Gatsby Quotes Flashcards
How well do you know The Great Gatsby?
What is the last thing that Nick says to Gatsby?
“They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (8.44-45)
What is the advice that Nick’s father gives him in the opening of The Great Gatsby?
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” (1.1-3)
What is Nick’s most positive view of himself?
Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known. (3.170)
What is Gatsby doing when Nick first sees him?
He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling.
How does Gatsby see his possessions when he’s with Daisy?
He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.
How does Nick describe the area around Gatsby’s house after he is killed?
The trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all humans dreams
What did Tom and Daisy do before they moved to Long Island?
They spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.
How does Tom Buchanan look/speak to over people?
There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked
How does Tom Buchanan express his political views?
Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.
What is Daisy’s voice like?
Her voice is full of money
How do Tom and Daisy treat others?
They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness (9.136-145)
How is Daisy’s face described?
Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it
How are Daisy and Jordan described when they are first introduced?
They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.
How does Nick first react to Jordan?
Almost any exhibition of complete self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me.
How is Jordan’s voice described?
Usually her voice came over the wire as something fresh and cool
How does Myrtle change at her party in Chapter 2?
The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur.
How does Myrtle described Wilson?
“I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.”
How is Myrtle’s body described?
They saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath.
What does Nick’s father tell him, and is related in Chapter 1?
Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.
How does Nick come across as superior in Chapter 2?
I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that… a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth
In what 2 ways does Nick describe Gatsby’s personality in the Chapter 1 intro?
- Some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.
- It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness.
In the chapter 1 intro, what does Nick say put him off the East Coast and the American Dream?
It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and shortwinded elations of men.
How does Nick describe the size of Gatsby’s house?
A colossal affair
How does Nick describe the style of Gatsby’s house?
A factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy
How does Nick describe the facilites/different aspects of G’s house?
A thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden
How does N first intro East Egg?
White palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered
How does N shoe T’s wealth when introing him?
He’d brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest
How does N say D+T spend their time before they came to the East Egg in Chap 1?
They had spent a year in france for particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully
How does N intro D+T’s house?
Georgian Colonial mansion
How does N intro T’s attitude?
Supercilious manner
How does N intro describe T’s eyes in Chapter 1?
Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance
How does N describe T’s body in chap 1?
The enormous power of that body
How does N describe the ceiling of the room in which D+J are sitting in Chap 1?
Frosted wedding-cake of a ceiling
How do D+J look the first time N meets them in the novel?
Buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon
What do D+J look like they’ve just done when N meets them in the novel for the 1st time?
A short flight around the house
How does N describe J the first time he meets her?
Her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall
What is D helpless at in Chap 1?
“What’ll we plan?” She turned to me helplessly: “What do people plan?”
How does N think D+J feel about their evening dinner in Chap 1?
Making only a polite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained. They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away.
What 2 things does T say he has learnt from his racist book in chap 1?
If we don’t look out the white race will be- will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.
It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.
What does N think of T’s enthusiasm about his racist book?
Something pathetic in his concentration
How does D say she reacted when she found out her child was a girl?
She told me it was a girl, and so i turned my head away and wept.
What does D say she said when she found out her child was a girl?
I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
What is Gatsby described as doing at the end of Chapter 1?
He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way
What is Gatsby described as looking at at the end of Chapter 1?
A single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock
How is the Valley of Ashes introduced at the beginning of Chap 2?
This is a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.
How is Wilson intro in chap 2?
He was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.
How is Wilson’s garage introduced in chap 2?
The interior [of Wilson’s garage] was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner
How is Myrtle’s vitality described the first time N sees her?
Immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering.
How does Myrtle react to her husband when we are first introduced to them in the garage in chap2?
Walking through her husband as if he were a ghost.
How are migrants described in the Valley of Ashes in chap 2?
It was a few days before the Fourth of July, and a grey, scrawny Italian child setting torpedoes in a row along the railroad track.
What magazine has M left lying around the NY apartment?
Town Tattle
How does M change during the party in chap 2?
The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her, until she seemed to revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air.
How does N described the living room of M+T’s NY apartment?
The living-room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it
What outfit does M change into during the party in chap 2?
An elaborate afternoon dress of cream-coloured chiffon which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room
What does M say about the dress she puts on during the party in chap 2?
Mrs Wilson rejected the compliment by raising her eyebrow in disdain. “It’s just a crazy old thing,” she said. “I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like.”
How does M give the impression she has staff during the party in chap 2?
Swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there
What does M say about Wilson and why she married him during the party in chap 2?
‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally. ‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.’
What does M say to give the impression she has disposable money during the party in chap 2?
I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m through with it. I’ve got to get another one tomorrow. I’m going to make a list of all the things I’ve got to get.
