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The Great GatsbyChapters 3 and 4
The Facts, Chapter 3
1) Nick is actually interested to know who Gatsby is. He also had received a personal invitation.
Compare and Contrast - Meeting Gatsby
The Facts, Chapter 3
2) Nick thinks Gatsby is a larger than life figure who seems to understand people very well, is well spoken, and generous.
The Facts, Chapter 3
3) It’s described as an amusement park with many different guests. There also appear to be butlers. People are carefree. Many drinks are served. There is also an orchestra and dancing.
The Facts, Chapter 3
4) He finds it extraordinary that the library has real books with actual pages, claiming there’s a realism to it.
The Facts, Chapter 3
5) He finds out she is deceitful. She avoids men who are clever. There are also indications that she thinks highly of herself (car quote).
Interpretation Questions 1) Why suddenly change the tense of the novel? Does it affect you as a
reader?
2) “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission”
“ ...until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot…”
“ People were not invited - they went there”
Interpretation Questions 3) “It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”
“Sometime before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care”
4) “ ‘ They’ll keep out of my way, ‘ she insisted. ‘it takes two to make an accident.’ ” “ At least a dozen men, some of them a little better off than he was, explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond.”
The Facts, Chapter 4
1) Gatsby claims that he came from wealth, was educated at Oxford, lived in European Cities, and that he was a military lieutenant.
Compare and Contrast - Parties
The Facts, Chapter 4 2) Meyer Wolfshiem fixed the 1919 World Series, and is a gambler. Nick is appalled that he isn’t in jail.
* Meyer Wolfshiem is based on real life 1920’s crime boss Arnold Rothstein.
The Facts, Chapter 4
3) She was drunk, and cried. She had a letter with her and locked herself away.
The Facts, Chapter 4
4) Nick’s house is neutral ground. Gatsby feels secure with him. Gatsby was also afraid to ask Nick directly (perhaps he is embarrassed, or afraid of the consequences).
Interpretation Questions 1) “He hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford’, or swallowed it, or choked on
it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all”
2) “‘This is just a friend. I told you we’d talk about that some other time.’”
“‘He becomes very sentimental sometimes,’ explained Gatsby. “This one of his sentimental days.’”
“‘Meyer Wolfsheim? No, he’s a gambler.’”
Interpretation Questions 3) “After that she didn’t play around with young soldiers any more, but only with a few flatfooted, short-sighted young men in town, who couldn’t get into the army at all”
“In June she married Tom Buchanan of Chicago, with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before”
4) Think of ways in which Gatsby’s life has been ‘built’ to be perfect. What is real about him? Think about social media today; do we really know people either? Nick’s realisation of Gatsby’s constructed self is still a relevant concept today.
