1. Questions and Answers
The Great Gatsby, Part I
L. M. Freer ✪ FIT/SUNY ✪ March 2013
S

2. March
22, 2013.
Each student
wrote out a
question
about The
Great Gatsby.
Each student then was
challenged to write a
paragraph-long response to a
peer‘s question about the
novel.

3. S I believe that Gatsby
might be reaching for
something bigger when
The Green he sees the green light.
If I remember correctly
Light the green light is a
reoccurring symbol? A
―Do you believe when Gatsby symbol for what, though?
is reaching toward the green Gatsby seems to be the
light that he is reaching for kind of person that wants
Daisy, or is he reaching for more than what he
something bigger than that?‖ already has or is even
–M.G.
capable of handling.
Daisy might just be
another object to him but
with a tiny bit more
sentimental value. –S.V.

4. S Nick struggles with the drastically conflicting
morals that he is presented with when he
first meets Daisy‘s husband and realizes
that he‘s having an affair. He moved to West
Egg from the midwest, and despite being
from a prominent family he has never
experienced the way that the fabulously
wealthy act, as if they have their own code
of morals so detached from the rest of
Honesty society. The disparity between the wealthy
and the poor is shown through these
dishonest characters as what happens
when greed is left unchecked. Gatsby is
―Why does Nick say he is also a figure that Nick can‘t decipher, overall
Nick feels morally repelled by the
one of the few honest people dishonesty of the East/West Eggers—but he
he had ever known? How starts to become a bit of a dishonest
character himself as his personality
does the theme of dishonesty changes in the end of Chapter 4. It‘s almost
reflect the society of the a satire that he says he‘s the most honest
person he knows—as he he starts to be
1920s?‖ –N.C. more dishonest. I wouldn‘t say that this
theme of dishonesty reflects everyone in the
1920s—but more the capitalist, well-off rich
society. It does reflect upon everyone in the
upper class and the majority of the
characters in the book, though. This era
reflects the ―golden age‖ of America before
the Great Depression, hinting that there‘s a
layer of corruption under the glitz and glam
of high society that‘s about to crumble with
the collapse of the stock market. That‘s
what I would say the theme of dishonesty in
the 1920s is reflecting upon. –E.K.

5. S The lifestyles and behaviors of
the characters in The Great
Gatsby are only partial examples
of how people lived during that
Historical time. There were wealthy people
who weren‘t like them, and I think
the main characters are sort of
Connection like the 1% in today‘s economic
system. We can tell that by
seeing the different kinds of roles
―Is it fair to say the lifestyles that appear in the book, for
and behaviors of the example, the people who work for
characters in The Great Gatsby. However, those people
Gatsby are representative of also represent that part of the
time period and they do show
the rest of the country during
what‘s going on between the
this time?‖ –C.C. economic and social structures,
for example the capitalist system
where they could buy anything
and without restriction as long as
they had enough money. So not
everyone is wealthy like Gatsby,
but they all share a standard of
what the good life is, regardless
of the ability to afford it. –N.C.

6. S Glasses—might mean
someone overlooking the
town, someone watching
from above, seeing.
Represents someone
judging American society as
a wasteland, meaningless.
Symbology Or blindness, or seeing
someone clearly.
―What are some of The Great
S Green light—might represent
Gatsby‘s most important
money or some type of
symbols? What kind of role connection to Daisy, the East
do the symbols play in the side. It could also mean
lives of the characters?‖ – jealousy. Or it is a guiding
K.Y. light to his goal (Daisy).
S The Valley of Ashes—how
wealth has corrupted
people‘s morality and society
as a whole.
S Wilson—working class. –N.T.

7. S The significance of Doctor T. J.
Eckleburg‘s eyes are a sort of
forgotten omnipresent entity. We can
infer this because they are given
specific description with an alluded
history in the novel. Since they are
―above‖ the land, they may be some
substitute for God. ―Spasms of bleak
Eyes dust‖ drift ―endlessly‖ over it, as if it
were an ongoing presence. The
actual physical description of their
―What is the significance of paranormal size in comparison to
the blue eyes on the real eyes (the retinas being ―one
billboard?‖ –M.S. yard high‖), we can presume it is
purposefully exaggerated to stand
for a heightened sense of overall
awareness, of how the ―eye sees
all.‖
S Furthermore, the lack of attention
they receive seems to form a
statement that these characters in
their atmosphere have forgotten
about an omnipotent presence, and
it is insinuated that these characters
have forgotten their consciences as
well. –E.M.

