Chapter One

Question 1

What are East Egg and West Egg based on?

Answer 1

Areas of Long Island, near New York, called Great Neck and Manhasset Neck

Question 2

Why has Nick moved to West Egg?

Answer 2

to start a career in bonds (finance)

Question 3

What type of town is West Egg and where is it near?

Answer 3

A “commuting town” near New York

Question 4

Where does Nick go to dinner and who does he meet?

Answer 4

He goes to dinner in East Egg with the Buchanans - his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom. At dinner he meets Jordan Baker - a professional female golfer

Question 5

What two things are revealed about Tom?

Answer 5

• Racist
• Having an affair with an unnamed woman

Question 6

What does Nick see when he returns home?

Answer 6

Gatsby next door, reaching out across the water towards a green light

Question 7

What is made clear in chapter one about the events in the novel?

Answer 7

The events in the novel have already taken place - the characters’ fates are already decided

Question 8

How many main characters are introduced?

Answer 8

Most

Question 9

How is Myrtle introduced?

Answer 9

Her phone call interrupts dinner (so she’s present in a way)

Question 10

Who are “Midas and Morgan and Maecenas” which Nick talks about? What does this hint at?

Answer 10

All three men were renowned for their incredible wealth.
Morgan and Maecenas were real men, whereas Midas’s story is a Greek myth. By mentioning both mythical and real people in the first chapter, Fitzgerald hints that myth and reality will be mixed throughout the book

Question 11

What gives the impression that Nick is tolerant, and has strong moral and family values?

Answer 11

claims that he remembers his father’s advice when he meets new people - other people haven’t had the “advantages that [he’s] had”.

Question 12

What is a complex contradiction in Nick’s character?

Answer 12

A mix of self-awareness and arrogance

Question 13

What is one of Nick’s failings?

Answer 13

Nick admits that he repeats his father’s advice “snobbishly”, and the fact that his father had to tell him not to judge too harshly suggests that it’s one of his failings

Question 14

What does Nick’s claim that he has a better “sense of the fundamental decencies” than most people make him seem like?

Answer 14

Judgemental

Question 15

What are hints that Nick can be intolerant and judgemental? How does this make him feel?

Answer 15

He says that he “feigned sleep” when people confided in him, he views Gatsby’s life with “unaffected scorn”, and he’s “disgusted” by Tom and Daisy’s marriage.
This makes the reader less trusting of his narration because it suggests that he’s dishonest

Question 16

How else does Nick make his narration untrustworthy?

Answer 16

he sometimes misreads situations
He thinks Daisy has everything she wants so he sees in her eyes “the absence of all desire”. But we later find out that she has “had a very bad time”.

Question 17

Why does Fitzgerald use the superficial similarities between the Eggs?

Answer 17

To emphasise how different they really are - they’re “identical in contour”, but dissimilar “in every particular except shape and size”.

Question 18

Why does Fitzgerald give each location a different morality?

Answer 18

Encourages the reader to make comparisons between them

Question 19

What is the Midwest and Nick’s family like?

Answer 19

• Old fashioned and represents family values - the Carraways are a “prominent, well-to-do” “clan”, and Nick’s father runs the same hardware business that his Great Uncle set up
• Possibly dishonest under the surface - the “founder” of Nick’s family avoided the Civil War by sending a “substitute” and they all pretend that they’re “descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch”

Question 20

What is East Egg and Daisy and Tom like?

Answer 20

• Conservative and aristocratic but not as refined as it appears. Eg Tom is “aggressive” and “hulking”, where typically the upper classes should be polite and well-mannered
• Fashionable but fake. It’s appealing surface hides unattractive realities - the Buchanans’ marriage isn’t as happy as it seems, and Daisy’s looks and wealth mask a bored, cynical and empty interior

Question 21

What isWest Egg and Daisy and Tom like?

Answer 21

• Home to the new rich who’ve made their own fortunes rather than inheriting money - most of the residents don’t have aristocratic breeding or wealthy family connections (but Nick’s an exception)
• Characterised by extravagant displays of wealth that are in poor taste, eg Gatsby’s mansion

Question 22

How is racism shown in chapter one?

Answer 22

Tom tries to explain how science has “proved” that white people are “the dominant race”, but they’re under threat. He tells Nick about a “fine book” called “The Rise of the Coloured Empires” (this is an allusion to a real book called ‘The Rising Fide of Color Against White World-Supremacy’ which argued that white people were at threat from other races
Fitzgerald is highlighting the fear of immigration in America in the 1920s. However, it’s clear that Fitzgerald is mocking racism. Tom is incoherent and “full of hesitation” - the reader isn’t supposed to empathise with him

Question 23

How do Daisy and Jordan seem independent and satisfied?

Answer 23

Their eyes are “free from all desire”, and Nick (A MAN) portrays them as being in control of the social gathering - “they accepted Tom and me”

Question 24

What is Tom’s reaction to Jordan?

Answer 24

He thinks her freedom should be restricted: “they oughtn’t to let her run around the country in this way.”

Question 25

What does Daisy hope her daughter would be and why?

Answer 25

She believes that her society doesn’t value intelligence in women, which is why she hoped her daughter would be a “beautiful little fool” which hints that, although she ignores Tom’s infidelities, she’s upset by them. She believes she’d be happier if she was a “fool” who didn’t realise he was cheating

Question 26

What control does Daisy have over Tom and what control doesn’t she have?

Answer 26

She has some control over Tom - she shakes “her head decisively” and won’t let him answer the second call. But she still has to pretend with “tense gaiety” that everything is fine and put a brave face on her humiliation

Question 27

How is light used to set the scene?

Answer 27

• When conversation is friendly, the light is soft and “rosy-coloured” - this makes it seem warm and happy
• When Tom’s mistress phones “the glow faded” - this suggests that things aren’t as happy as they seem
• The shift from natural to artificial light as they move inside reflects the fact that Nick’s romantic views of Tom and Daisy’s life have been shattered

Question 28

How is Gatsby reaching out towards a “single green light” enigmatic?

Answer 28

Nick doesn’t know what the light represents to Gatsby, which creates mystery
His obsessive focus on this distant point is striking. He’s so desperate with longing that he’s “trembling”

Question 29

What is the first thing we learn about Gatsby? How does this contract to most East Eggers?

Answer 29

His powerful desire for a mysterious aim - this suggests that this is the most important aspect of his character. In contrast, the East Eggers have an obvious lack of motivation or drive

Question 30

How does Fitzgerald use light to symbolise dreams and desires?

Answer 30

The green light represents Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy - and his “stretched out” arms show that he’s still striving to achieve it.
In contrast, Daisy’s attitude towards the candles as she “snapped them out” could symbolise that she’s given up on her dreams