Question: How does Nick describe himself at the beginning of the novel?

Answer: reserves judgement

highly tolerant and moral

Question: How does Nick describe Tom Buchanan

Answer: Tom is aggressive, arrogant, pugnacious, and extremely wealthy.

Question: Who is Jordan Baker?

Answer: Daisy’s friend; slender body and grey eyes

Question: What is Gatsby doing when Nick first sees him?

Answer: Looking out at the water. When Nick first sees Gatsby, Gatsby is standing on his balcony holding his arms out to a green light across the sound.

Question: Describe the ambiguity in Nick’s initial descriptions of Gatsby.

Answer: Nick says that Gatsby represented “everything for which I have an unaffected scorn,” yet he also says that “There was something gorgeous about him,” and that he “turned out all right.”

Question: How does the tone of Nick’s description of Tom reveal Nicks feelings about tom?

Answer: He describes Tom’s manner as “supercilious,” his body as “cruel,” and his voice as gruff and husky, which “added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed.” These physical descriptions indicate the flaws that Nick sees in Tom’s character.

Question: How would you describe Daisy’s state of mind during dinner? What does she say and do that helps reveal her inner conflicts?

Answer: Daisy seems flighty and upset. She confesses to Nick that she has become cynical and overly sophisticated and implies that she is deeply unsatisfied with her marriage.

Question: Nick thinks that, given the state of their marriage, Daisy should leave Tom, but it is clear to him that she has no intention of doing so. What indication is there that Tom and Daisy are closely linked despite their marital differences?

Answer: The most significant link between Tom and Daisy is implied after Daisy’s outburst to Nick when she smirks “as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.”

Question: What indications are there that the green light will have a powerful emotional significance to Gatsby?

Answer: Gatsby’s gesture and his trembling help to highlight the significance of the green light.

Question: What does Nick find appealing about Jordan Baker?

Answer: She is aloof and self-sufficient.