friends that are of said background, he himself isn't, and almost seems to be opposed to it at this juncture.
3. It is a week before the longest day of the year, so about the 20 of June. The year is 1922, so the typical way of life of the 20's was is full swing.
4. Nick seems to be a humble guy from Minnesota with big plans. He went to Yale University, where he seems to feel he was a little inadequate, and has never really found his niche in life. However, he also seems to be envious, and lets that get to him. He is so blinded by what he doesn't have, or by what Daisy and her husband have, that he becomes obsessed.
5. Jordan Baker is described as a gossipy lady with a career that even the distant mid-west boy knows. She is somewhat gawky, but obviously not new to this society.
6. He is intrigued by her, and want to know what she is like. He sees her as a puzzle set for him to build, and yet also wants to make sure he does so delicately and without disturbing anything. The same approach as he takes to his whole new life in the east.
7. Tom is a conniving man who has stomped over people his whole life, and won't ever stop. It also shows that he isn't as dedicated to his wife as he ought to be, and that perhaps he doesn't deserve her. He is also portrayed as overly arrogant, and completely unafraid of everything.
In our group, consisting of Whitney, Brianna, Kennethea and Tatiana we discussed the fact that Fitzgerald thus far in the book hints at the true "American dream." The repetition of "hope" and "dream" emphasizes the point that everyone wants to achieve money, power, and love of some sort which inevitably defines the American dream at this point in time. The Carraways for example are "well to do people" who have money, prominence and education. From many people's perspective the Carraways have already achieved the true American dream. The irony of the matter is that even though Nick has a "well to do" attitude, his family does not feel as though he has obtained the American dream. This shows that what is defined as the "American dream" may not be what other people perceive it to be.
ReplyDelete1. Some of the rumors told about the Gatsby: They heard he killed a guy, they heard he is a German spy, a relative of the kaiser, a bootlegger, Oggsford man and a great war hero.
2. Fitzgerald list all of Gatsby's party guests to show how superficial all of their friendships were, the guests had no "real" relationship with Gatsby and they did not want to establish one. His parties were solely meant for popularity.
3.The exact day at Daisy's house is not specified but it takes place in the summer of 1922.
Khari, Zach GM, Thomas, Sarah, Michael Statt, Rosie, and Emma M.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby tells the story of how Jay Gatsby’s life although it seemed perfect was in fact just a fallacy and shows that humans, even at the top of the social scale, still crave acceptance and love from society and people. Gatsby has, like many Americans, invested his life on materialistic ideals. Inside the truth of the American dream, however, is a nightmare fabricated by Gatsby’s loneliness and unfulfilled soul. This story still holds relevance to today, for over the changing course of time the American social structures and principles have stayed consistent. The division of social class is still based on wealth and material ideals, such as the “who’s who” and “keeping up with the joneses.” It is a common belief in such a society that a person’s status is often somewhat determined by their wealth and prestige verses their character, intellect, or moral principles. To this society, as well as to many modern people today, the achieving of the American Dream is the golden ticket to fulfillment and true happiness. The novel’s narrator provides a different perspective where Jay, although he is seen by those around him to have achieved that success, actually has nothing. When one wakes up from their illusion and imaginings of their mind, there is that instant when you realizes it was all just dream, this is the closest one can come to defining the American Dream. Although it appears like the American Dream has changed over time it has for the most part stayed the same. It is based on improving of ones image, through ones intellect or wealth. It is the want or desire for something more. It is the focusing of ones ambitions on something in ones imagination, its within ones reach if you could only reach a little further.