Chapter IV

New Characters:

Meyer Wolfsheim

Answer Questions in writing:

1. What’s the date at this point in the novel?

2. What impression is created about Gatsby’s guests through Nick’s memories?

3. What is special about the description of Gatsby’s car?

4. How does Nick’s opinion of Gatsby change?

5. In what country did Gatsby receive a medal “For Valour Extraordinary”?

6. Who does Nick meet at lunch with Gatsby?

7. What does Gatsby want Jordan to arrange?

8. What does Nick learn about Gatsby’s past?

9. What does Nick learn about Daisy and her relation to Gatsby?

10. What is known about Daisy’s marriage to Tom?

11. For how long has Gatsby been pursuing Daisy?

12. What phrase keeps coming back to Nick?

Vocabulary focus (write your own situations (three minimum) with the following words and phrases):

Hilariously

Hospitality

Knickerbockers

Gorgeous

To call on smb

Admiration

Bizarre

Sinister

Casual/casually

To come into money

Solemn

To haunt/haunted

Valour

Not to have the faintest idea…

to set foot somewhere

to be annoyed

to impose on smb

to offend

a gambler

smart

embarrassment

to be engrossed in

to lay eyes on smb

to be on speaking terms with smb

a string of pearls

a bridesmaid

perfect reputation

Vocabulary list

(Present orally original situations of the novel, using the following words and phrases)

A bootlegger, for no good reason, to come into a good deal of money, to pull smb.’s leg, to restrain one’s laugh, the phrase is worn threadbare, to evoke images, to accept a commission as (first lieutenant), to be promoted (to be a major), to lift up the words, to skim through, to make a big request of smb., to consent to do smth., juxtaposition, a man of fine breeding, to outstay one’s welcome, to impose oneself on smb., to be quite a character, to be engrossed in each other, to lay eyes on smb., to go overseas, to be on speaking terms with smb., to come out with a perfect reputation.

I. Give a summary of Chapter IV in writing.

II. Be ready to discuss the following:

1.  The names of those who attended Gatsby were written on an old timetable. The list is largely one of deaths, divorces or broken lives. What does it all suggest?

2. Retell Gatsby’s life-story. Did Nick believe it? Speak on Gatsby’s manner of speech (write out some terms characterizing his speech). How is Gatsby characterized through driving a car?

Gatsby called Mr. Wolfshiem his friend. Describe Mr. Wolfshiem’s appearance (isn’t the description laconic and expressive?). Point out some details characteristic of Mr. Wolfshiem’s manner of speech and behaviour. What was the story he brooded over gloomily? What business was he in? What do you know of his past? What was his opinion of Gatsby? How does this friendship characterize Gatsby? Retell Jordan’s story of Daisy and Gatsby’s love. Do you think their separation was unavoidable? Speak on Daisy’s feelings and behaviour on her wedding day. Why did she marry Tom Buchanan? Was she happy with Tom?

3. Why did Gatsby give those amazing parties? What was his plan? Why did he want Daisy to see his house? Why did Gatsby call his request “big”? Do you think it was possible for him to recapture the lost past?

4. Do you think you have a complete portrait of Gatsby now?

5. Comment on the juxtaposition of the following paragraphs and make writing translation:

“Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds, and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of southeastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby’s splendid car was included in their somber holiday.”

6. Find passages in which Carraway’s irony is distinctly felt. Carraway had no firsthand knowledge of Gatsby’s past. What method does the narrator use to inform his reader of Gatsby’s background? his love for Daisy? What are the advantages of the method (the events are represented fully from a point other than the narrator’s)?