Chapter 1 Reading Guide and Questions

Name ______Block ______Date ______The Great Gatsby Chapter 1 Reading Guide and Questions

Key Terms

1. Dukes of Buccleuch: titles given to a line of Scottish 16. Lake Forest: unknown location, possibly a city in descendants of Charles II of England and Anne Scott, Illinois Countess of Buccleuch 17. Georgian Colonial mansion: a mansion built in the 2. New Haven: a city in Connecticut where Yale University is architectural style of the Colonial period in America (early located 18th Century) 3. delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War: 18. riding clothes: an outfit designed for horse-riding World War I is also known as the “Great War”; the 19. senior society: an all-male secret society, group, or “delayed teutonic migration” refers to the ancient German organization Teutons who migrated across ancient Rome; the “delayed” migration may be Nick referring to the German Nazi’s 20. Italian garden: a type of garden known for its attempt to control and take over Europe sculpted trees and shrubbery and lack of flowers 4. bond business: the business of buying and selling bonds, 21. French windows: a pair of encasement windows which are formal contracts to repay borrowed money designed like French doors 5. Finnish: from Finland 22. bond man: a businessman who buys, sells, or trades bonds 6. mint: the United States mint, which produces coins and bills 23. claret: a dark rose wine 7. Midas: a legendary king whose touch allegedly turned 24. Nordics: people from the Nordic countries of everything to gold Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden 8. Morgan: J.P. Morgan, a Wall Street Banker who made 25. Cunard: a luxury cruise ship millions at the turn of the 20th Century 26. White Star Line: a line of luxury cruise ships 9. Maecenas: Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, a Roman statesman 27. settee: a long sofa-like seat with arms and a back known for being a well-connected and wealthy person 28. Saturday Evening Post: a bimonthly American 10. Yale: a private university in New Haven, Connecticut magazine first published in 1728 11. Long Island Sound: an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean 29. Westchester: a suburban county in New York that lies between the coast of Connecticut and Long Island, New York 30. rotogravure pictures: an early type of photograph produced on photogravure presses 12. egg in the Columbus story: refers to the legend that Christopher Columbus, having been told that discovering 31. Asheville: a city in North Carolina the Americas was nothing great, challenged his critics to 32. Hot Springs: a mountain city in Arkansas make an egg stand on its end 33. veranda: a roofed open porch attached to the 13. Hotel de Ville: an ornate and massive government exterior of a building building in Paris, France 34. banns: public announcements of marriage proposals, 14. Normandy: a region along the coast of Northern usually in a newspaper and church bulletin France and the Channel Islands 35. red gas pumps: early gas pumps that were painted 15. string of polo ponies: a set of horses bred and trained red to play the game of polo 36. grass roller: a manual roller used for smoothing new sod or uneven grass

Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences. You may write on this paper, as long as you fully answer the question. 1. Chapter 1 begins with a quote: “When ever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” What does this quote mean? What conclusions/predictions can you make about the narrator from this quote?

2. List 5-7 important details that we learn about the narrator from this chapter.

3. How does Nick compare East and West Egg? Who is Nick’s neighbor? How does Nick describe his neighbor’s house?

4. Describe Tom.

5. Describe Daisy.

6. About what has Tom been reading? What does this book’s philosophy indicate about Tom’s views? What does this say about American society at the time?

7. What do we learn about Tom from the phone call? How does Daisy deal with the interruption?

8. What does Daisy mean when she says “And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”?

9. What rumor had Daisy heard about Nick?

10. Describe Tom and Daisy’s relationship. 11. What strange sight does Nick see at the end of Chapter 1?

12. From what point of view is the story being told? In what tense?