Question

1. What was the advice given to Nick by his father? How, do you suppose, this makes him a good person to tell this story?

2. How is West Egg different from East Egg?

3. What is the reader left to think about Daisy’s emotional state and her relationship with Tom?

4. Who is Jordan Baker? What has Nick heard about her?

5. At the end of this chapter, Nick sees Gatsby on the lawn and is about to call to him and introduce himself, but he does not. What stops Nick? What does Gatsby’s “trembling” suggest?


Answer these questions from the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Only From the first chapter of the book. In complete sentences.

Answer 1

1. Nick’s father advises him that before criticizing anyone he should remember that not all people have had the advantages he has had. This counsel makes Nick a good person to tell the story because it explains his inclination to be tolerant, slow to judge, and self-aware as a narrator.

2. West Egg is the home of the newly rich, where people display their wealth more ostentatiously, while East Egg represents the old-money elite, who are more refined, established, and socially entrenched.

3. The reader is left with the impression that Daisy is outwardly charming but inwardly sad and insecure; her interactions with Tom suggest a strained, unequal marriage in which Tom is domineering and patronizing and Daisy feels trapped and emotionally unsatisfied.

4. Jordan Baker is a friend of Daisy’s and a professional golfer; Nick has heard that she is dishonest and somewhat cynical — in particular, he reports that she is reputed to be “incurably dishonest.”

5. Nick does not call out to Gatsby because he feels it would be an intrusion on a private, almost reverent moment—Gatsby’s posture and the atmosphere make Nick hesitate. Gatsby’s “trembling” suggests intense emotion or longing, a nervous hopefulness as he reaches out toward something across the water (hinting at his yearning for Daisy).