1. Starter
Which two men are introduced in chapter one and how are they juxtaposed?
Chapter One

2. Gatsby: Basic questions for Chapter One
1. What year is it?
2. Who narrates this chapter?
3. Where has the narrator moved from and to?
4. Where did the narrator study?
5. What relation is Daisy to the narrator?
6. How does the narrator (loosely) know Tom?
7. Who is Daisy’s friend and what is her occupation?
8. Tom makes repeated references to a book. What would a modern reader find controversial about this book?
9. Who calls Tom during dinner?
10. How does the chapter end?

3. Answers 1. What year is it? 1924 reflecting on events in 1922
2. Who narrates this chapter? Nick Carraway
3. Where has the narrator moved from and to? Mid-West to the East; to West Egg, Long Island, New York
4. Where did the narrator study? New Haven (graduated in 1915) Yale
5. What relation is Daisy to the narrator? Second cousin once removed
6. How does the narrator (loosely) know Tom? Knew him in college
7. Who is Daisy’s friend and what is her occupation? Sportswoman / tennis player
8. Tom makes repeated references to a book. What would a modern reader find controversial about this book? The Rise of the Coloured Empires ‘the white race will be utterly submerged’
9. Who calls Tom during dinner? ‘ some woman in New York’ his mistress
10. How does the chapter end? He spots Gatsby for the first time with his arms outstretched

4. Gatsby questions: Basic questions for Chapter 2. Next lesson’s test
1. What is the name of the area between New York City and West Egg that Nick and Tom visit?
2. What is unusual about the landscape?
3. Who boards a train to New York and where do they sit?
4. What does Myrtle buy when shopping in New York?
5. What type of magazines does Myrtle buy?
7. How is the apartment furnished?
8. How is Myrtle physically described in the chapter?
9. What occupation does Mckee enjoy?
10. What does Tom do to Myrtle towards the end of the chapter?

5. The epigraph
How does this present Gatsby? What tone does it strike? Epigraphs are framing devices that shape a reader’s approach to the fiction that follows – what is Fitzgerald’s intention for this epigraph? What difference does it make that the epigraph derives from another piece of fiction written by Fitzgerald, rather than another writer or person who exists?

6. Introduction to Gatsby – 7 quotes
Paragraph 4
Nick reflects on his sensitivity and optimism
Nick shows approval for Gatsby
Nick identifies negative forces responsible for his demise
At the end of the chapter(final three paragraphs) , we see Gatsby’s idealism and emotional sensitivity through description of his first appearance in the novel
4 mini-quotes

7. In contrast to Gatsby, Tom is introduced in chapter one p.6 (9 quotes)
Find quotes for the following five details:
Lives in fashionable East Egg
Successful sportsman
Old money / inherited wealth
Showy with his affluence
Windows of the mansion
Read “He had changed….’ until ‘hated his guts’. How is Tom presented? How does this prepare us for his characterisation as a self-entitled, manipulative, cruel serial adulterer? Select 3 mini-quotes.
Challenge – what is wrong with Daisy’s finger in chapter one? What other ‘accidents’ take place in the novel?

8. A02 prose features (be mindful of how TGG compares with the poetic form)
Nick claims to be invisible but is an unreliable, intrusive narrator colouring events through hindsight – retrospective 1st person narrative perspective
Fitzgerald moves to direct speech to present the meeting with Daisy and Tom as a narrative strategy so it is not entirely introspective and through Nick’s voice. This affords it more immediacy and objectivity
Other voices assist plot/ characterisation – Jordan/Tom/Daisy – there is a ‘cast’ to present ideas about love
Foreshadowing / establishing theme – D&J struggle to make plans (Jordan yawning) - the purposeless lives of the rich who merely ‘drift’. Their conversation is inconsequential ‘without desire’. They are deadened by wealth resulting in their ‘impersonal eyes’

9. Home learning – due next lesson
1. Re-read chapter 2
2. Make concise notes on the following:
Fitzgerald uses the setting ‘Valley of the Ashes’ conveying a sense of desolation. How may this feeling of desolation link to a) World War One b) materialistic, consumerist values of 1920s . Do some A03 research – make concise notes and try to link this to the novel.
What was the Prohibition act – what does this have to do with Gatsby?