Name:____________________________________________________ Period:_________ Due Date:__________________________
The Great Gatsby Chapters 1-3 Reading Guide
CHAPTER 1:
1. Read the quote on the title page of the novel. Summarize what you think this quote means. Why do you think that quote is on the
title page? What is the purpose of that quote?
2. Who is the Narrator of this novel?
3. What is the advice his father gives him?
4. What character trait does the narrator say he possesses?
5. “Reserving judgment is a matter of ______________________
________________” (2).
6. Why does Nick say he left the East?
7. Who is the only person “exempt from [his] reaction” (2) to the East?
8. What business gave the Carraway family their money?
9. “Father agreed to finance me for a year, and after various delays I came East, permanently, I thought, in the spring of
_____________________________” (3). (This gives you the year in which this novel is set.)
10. West Egg represents ____________________________ and East Egg represents ______________________________.
11. After all the background information, the story Nick is going to tell during this novel begins when he does what one evening?
12. When readers first meet Tom, what diction is used to describe him? What does this suggest about his characterization?
13. “Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains
and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor” (8). What does this image convey about Tom’s personality?
14. “I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only a way to make people lean toward her” (9). What can you infer about Daisy based
on this quote?
15. What do you think is the impression of the old money lifestyle tries Fitzgerald portray in this chapter?
16. What character traits are revealed about Tom Buchanan’s personality in this chapter?
17. Who is the “fifth guest” at the Buchanan’s dinner party? What effect does this guest have one the other guests or the dinner?
18. What was Daisy’s reaction when she was told her daughter was a girl?
19. What did she wish her daughter would be? Explain why?
20. After Daisy confides in Nick about her life Nick says, “I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as
though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributary emotion from me” (17). What does Nick mean by this
statement? What does this statement show about Daisy?
21. Why did Nick say he could not get engaged?
22. After spending the evening at the Buchanan’s, what is Nick’s “judgement” of both Daisy and Tom?
23. Describe Gatsby’s actions at the end of Chapter 1. Explain the symbolic meaning behind his actions.
CHAPTER 2:
1. What is the name of the place described in the first paragraph of this chapter? Why does it have that name?
2. What “watches” over the place described in the previous question? This is symbolic of what?
3. What is odd about the way Tom treats Wilson?
4. Describe Myrtle Wilson. Give specific textual details.
5. How did Myrtle treat George Wilson? What are Tom’s true feelings about Wilson? What does this show about how they truly feel
about Wilson?
6. What does Tom buy Myrtle before they go to the apartment?
7. What are some details that emphasize the fact that Myrtle Wilson is trying to fit the role of an old money socialite?
8. What are some inferences you can make about each guest at the party?
Catherine, Myrtle’s Sister
Mr. McKee
Mrs. McKee
9. Why does Myrtle Wilson behave with such hauteur, both toward her husband and in the city apartment?
10. Why does Catherine claim that Daisy and Tom cannot divorce? Explain why this is false.
11. What does this claim help you infer about how both Tom and Myrtle view their relationship?
12. What is Myrtle’s reaction to her husband borrowing a suit for their wedding? What does this show about her?
13. Explain how we as readers know that Nick is not having a good time at the party.
14. What does Tom do to Myrtle at the end of the night?
15. What happens to Nick at the end of the evening? (Either what you can infer or what he remembers)
CHAPTER 3:
1. Explain how people behave when they attend Gatsby’s parties.
Myrtle
2. How does Nick differ from the other guests at Gatsby’s parties?
3. What can you infer about Gatsby by the quote, “He doesn’t want to trouble anybody” (43)?
4. What are some of the rumors about Gatsby?
5. Why do these rumors exist?
6. The owl-eyed man discovers that Gatsby’s ______________ are _____________. He then says, “This fella’s a regular Belasco
(45). Why does the owl-eyed man describe Gatsby as a real Belasco?
7. The owl-eyed man is supposed to remind the readers of ___________________________________________________. Why does
this confirm his assessment of Gatsby?
8. How does Nick describe Gatsby’s smile? What does he realize about Gatsby after his smile vanishes?
9. “But young men didn’t…drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound” (49). What does Nick mean by this
statement?
10. What is the contrast between Gatsby and his parties?
11. Who does Gatsby ask to speak with alone at the party? What is the connection between Gatsby and this person?
12. When Nick describes what he did over the several weeks, how does he seem? Why do you think he possesses this quality?
13. Why does “Jordan Baker instinctively [avoid] clever, shrewd men” (57)?
14. Nick claims to be “one of the few honest people [he] has ever known” (59). Why do you think Nick likes Jordan even though she is
dishonest?