comparitive essay
The Great Gatsby
Study Questions
American Literature
Name _____________________________________
The Great Gatsby
Pre-reading Questions: Respond thoroughly to the following questions. 1. How might people who are born into wealth compare or contrast to those who acquired their wealth overnight?
2. Would you date or marry someone just for their money? What are possible advantages and disadvantages of doing this?
3. What defines a person’s “social class” today? Make a list of criteria. Then briefly discuss each.
4. Assuming that they exist today, would you date or marry someone below your own social class? What would be your parents’ reactions? How would you or your parents’ reactions be different if the person was above your social class?
5. What dreams and hopes do you have for your future?
6. Can money buy happiness? Discuss.
7. Is the love of money really the root of all evil?
Chapter One Questions: Answer on your own paper.
1
Who is the narrator of the story? Is he telling the story in the present or after something has happened?
2
What is the advice Nick’s father has given him that he has been "turning over in [his] mind"?
3
As a consequence of that advice, what habit has Nick developed?
4
Nick says that "reserving judgments is a matter of" what?
5
What does Gatsby represent to Nick?
6
What "extraordinary gift" does Nick find in Gatsby?
7
Nick says, "No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end." What is it that bothers Nick?
8
What does Nick go east to learn?
9
What season and year does Nick go east during?
10
Nick says that the environment of the place where he lives gives him "that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." What could this be symbolic of? Nick’s environment has been compared to the Biblical Eden. It exemplifies a fresh beginning. If we sustain this
Study Questions
American Literature
Name _____________________________________
The Great Gatsby
Pre-reading Questions: Respond thoroughly to the following questions. 1. How might people who are born into wealth compare or contrast to those who acquired their wealth overnight?
2. Would you date or marry someone just for their money? What are possible advantages and disadvantages of doing this?
3. What defines a person’s “social class” today? Make a list of criteria. Then briefly discuss each.
4. Assuming that they exist today, would you date or marry someone below your own social class? What would be your parents’ reactions? How would you or your parents’ reactions be different if the person was above your social class?
5. What dreams and hopes do you have for your future?
6. Can money buy happiness? Discuss.
7. Is the love of money really the root of all evil?
Chapter One Questions: Answer on your own paper.
1
Who is the narrator of the story? Is he telling the story in the present or after something has happened?
2
What is the advice Nick’s father has given him that he has been "turning over in [his] mind"?
3
As a consequence of that advice, what habit has Nick developed?
4
Nick says that "reserving judgments is a matter of" what?
5
What does Gatsby represent to Nick?
6
What "extraordinary gift" does Nick find in Gatsby?
7
Nick says, "No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end." What is it that bothers Nick?
8
What does Nick go east to learn?
9
What season and year does Nick go east during?
10
Nick says that the environment of the place where he lives gives him "that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." What could this be symbolic of? Nick’s environment has been compared to the Biblical Eden. It exemplifies a fresh beginning. If we sustain this