The Great Gatsby Study Guide

Chapter 1

1. Language usage: use each of the following words in a sentence. Each sentence should reveal that
you understand the meaning of the word.

 extemporize
 feign
 colossal
 factious
 buoy
 devoid
 sedative
 corroborate
 supercilious
 peremptory
 libel

2. Briefly summarise what happens in this chapter.

3. Reading Comprehension: Answer each question in as much detail as you can. Provide enough
information to establish that you read the chapter carefully.

a) Dinner at the Buchanans’ house is interrupted by a telephone call for Tom. Who is calling Tom?
b) Upon learning that her child is a girl, what did Daisy Buchanan say she hoped her daughter
would be? Why?
c) At the end of Chapter One, Nick finally glimpses Jay Gatsby. What is Gatsby doing? How is he
described?
d) How do Nick’s descriptions of Tom and Daisy reflect his perspective of the Buchanans?

4. Analysing Imagery:

“The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young
women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their
dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around
the house. I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the curtains and
the groan of a picture on the wall. Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows
and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young
women ballooned slowly to the floor.”

 Read the extract above.

 Underline all words which indicate sounds.
 Bold all words that indicate movement.
 Highlight any figurative language techniques.
 Describe the mood of this extract
5. Character: find a key quote that relates to each of these characters:

 Tom
 Daisy
 Jordan

6. Close analysis:

“When I look looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone
again in the unquiet darkness.”

 What does the word “vanished” imply about Gatsby?

 What is the effect of the word “unquiet”?