The Great Gatsby Summary
Chapter 1
"His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts." -Pg. 7 fractious (adj) - unruly, quarrelsome, irritable.
"Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart." - Pg. 20-21 peremptory (adj) - admitting of no contradiction, often characterized by arrogant self-assurance
Chapter 2
"The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do." supercilious (adj) - arrogant, contemptous
"Wilson's mother which hoveblue like an ectoplasm on the wall. His wife was shrill, languid, handsome, and horrible. She told me with pride that her husband had photographed her a hundblue and twenty-seven times since they had been married. " -Pg. 30 ectoplasm (n) - a gel substance held to produce spirit materialization
"I wanted to get out and walk southward toward the park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. " - Pg. 36 strident (adj) - commanding attention by a loud or obtrusive quality
Chapter 3
"Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word." - Pg. 40 prodigality (n) - reckless extravagance, lavishness, luxuriance
"A celebrated tenor had sung in Italian, and a notorious contralto had sung in jazz, and between the numbers people were doing "stunts" all over the garden, while happy, vacuous bursts of laughter rose toward the summer sky." -Pg. 47 vacuous (adj) - marked by lack of ideas or intelligence; devoid of serious occupation
"I had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years." -Pg. 49 corpulent (adj) - having a large bulky body
"But young men didn't - at
"His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts." -Pg. 7 fractious (adj) - unruly, quarrelsome, irritable.
"Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart." - Pg. 20-21 peremptory (adj) - admitting of no contradiction, often characterized by arrogant self-assurance
Chapter 2
"The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do." supercilious (adj) - arrogant, contemptous
"Wilson's mother which hoveblue like an ectoplasm on the wall. His wife was shrill, languid, handsome, and horrible. She told me with pride that her husband had photographed her a hundblue and twenty-seven times since they had been married. " -Pg. 30 ectoplasm (n) - a gel substance held to produce spirit materialization
"I wanted to get out and walk southward toward the park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. " - Pg. 36 strident (adj) - commanding attention by a loud or obtrusive quality
Chapter 3
"Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word." - Pg. 40 prodigality (n) - reckless extravagance, lavishness, luxuriance
"A celebrated tenor had sung in Italian, and a notorious contralto had sung in jazz, and between the numbers people were doing "stunts" all over the garden, while happy, vacuous bursts of laughter rose toward the summer sky." -Pg. 47 vacuous (adj) - marked by lack of ideas or intelligence; devoid of serious occupation
"I had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years." -Pg. 49 corpulent (adj) - having a large bulky body
"But young men didn't - at