Close Reading, Chapter 1, Paragraph 4

Name: ______

Close Reading, Chapter 1, Paragraph 4 Read the following passage (material in parentheses is not from the novel, but is intended to help you understand the reading)

And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission (I admit) it has a limit. Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes but after a certain point (awhile) I don’t care what it’s (conduct) founded on. When I came back from the East last autumn, I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform (more orderly) And (to be) at a sort of moral attention forever:

(because) I wanted NO MORE RIOTOUS EXCURSIONS with privileged glimpses INTO THE HUMAN HEART. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from this reaction— Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn (a direct dislike).

If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, (there was) some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.

This responsiveness (heightened sensitivity) had nothing to do with flabby impressionability (weak ability to make an impression) which is dignified under the name of the (which is called with false dignity) “creative temperament” (Rather)—it (this responsiveness) was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.

No,--Gatsby turned out all right at the end; (BUT) it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily CLOSED OUT MY INTEREST in the abortive (cut off) sorrows and shortwinded elations (happiness) of men.

Check the appropriate interpretation of each quotation: 1. “Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes.” a.____ A person’s behavior is either good or bad. b.____A person behaves the way he does because of solid principles or lax ones. 2. “I wanted to no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.” a.____He doesn’t want to be involved with a person like Gatsby again. b.____He doesn’t want to share any person’s secret confidences again 3. “Only Gatsby…was exempt from my reaction.” a.____He could share Gatsby’s secret confidences b. ____He would not wish to share Gatsby’s secret confidences 4. “Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.” a.____Gatsby stood for everything Nick admired b.____Gatsby stood for everything Nick disliked 5. “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.” a.____Gatsby’s personality reflected his confidence in life’s possibilities. b.____Gatsby’s personality was beautiful because of his success.

On another sheet of paper (or on the back of this one) , fully answer each question with evidence from the paragraph reprinted above: 1. Summarize in your own words Nick’s mixed attitude toward Gatsby. 2. What is the main characteristic that Nick admires in Gatsby? (Taken from Center for Learning)