8. S I don‘t believe that Nick is
in love with Daisy, mainly
because she is his cousin. I
think he may be fascinated
with the relationships she
Love and had with both Tom &
Gatsby, but I don‘t believe
Relationships that there is any romantic
interest between them.
―Is Nick in love with Daisy? However, this does lead to
Was there ever anything the question of who Nick
between them?‖ –C.H. does love? Does he see
Jordan as a romantic
interest, or does he feel
that he should be interested
in her because of
circumstance? Is he
actually intimidated by her
strong personality? Does
Nick love Gatsby? –M.G.

9. S I don‘t believe that
Nick is in love with
Gatsby. He‘s more in
love with his
lifestyle, his
Love suaveness that
Gatsby captures
―Is Nick in love with Gatsby?
And in love with Jordan as
from both men and
well?‖ –J.A. women. Nick may
like the idea of
hanging out with
Gatsby because he
is so well respected
and is welcomed in
every party or event
through in Gatsby‘s
honor. –T.H.

10. S Nick did not visit his
sister—he went
with Tom to the city
Character to visit Myrtle and
Clarification Myrtle’s sister.
―Can we go over who the
Those were the two
other two women are, when women in that
Nick visited his sister?‖ –I.N. scene. –L.F.
S The other two
women are Daisy
Buchanan and
Jordan Baker. –K.Y.

11. S The green light is seen
coming from the
Buchanans‘ house from
across the bay in West
Egg. Before Nick meets
The Green Gatsby, he sees him lurking
in the dark, watching the
Light Again green light. He seemed to
be trembling.
―What does the green light S At this point in the
represent in the book?‖ –N.T. story, one can assume that
Gatsby is aware the green
light is coming from Daisy‘s
house. It could possibly
represent the distance
between Daisy & Gatsby. It
also could represent
Gatsby‘s hope to one day
be reunited with her—the
light is a constant reminder
that she‘s there, it‘s
something for him to hold
on to. –C.C.

12. S The green light represents
Gatsby‘s love for Daisy as
Interpreting well as what their
relationship could be. I
The Green think that the green light
does represent money and
materialism. It sort of is a
Light symbol of all that Gatsby
―Is there a unanimous symbol that the ‗green
has ever dreamed of for
light‘ represents? I interpreted it a few himself, all all that he has
different ways, but I‘m not sure if I‘m on the
right track—it‘s Gatsby‘s love for Daisy, or a strived for. In that sense it
weird kind of jealousy when he looks at her &
thinks of how life diverted their love (or what can be interpreted as a
could have been before she was married to
Tom), or a reference to green = $$$? And
symbol of the American
materialism, or some reference to it? Dream.
―Are there any characters who aren‘t
hypocrites? The old money on East Egg is S I think that Wilson (Myrtle‘s
supposed to hate the gaudy new money of
the West side, yet they all crash Gatsby‘s
husband) is the the least
party anyway. Tom blatantly cheats on Daisy hypocritical character.
and even slaps/beats his mistress. Even Nick
changes in these 4 chapters & decides to Maybe he is not very
pursue Jordan, even though she represents bright, but he is honest
all that he initially disliked.‖ –E.K.
enough. –C.H.

13. S The title refers to Jay
Gatsby, the main character
of the book.
S He is great in a way because
he lives life full of happiness
and optimism by convincing
himself that life is full of hope
The Title and goodness and by
ignoring the corruption and
―What is the meaning of the darkness in the world around
him. Few people are able to
title? In what way is Gatsby ignore the bad things in life
so great?‖ –S.V. and focus only on the good
things.
S But then towards the 4th
chapter there is a twice
regarding Gatsby‘s character
and ethics, and him not
being honest. So in the end
it turns out that he is not this
―great‖ guy and the title is
more a matter of sarcasm. –
A.P.

