The Great Gatsby

Homework 01/05/11
Chapter One Study Questions

#1
The main theme of “The Great Gatsby” is about the death / impossibilities of the American Dream. He uses these words to eventually make clear that this dream is not possible to live.

#2
He has a college education, he has a well family background, he observes situations.

#3
It’s set in 1922, June 7th.

#4
Nick comes from Chicago and later moved western to study at the Yale University. He is not poor but does not belong to the “old wealth.” He seems to be an honest person, which is a good skill for narrating.

#5
Jordan Baker is a cynical or “hard” type of person. She seems to be the opposite of Daisy who is a little naïve and blonde. Jordan is a smart woman. The first thing Nick notices about her is her raised chin, she holds it “as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall.”

#6
Nick somehow seems to be intimidated by Jordan’s appearance (“I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in”).

#7
Tom thinks about himself as a clever and smart kind of person, but in fact he is racist and a womanizer. Probably, he is a good-looking guy, that’s what makes him so confident. He appears to be superficial.

#8
Nick describes her laugh as “an absurd, charming little laugh.” It is like a song, contagious and melodious. This makes her seems almost fairy; she is a very fragile woman but it also makes her seem naïve.

#9
Jordan seems to know how human beings “work,” she has experienced enough to know the world. She can’t be fooled by anyone. She might have experienced something (like being fooled by a man) that makes her think that way.

#10
Tom is a womanizer and racist, he doesn’t care about his wife or other people. He introduces the book he recently read as a scientific book, but in fact it spreads racism. He has an affair with a woman from New York. Furthermore, he has a lot of money and he belongs to the “old (true) wealth.”

#11