Study Guide Questions The Great Gatsby Chapters 7-9 - MRS. CLARK'S ...

Study Guide Questions The Great Gatsby Chapters 7-9

1. Trace the following themes/symbols throughout the novel:

Themes: The Decline of The American Dream, Society and Social Class, Past

and Future

Symbols: Colors, The Green Light, The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg, The

Valley of Ashes, East and West

2. Critics tend to agree that TGG is a commentary on The American Dream. Some

critics argue that Fitzgerald approved and others say that the book offers some

severe criticism of the American Dream-that it is a story about the corruption of the

American dream. Look for any references to the American Dream as you annotate

this week and note what is being implied about it.

3. What has changed about Gatsby¡¯s house since his affair with Daisy started? What might

this change symbolize or foreshadow?

4. Chapter 7 parallels chapter 1 in many ways. Discuss the similarities. What might be the

purpose for this parallelism?

5. Why does Fitzgerald emphasize the heat? Of what could the weather be symbolic?

6. What does Gatsby see at Daisy¡¯s house that disturbs him? Why does this bother him

so much?

7. Interpret the metaphor ¡°Her voice is full of money.¡±

8. Explain Daisy¡¯s choice. Who does she choose in the show down at the Plaza and why?

What does she value?

9. How does Fitzgerald foreshadow what is about to happen through the diction on pages

135 and 136?

10. After the confrontational scene in the hotel room, why do you think Fitzgerald has Nick

report that he has turned thirty that day? What is ironic about Nick turning thirty in this

particular chapter?

11. Why is Nick disgusted with Jordan in the end of the chapter?

12. What do you think that Tom and Daisy were saying or ¡°conspiring¡± to each other in the

kitchen? Do you think that Tom knew Daisy was driving the ¡°death car¡±?

13. The last thing Nick said to Gatsby was, ¡°They¡¯re a rotten crowd. You¡¯re worth the whole

damn bunch put together.¡± Why do you think he said this when he admits that he

disapproved of Gatsby ¡°from beginning to end¡±?

14. Analyze the techniques that Fitzgerald uses to indicate that Gatsby is no longer living in a

dream and to foreshadow who his killer may be.

15. At the end of chapter 8, Nick says Gatsby ¡°must have felt that he had lost the old warm

world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream.¡± What was this price?

16. Why might it be significant that ¡°Owl-eyes¡± was the only person from all of Gatsby¡¯s

many parties to attend the funeral?

17. Nick is comparing his West with his memory of the East. Look at the following passage

and discuss its tone and how it is created (diction, detail, imagery, figurative language,

syntax). What is he saying about the East after Gatsby¡¯s death-how is he echoing or

distorting the images used in depicting Gatsby¡¯s parties?

¡°I see it is a night scene by El Greco: a hundred houses, at once conventional and

grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lusterless moon. In

the foreground four solemn men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk

with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening dress. Her

hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely the men

turn in at a house¡ªthe working house. But no one knows the woman¡¯s name, and

no one cares.¡±

18. 1 Timothy 6:10 says that the ¡°love¡± of money is the root of all evil. Do you think any of

the characters ¡°love¡± money? If not, what do you think that they do love? In addition, do

you think that Fitzgerald agrees with the idea that the love of money is the root of all

evil? Why or why not? What things do you think Fitzgerald sees as evil?

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