Chapter One

Question 1

What does Nick begin the novel by recounting?

Answer 1

Advice his father taught him - to not criticise others as most people have not enjoyed the ‘advantages he has’.

Question 2

What does Nick say he has become as a result of his Father’s advice?

Answer 2

A tolerable and forgiving person who resists making quick judgements of others.

Question 3

What does Nick’s choice to not judge others based on class indicate?

Answer 3

That most people that enjoy his wealth are very quick to judge on class.

Question 4

What evidence is there that Nick does wait to judge based off of character?

Answer 4

Nick says he scorns everything Gatsby stood for yet he withholds judgement regarding him entirely.

Question 5

What does Nick view Gatsby as?

Answer 5

A victim who fell prey to the ‘foul dust’ that corrupted his dreams.

Question 6

What is Nick referring to when he mentions ‘foul dust’?

Answer 6

The rush of new money, American Dream and the roaring Twenties.

Question 7

Where does Nick move from and when?

Answer 7

Summer of 1922 - from Minnesota where his family lived for three generations to live and work in New York.

Question 8

Where was Nick a student at?

Answer 8

Yale - Clearly outlines Nick as being from Old Money.

Question 9

Where had Nick just returned them that became a catalyst for his move?

Answer 9

Service in WW1 - left him feeling dull and restless in the Midwest.

Question 10

What events disrupted the social hierarchy of America?

Answer 10

World War One and the Roaring Twenties.

Question 11

What does Nick intend to become?

Answer 11

A bonds salesman - a line of work almost everyone he knew was entering.

Question 12

What did Nick believe New York would offer him?

Answer 12

The chance to reinvent himself and experience excitement.

Question 13

How does the 1920’s boom turn the American Dream on its head?

Answer 13

Instead of going West to build a fortune, people travelled East for a chance of fortune.

Question 14

Where does Nick rent a house and where does it face?

Answer 14

Nick rents a house on West Egg in Long Island facing East Egg.

Question 15

What is the difference between West and East Egg?

Answer 15

Nick observes how apart from shape and size they differ greatly - West Egg is for the new rich who do not have the social connections or cultural refinement to be accepted by the old money of East Egg.

Question 16

What do the opposing areas symbolise?

Answer 16

The prevalent class rivalry of the period.

Question 17

What is Nick’s small house described as?

Answer 17

An ‘eye-sore’.

Question 18

What is his neighbours, Gatsby, house a reproduction of?

Answer 18

A reproduction of a French hotel, covered in ivy and surrounded by forty acres of lawn.

Question 19

What is Gatsby overcompensating for with his house?

Answer 19

His lack of social connections which the old money consider ‘tacky’.

Question 20

When does the main story begin?

Answer 20

When Nick travels to east egg to his cousins, Daisy Buchanan.

Question 21

What does Nick note about Tom?

Answer 21

Tom also attended Yale - he notes that plenty hated Tom at Yale due to his arrogance and imposing stature which has little changed.

Question 22

What is Tom wearing and what does this signify?

Answer 22

Riding clothes, identifying him as a member of the old money class.
Horseback riding was a hobby for only those who had great country estates.

Question 23

What can Tom’s riding clothes not hide?

Answer 23

His hulking body paralleling his inability to mask his rudeness with politeness.
Tom speaks to Nick politely but condescendingly.

Question 24

Who does Nick meet at dinner?

Answer 24

Jordan Baker - a young professional golfer.

Question 25

What does Nick notice about Jordan Baker and what does this reveal?

Answer 25

She is beautiful but seems constantly bored by her surroundings.
Signifies the emptiness of ‘old money’.

Question 26

What does Tom fall into a diatribe about?

Answer 26

The downfall of civilisation - as described in a book called ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’.

Question 27

What does the book Tom mentions outline?

Answer 27

The Nordic race, which Tom identifies himself with, created civilisation and is now threatened by other inferior races.
He urges everyone to read the book.

Question 28

What does Tom’s outburst highlight?

Answer 28

That Old Money is insecure about the rise of New Money.

Question 29

Who does Tom get a phone call off of?

Answer 29

Jordan Baker informs Nick that Tom’s phone call is off of his mistress, making the rest of dinner awkward.

Question 30

What do Daisy and Tom suggest for Nick?

Answer 30

That he strikes up a romance with Jordan Baker.

Question 31

What does Nick see when he returns from dinner?

Answer 31

Gatsby on his lawn gazing out.

Question 32

Why does Nick stop himself from calling out to Gatsby?

Answer 32

He sees Gatsby extend his arm out towards the far side of the water towards what Nick can see to be only a tiny green light blinking at the end of the dock.

Question 33

What does Gatsby extending his arm out symbolise?

Answer 33

That he is a hopeful seeker of unattainable dreams.