Student worksheet · Novel in nine chapters
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925 · 48,467 words
Name ________________________ Date ________________________
Answer in complete sentences. Give source lines, chapters, parts or staves with each response.
- Compare the principle of Nick’s father (paraphrase it) with one early instance in which Nick judges somebody. Do his admissions make him more reliable?
- Trace the books in Gatsby’s library, the medal and the Oxford photograph. What does each artifact establish, and what does it leave open?
- Reconstruct the colors, ownership, passengers and drivers of the cars on the outbound and return journeys in Chapter VII. Identify which facts reach the reader at second hand.
- Compare the green light before and after the reunion with what Nick makes it mean at the end. Separate Gatsby’s behavior from Nick’s interpretation.
- Contrast the conduct of two associates after Gatsby dies with that of Mr. Gatz or Owl Eyes. What challenges Nick’s account of total abandonment?
Essay
When Nick turns a particular man’s failure into an American story, what earns him the right to generalize and what resists him? Argue from at least three chapters, including the final one, and develop a counterreading.
Write at least 650 words on separate pages. Develop a thesis, interpret three located passages from different parts of the text, and address a serious counterreading.