14. S Nick is very enchanted by
Gatsby and I feel that‘s
why he enjoys being
Secrets and around him in his
company, even when
[Nick] is confused.
Confusion
S I don‘t think Nick tells
―Nick seems a bit confused
Daisy because Tom is her
or maybe a bit overwhelmed
sense of security. I think
in many situations that he
he also knows that this is
comes across with Mr.
Gatsby.
a marriage of
convenience and not
passionate romance. I
―Why doesn‘t Nick tell think an example that
Daisy, being that she is his describe this is Tom‘s
cousin, about Tom‘s affair? Is job—it is not glamorous
he afraid for himself?‖ –T.H. but he is dependable. No,
I do not think [Nick] is
afraid.

15. S Where he grew up I can‘t remember
exactly, but know he lost his family and
inherited money from them.
S This is one of the rumors in the
book, but in reality Gatsby’s family
is alive, if poor, in the Midwest.
S I feel like Tom and Jordan are just
Potpourri friends, although Jordan is not a typical
1920s woman—she‘s very bold and
outspoken.
• ―Where and with whom did
Jay Gatsby grow up? S I don‘t know what he does for a living.
Does he even work?
• What is Tom and Jordan
S He’s a bootlegger, as best we can
Baker‘s relationship? tell, involved in the smuggling of
alcohol despite the ban of
• What does Jay Gatsby do Prohibition.
for a living?
• Why were rumors S As far as rumors go, I‘m not sure, but I
think the mystery about him just makes
circulating that Gatsby people talk and come up with stories.
killed a man?
S It‘s not ideal to get a divorce in the day
• Was divorce acceptable at and age of the story. People probably
that time?‖ –S.G. still did it, of course, but it was frowned
upon. People had affairs instead.
S —J.A. (& L.F.)

16. S Nick seems to admire
Gatsby before he meets
him. He considers Gatsby a
great mystery of a man and
is impressed with his
lifestyle. After Nick meets
Gatsby he gets to know him
Perspective and is somewhat
disappointed that he is a
regular man without a
―The author presents himself deeper and more
in the 1st and 3rd person complicated personality.
when telling the story and But after Nick learns that
Gatsby is secretly in love
sometimes sounds like he with Daisy and has been
disapproves of Gatsby‘s for many years he starts to
ethics, but doesn‘t he also like him more. When he
admire Gatsby?‖ –A.P. learns that Gatsby bought a
house to be across the bay
from Daisy‘s house, and
he‘s been waiting to run
into her for 5 years, Nick
really feels that Gatsby has
more personality to him
than he originally thought. –
S.G.

17. S The narrator Nick
has a relative—
cousin—who is
Relationship Daisy. She is the one
that Nick goes to visit
s in Chapter Two.
―I‘m slightly confused about Daisy is married to
the relationship between the
narrator, Nick, and Daisy and
Tom, who has a
Tom. There seemed to be good relationship
some sort of mysterious yet with Nick. Tom is
intimate feeling about them?‖
being unfaithful to
–M.Z.
Daisy, though, becau
se he has another
woman to whom he
also introduces Nick.
–I.N.

18. S The human understanding of
love does seem to be
Love Has ―redefined.‖ Not necessarily
lost because the characters
in The Great Gatsby interact
The Last on an almost intimate level
with one another. People
seem to have a more open
Word sense of admiration for one
another. Nick admires the
features on his cousin
―Is the human understanding Daisy, as well as her friend
of love (as irrelevant as it is) Ms. Baker. Aside from the
redefined or lost in the world openness of admiration, I
of The Great Gatsby? don‘t think much is different
than how humans
Because every person is understand love today.
described or afflicted with People love whether its for
great artificiality, even their real or not, and people end
up cheating or divorcing. I do
presumed sentiments are agree that love in this book
inconsistent and unstable.‖ – is different, but overall it‘s no
E.M. different than how people
experience love today as
well as in the past. –M.Z.

19. Key
Questions
For Next
Time:
• Does Gatsby represent the
American Dream?
• How does geography
shape social class in this
novel?
• Is Nick a reliable narrator of
events? Why or why not?