The Great Gatsby | Discussion Questions 51 - 60

In Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby invites Nick Carraway and Daisy Buchanan to see his house. Fitzgerald captures the moment's excitement when Gatsby shows Daisy what?

After showing off his house, its many rooms, and all of his possessions, Gatsby shows Daisy his wardrobe and, in particular, his collection of shirts. When she reacts with great emotion to the shirts, he giddily piles them higher and higher, covering the table in front of her, almost like a peacock strutting before a potential mate.

As Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby opens, who is the visitor that arrives at Jay Gatsby's door, and what is his request to Gatsby?

From Nick Carraway, readers learn that change is on the horizon: An ambitious young reporter from New York arrived ... at Gatsby's door ... [inquiring whether Gatsby had] anything to say. Although the visitor and his request are somewhat insignificant in the grand scope of the plot, the arrival of the reporter—as well as his suspicion that Gatsby is "just short of being news," marks the beginning of heightening tension in the plot in general and, specifically, between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan.

In Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby, who else shows up when Nick Carraway stops by one Sunday afternoon to check on Jay Gatsby?

When Nick stops in to visit Gatsby after several weeks of absence, he happens to be there when Tom Buchanan arrives on horseback in the company of two other riders, one of whom has been a guest at Gatsby's parties. Tom has no recollection that he had met Gatsby a few weeks earlier at a restaurant in New York, and it annoys Gatsby that Tom considered him not important enough to remember.

In Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby, when Tom Buchanan shows up at a Gatsby gathering one Sunday afternoon, what seemingly innocuous statement by Jay Gatsby sets Tom on edge?

When Gatsby and Tom establish where they've met before, Gatsby taunts Tom: "I know your wife," continued Gatsby, almost aggressively. The normally harmless remark becomes like a match to tinder, notching up the tension between the two men, and setting Tom on a tirade against women who "run around too much."

In the latter part of The Great Gatsby, why does Jay Gatsby lets his entire staff go?

Gatsby fires his staff because he doesn't want people to gossip about the fact that Daisy Buchanan is coming to his house quite often.

In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, Nick describes Daisy's voice as "an indiscreet voice ... It's full of—." How does Gatsby finish Nick's sentence, and what does he mean?

Finishing Nick Carraway's description of Daisy Buchanan's voice, Jay Gatsby says Daisy's voice is "full of money." Gatsby desires Daisy and all that she represents. His love for her is as much aspirational as it is real, as seen by the choices he has made to get to his current status and wealth.

In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, why is Jay Gatsby standing watch in the Buchanans' yard the night of the accident, and why is it important?

Gatsby is watching to see that Tom Buchanan doesn't get aggressive toward Daisy. "If he tries any brutality," Gatsby says, "she's going to turn the light out and on again." Gatsby still believes Daisy will choose him, regardless of the events of the day, only to have the darkness fall upon his hope.

In Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby, as Tom, Nick, and Jordan gas up at Wilson's garage, whose eyes are watching them, and what is the significance of this?

Nick Carraway mentions first the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg looking down on them from the billboard and then those of Myrtle Wilson watching them from the windows over the garage. Dr. Eckleburg's eyes signify judgment regarding, perhaps, the affairs between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle and between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Myrtle's gaze signifies jealousy; because she has never met Daisy, she mistakes Jordan Baker for Tom's wife.

In Chapter 8 of The Great Gatsby, after Myrtle Wilson is killed, what incident does George Wilson recall, and what brings it to his mind now?

George is remembering the day that Myrtle spent in New York City two months earlier; he thought she was with her sister, when in reality she was with Tom and Nick. That was the day Tom broke Myrtle's nose and, according to his description here, she "had come from the city with her face bruised and her nose swollen."

In Chapter 8 of The Great Gatsby, to what item in the garage desk does George Wilson direct Michaelis's attention, and what does it signify?

George tells Michaelis to look in a desk drawer, where he finds a leather leash for the dog that Myrtle Wilson and Tom Buchanan had purchased. The dog leash is symbolic of the frivolous life Myrtle had with Tom.