The Great Gatsby
Chapter One Discussion Questions
Note that the story is told in the first person. Who is speaking? Why does Fitzgerald choose to use a narrator rather than to tell the story in the third person? What does an author gain by this device?
What part of this chapter is a prologue? What is its purpose?
Setting includes the place where and the time when the story takes place. What details of setting are given? Why is setting of particular importance in this book?
How would you describe the attitude, or state of mind, of the narrator, Nick Carraway?
What previous experiences (family background, education, and the like) had prepared Nick to participate in the society that makes up this book?
In this chapter we meet all the principal characters except Gatsby. Note the clarity with which Tom Buchanan is described. List ten or twelve specific details of the description.
Jordan Baker is introduced as “extended full length at her end of the divan…” We get a picture of a languid person, and yet she is an athlete. Is this a pose she affects? Several times she is described as seeming to balance something on her chin. Does the total description of Jordan remind you of drawings or illustrations of the “flapper” of this era? Who is the artist famous for his drawings of flappers? Can you find an illustration to show to the class?
At one point Daisy Buchanan says she thinks “the home influence will be very good for her [Jordan].” Is this an honest statement? What does it tell you about Daisy? What other impressions do you form of Daisy’s character and personality? Cite conversation, mannerisms, or behavior to justify you conclusions.
What passages appealed to your sense of humor?
Though we do not meet Gatsby in this chapter, we hear references to him in the conversations of others. What impressions do you get?
In what way is foreshadowing of tragedy introduced in this chapter? What is meant by “this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency”? Why does Nick have an “instinct…to telephone immediately for police”?
At the close of the chapter, Nick has a glimpse of Gatsby. Can you describe this brief, dramatic episode from memory? Have you any idea why Gatsby conducts himself in this strange manner?
The Great Gatsby
Chapter One Notes
Thomas Parke d’Invilliers: This is the name of a character in Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise. Actually, the verse on the title page was written by Fitzgerald himself. Before finally deciding on The Great Gatsby as a title for the novel, Fitzgerald considered such titles as “Gold-Hatted Gatsby,” “The High-Bouncing Lover,” “Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires.”
Dukes of Buccleuch: Scottish family dating back to the thirteenth century
Graduated from new Haven: Yale University
Hotel de Ville in Normandy: city hall in Normandy, a region in France
The Rise of the Colored Empires by this man Goddard: Tom may have been referring to a book entitled The Rising Tide of Color by Lothrop Stoddard, published in 1920.
Notable Quotables
“I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.”
“This isn’t just an epigram – life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.”
“For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face;…then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk.”
“Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas…”
Can you find any other beautifully crafted sentences? Record some here…
/ English 11 Honors: American Literature | Mr. Ambrose