Gatsby 3

Create four open-ended questions - two interpretive in nature and two evaluative in nature - that have to do with the novel The Great Gatsby. These should address a wide array of ideas and themes from the book. You also need to come up with a one paragraph answer for each of your questions. These questions can be something that you don't know the answer to, but are willing to speculate about, or they can be questions to which you think you know the answer and feel very strongly about. Either way, these questions should be thought-provoking and their answers should show evidence not only that you've reasd the text, but that you understood it on more than a literal level.


I 1. How does wealth determine status in Gatsby and what do you think Fitzgerald is implying by this?

• In Gatsby, wealth seems to be the judging factor for everyone in the upper class. If you are not wealthy, you are not worthy. Gatsby worked his way up from a very average man to a rich one. When he was poor, the women he loved would not marry him. As he gained success and money, he was able to obtain Daisy. Fitzgerald is implying that with wealth comes happiness, whether it is genuine or a false sense of the feeling. 

I 2. How is honest (or the lack of) prevalent throughout the story?

• As Nick is introduced, he prides himself in being completely honest. Through the book, we see Nick having biased judgments on the characters that come through. By the end of the book, Nick has been dating Jordan, who is extremely dishonest. She has cheated several times with Nick and they finally split due to her dishonesty and cheating. Daisy is not honest with Tom about her affair, and Tom is not honest with Daisy about his affair. 

E 3. Is it fair to say that based on the characters from Gatsby we are driven by our dreams from the past?

• Gatsby is continuously searching for ways to reconstruct and fix his past. Fitzgerald was a man who lived an extravagant life, but he was barely able to afford the luxuries he indulged in. He was constantly trying to live the wealthy lifestyle he dreamed of and the family he came from. We can probably interpret this and conclude that Fitzgerald implies we are constantly looking for ways to relive the past. We can never move onto the future without satisfying the past first.

E 4. What is the importance of Gatsby and the American Dream to Fitzgerald's view of the American Dream?

• Gatsby worked himself up from a lowly soldier to a highly-regarded man with status and wealth. Fitzgerald was born into an upper middle class family, but as he grew older he was not able to completely indulge in the wealth he was born into. After he married Zelda, they consistently threw lavish parties that constantly kept them tight on money. Fitzgerald was constantly striving to obtain something he could not have, implying the American Dream was a failure. Gatsby was the same way in that even after he built himself up to wealth and status, he was not fully happy. He still died a painful death without the woman he thought loved him.