Great Gatsby Questions

1. Nick thinks Gatsby's house looks as though it is on fire. The house was lit by an intense light, "...the whole corner of the peninsula was blazing with light...Turning a corner I saw that it was Gatsby's house, lit from tower to cellar", described Nick.

2. Gatsby offers to have someone cut Nick's grass. In addition, he offers him the chance to make some money by joining him in some business he does on the side - business that does not involve Meyer Wolfshiem. Gatsby explains, "It wouldn't take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing".

3. Gatsby's character throughout his meeting with Daisy is a contradiction of the self he normally displays. It appears as though Gatsby is no longer concerned with putting on a mask of respectability, his character is pure and revealing of his true self. The theatrical quality that he often demonstrates falls away, and for the first time all of his responses seem genuine. Gatsby forgets to play the role of the Oxford-educated socialite, and displays himself as a love-struck, awkward young man. His awkwardness and unguarded personality, is evident when he accidentally knocks over Nick's clock.

4. Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry saying in a muffled voice, "It makes me sad because I've never seen such - such beautiful shirts before". Daisy was overwhelmed by the array of beautiful shirts in all colours, textures, patterns, and fabrics.

5. To be disillusioned is to be free from illusion or enchantment. In Gatsby's case, every aspect of himself was engaged in his vision for his meeting with Daisy which became such an anticipated climax, that what was once seen as significant or impressive was gradually fading from his conscious mind. Nick believes that perhaps even Daisy cannot truly live up to Gatsby's vision of her that he had obsessively contemplated for so long. The following quotations show Gatsby's disillusionment:

* "...he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real."

* "He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an over wound clock."

* "Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one."

* "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams