Chapter 1
1. What do you find is the most crucial in the plot in Chapter 1?
2. How does Nick describe himself at the beginning of the novel?
3. How does Nick describes Tom Buchanan?
4. Who is Jordan Baker? What does Nick find appealing about her?
5. What is Gatsby doing when Nick first sees him?
6. How does the tone of Nick’s description of Tom reveal Nick’s feelings about Tom? Use a quotation from the text to justify your answer.
Chapter 2
1. What do you find is the most crucial in the plot in Chapter 2?
2. How does Nick meet Tom’s mistress?
3. How does Myrtle react to Tom’s arrival?
4. Describe George Wilson. How does he react to Tom’s arrival.
5. Describe the setting of the valley of the ashes where George and Myrtle live. What aspects of valley of the ashes are symbolic, and what do they symbolize? Use a quotation from the text to justify your answer.
6. Why does Tom attack Myrtle at the end of the party?
Chapter 3
1. What do you find is the most crucial in the plot in Chapter 3?
2. Describe the two ways in which Nick differs from the other guests at Gatsby’s party.
3. What does Nick think of Gatsby when he first meets him? Use a quotation from the text to justify your answer.
4. What does Nick learn about Jordan Baker after he has spent some time with her?
5. How does Nick characterize the guests at Gatsby’s party?
6. What sense of the Jazz Age do we get from Nick’s description of the party? Use a quotation from the book to justify your answer.
Chapter 4
1. What do you find is the most crucial in the plot in Chapter 4?
2. What does Gatsby tell Nick about himself?
3. According to Jordan, what did Daisy do on her wedding day? 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. How does Daisy behave after Gatsby goes overseas? What does her behavior show about her feelings for Gatsby? Use a quotation from the book to justify your answer.
Chapter 5
1. What do you find is the most crucial in the plot in Chapter 5?
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 feeling by the end of the chapter?
5. Why do you think Daisy sobs when Gatsby shows her his shirts? Use a quotation from the book to justify your answer.
6. What is the weather like in this chapter? How does it reflect the emotional climate of Gatsby and Daisy? Use a quotation from the book to justify your answer.