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The Great Gatsby: Chapter Four to Six

Author: Tara Neely

Allusions: Don't forget to look for Alusions...

ALLUSIONS AND QUOTATIONS

You will need two highlighters or sticky notes in different colors. Fitzgerald alludes or refers to many people, places, events, etc. with which he expects us to be familiar. Use one of your highlighters to note any allusions as you read; we will discuss them in class. Also, as we read, I will ask you to highlight important quotations with your other highlighter. These quotations say something about a character’s development or advance a theme in the novel.  Remember you can opt to read online, with an ebook, or a school text. The choice is yours. 

Source: created by Tara Neely

The Great Gatsby: Chapter Four

STUDY QUESTIONS

The following questions are a combination of comprehension/knowledge level questions and interpretive level questions. These are the questions you may select from for your chapter RRJs. I will not collect your answers to all of the questions, but answering them will help prepare you for class discussion, quizzes, and the final test for the unit.

CHAPTER FOUR

 

1. What does Gatsby tell Nick about himself?

2. What accomplishments of Meyer Wolfshiem’s does Gatsby describe to Nick? How does Nick react?

3. According to Jordan, what did Daisy do on her wedding way? Why?

4. Why does Gatsby want to have tea with Daisy in Nick’s house? Why doesn’t Gatsby ask Nick for this favor himself?

5. What does Tom do when he and Daisy return from their honeymoon?

6. Aside from the improbability of his story, what other evidence is there that Gatsby is lying when he tells Nick about his background?

7. What does Gatsby’s friendship with Meyer Wolfshiem imply about his own background?

8. How does Daisy behave after Gatsby goes overseas? What does her behavior show about her feelings for Gatsby?

9. After Jordan tells Nick the story of Gatsby and Daisy, Nick says that Gatsby “came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.” How does the metaphor of birth help explain what Gatsby’s behavior had meant to Nick up to then?

10. With Jordan in his arms, Nick thinks of a phrase: “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” How do you think this phrase reflects on the events of the novel so far? Do you think that Gatsby would agree with the phrase?

The Great Gatsby: Chapter Five

STUDY QUESTIONS

The following questions are a combination of comprehension/knowledge level questions and interpretive level questions. These are the questions you may select from for your chapter RRJs. I will not collect your answers to all of the questions, but answering them will help prepare you for class discussion, quizzes, and the final test for the unit.

CHAPTER FIVE

 

1. What does Gatsby offer Nick in return for Nick’s cooperation in inviting Daisy to his house?

2. What is the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy like initially?

3. How are Daisy and Gatsby different when Nick returns to the house after a half an hour?

4. What are Gatsby’s feelings by the end of the chapter?

5. What does Gatsby reply when Nick asks him how he makes his money? Why does Nick find that significant?

6. What is Gatsby’s dialogue like in this chapter? What does it tell us about Gatsby?

7. Why do you think Daisy sobs when Gatsby shows her his shirts?

8. What is the weather like in this chapter? How does it reflect on the emotional climate of Gatsby and Daisy?

9. In this chapter, Gatsby’s dream seems to be fulfilled. What indications are there, though, that reality cannot satisfy his dream?

The Great Gatsby Chapter Six

STUDY QUESTIONS

The following questions are a combination of comprehension/knowledge level questions and interpretive level questions. These are the questions you may select from for your chapter RRJs. I will not collect your answers to all of the questions, but answering them will help prepare you for class discussion, quizzes, and the final test for the unit.

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

1. When does James Gatz change his name? Why?

2. What is Daisy’s real response to the party, according to Nick?

3. What does Gatsby tell Nick he wants Daisy to do?

4. Plato held that reality was an imperfect reflection of an ideal, permanent realm. With this in mind, what would you say Nick means when he says that “Jay Gatsby sprang from his Platonic conception of himself?”

5. How is the comparison of Gatsby with Christ (“he was a son of G-d… and he must be about His Father’s Business”) ironic? If the comparison with Christ were to continue through the book, what would happen to Gatsby?

6. Tom, Mr. Sloane, and a young lady visit Gatsby and the lady invites Gatsby to come to dinner with them. What does Gatsby’s response tell us about his social sensitivity? What connection, if any, do you think this scene might have with Gatsby’s love of Daisy?

7. What is Gatsby’s view of the past? When Nick says that Gatsby “wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy,” what do you think he means?

8. At the end of the chapter, Nick describes Gatsby kissing Daisy in Louisville five years before. What is Gatsby giving up when he kisses her? Why?