| Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens—finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.Based on this description of the Buchanans’ house, what inference can be made about many East Egg residents? | NOT They place more importance on the appearance of their homes than in anything else. |
| Which best describes the role of setting in a story? | Setting is used to emphasize ideas and theme. |
| I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.The phrase, “I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two” reveals | the narrator’s awareness of social judgments and their central role in the novel. |
| The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.Based on this excerpt, what inference can be made about the Buchanans? | The image of luxury and elegance that they project is unstable like the wind blowing through the room. |
| It was a matter of chance that I should have rented a house in one of the strangest communities in North America. It was on that slender riotous island which extends itself due east of New York—and where there are, among other natural curiosities, two unusual formations of land. Based on the author’s description of Long Island, the reader can infer that this novel will | relate events that occur directly within the city of New York. |
| Instead of being the warm centre of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe—so I decided to go East and learn the bond business. | geographical |
| My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month.What does this excerpt reveal about Nick? | He is wealthy enough to live in West Egg but not wealthy enough to rent a very nice place. |
| The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.What does this description about Gatsby’s house reveal about his character? | NOT He is a man of impeccable taste who aspires to have the finest house in West Egg. |
| The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air. Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table I remember the candles being lit again, pointlessly, and I was conscious of wanting to look squarely at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes. I couldn’t guess what Daisy and Tom were thinking, but I doubt if even Miss Baker, who seemed to have mastered a certain hardy skepticism, was able utterly to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind. To a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing—my own instinct was to telephone immediately for the police.The phone calls that Tom receives during the dinner are an indicator that | he and Daisy are not a happily married couple. |
| “But we heard it,” insisted Daisy, surprising me by opening up again in a flower-like way. “We heard it from three people, so it must be true.”Of course I knew what they were referring to, but I wasn’t even vaguely engaged. The fact that gossip had published the banns was one of the reasons I had come East. You can’t stop going with an old friend on account of rumors, and on the other hand I had no intention of being rumored into marriage. Daisy’s insistence that the rumor of Nick’s engagement is true despite his denial suggests a conflict between | rumor and reality |
| But I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.Gatsby’s reaching from the darkness toward the light, creates | mystery and insight |
| The location of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is important because | it emphasizes the decadence of the 1920s. |
| My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month.What does this excerpt reveal about Nick? | He is wealthy enough to live in West Egg but not wealthy enough to rent a very nice place. |
| My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month.Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there. What message do phrases such as “the consoling proximity of millionaires” and “white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered” convey to the reader? | Financial wealth is desirable to the narrator. |
| Which excerpt from The Great Gatsby is the best example of foreshadowing? | . . he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward — and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness. |
| The practical thing was to find rooms in the city, but it was a warm season, and I had just left a country of wide lawns and friendly trees, so when a young man at the office suggested that we take a house together in a commuting town, it sounded like a great idea. He found the house, a weather-beaten cardboard bungalow at eighty a month.Nick’s recent arrival at West Egg and his intention to stay for only a short time underscore the fact that | he is an outsider in this community. |
| The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.Based on this excerpt, what inference can be made about the Buchanans? | The image of luxury and elegance that they project is unstable like the wind blowing through the room. |
Fitzgerald and the Roaring Twenties
April 8, 2020