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TheGreat
The GreatGatsby
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Guide

Desperately Seeking Someone

Love can lead you to do some crazy things. Have you ever met someone you couldn’t get out of
your thoughts? Did you make plans or go somewhere just in hopes of running into him or her?
If so, you may understand a little about Jay Gatsby, the man at the center of this novel. Gatsby
yearns so deeply to reconnect with someone he met long ago that he buys a mansion near the
woman’s home and spends much of his waking life planning for them to meet again. Of course,
things don’t always turn out the way we hope or expect. Is Gatsby “great” enough to win back
his lost love?

Be a Better Reader
As you work through the study guide for The Great Gatsby, you will also practice these skills, which will
help you when you read novels in the future, for school assignments or just for fun.
1. Describe the development of the main character.
2. Discuss how the plot develops throughout the novel.
3. Describe themes in the novel and trace their development throughout the text.
4. Cite textual evidence to support discussion of the novel.
5. Describe and analyze the role of setting in the novel.

Behind the Scenes

Many consider F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the most important novel of the 1920’s
Jazz Age, a period of economic growth and wealthy excess between World War I and the Great
Depression of the 1930s. During that time, the decadent lifestyles of people like the main
characters in The Great Gatsby contrasted sharply with the lives of working class people. Other
characteristics of the age are part of the novel’s plot as well, such as anti-immigration
sentiment, concerns about Prohibition and the rise of shady business dealings which profited
from it.

Get This!
1. The Great Gatsby is told from the point of view of Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby’s neighbor and
the cousin of his long lost love, Daisy Buchanan. Notice how Nick’s opinions of Gatsby, Daisy,
and their lives change throughout the novel.

2. The Great Gatsby includes several symbols that help readers get Fitzgerald’s larger meanings.
Consider the larger meaning behind the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg (on a huge billboard in the
Valley of Ashes), the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and the desolate neighborhood that
separates the wealthy characters of Long Island from the big city.

3. During the 1920s women’s roles in society began to change dramatically, at least for the
upper classes. Look for aspects of Daisy’s personality that represent traditional femininity, and
also aspects that suggest the changing times.
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TheGreat
The GreatGatsby
GatsbyStudy
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Guide

The Plot
In The Great Gatsby, narrator Nick Carraway describes the summer when his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, attempts to woo Nick’s cousin
Daisy back to his side. As you read the novel, use this chart to record the most important events to identify their part in the novel.

Climax

11.
12.
Falling
13.
Action
14.
15.

1.
2.
3.
4. Resolution
5.
Rising Action
6.
7.
8.
9.
10
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TheGreat
The GreatGatsby
GatsbyStudy
StudyGuide
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The Characters
The way the characters interact and develop throughout The Great Gatsby tells a bigger story
about the American Dream and the feelings and forces that lie at the heart of that dream. For
each character, locate a specific quote from the novel that expresses the character’s
perspective or personality. Then explain what the quote conveys about the character’s
understanding of his or her place in America society.

Character Quote about the Character What the Quote Conveys

Nick Carraway

Tom Buchanan

Daisy Buchanan

Jay Gatsby

Myrtle Wilson

Which characters are similar in terms of class or their “place” in American society? Explain
what, exactly, these similar characters have in common.
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TheGreat
The GreatGatsby
GatsbyStudy
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Guide

The Setting
F. Scott Fitzgerald sets his story in the wealthier sections of New York City during the Jazz Age,
but some of the scenes occur in areas that are desolate with poverty. Quote a passage that
describes each setting, and then explain what Fitzgerald seemed to want to convey about that
location.

Location Quote Describing the Location What Fitzgerald is Trying to

Convey
Tom and Daisy
Buchanan’s home

Nick Carraway’s home

Jay Gatsby’s home

Valley of Ashes

New York in City