THE GREAT GATSBY, Second Set of Prompts

I enjoyed our discussion of Gatsby today, and I was impressed with your blog posts. I want to remind you that you can respond to a classmate's post and receive credit for blogging. In fact, I would like to encourage you to make the blog into a conversation, not just a comment board. You don't have to limit yourself to one or the other, either. Feel free to post your own response and then comment on the responses of some of your peers.

Here are the prompts for Tuesday:

1. When Nick has Gatsby and Daisy over for tea, Gatsby nearly breaks an old clock. That clock is mentioned several times, and Nick also makes other references to time. What is the significance of this? Based on your reading so far, what is the clock symbolic of?

2. In class today, we discussed “circles of understanding,” or the share of knowledge between author, reader, and characters. Point to a place, or a few places, in the reading where the implied author is revealing things to us as readers that the characters themselves do not fully understand.

3. What is/are Nick’s motivation(s) for arranging a meeting between Gatsby and Daisy? Why does this self-professed honest man do something that is clearly going to lead to infidelity?

4. Interpret this passage: “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty.”

5. Many critics believe that Gatsby never loves Daisy and that he merely turns her into a symbol. She is the “green light” of his ambition to become rich, successful, and powerful. In other words, she is the embodiment of his American Dream. What do you think? After finishing Chapter VII, do you believe Gatsby truly loves Daisy? Is she more than a symbol to him? Use examples from the novel in your response.

Thanks. See you on Tuesday.