Evaluation of the Great Gatsby

Karishma Nayak January 3, 2012 Ms. Giorgio AP English The Great Gatsby Winter Break Assignment Chapter 5 1) Gatsby’s actions in preparing for Daisy’s arrival seem both flamboyant and absurd. What does he do? Why? * Gatsby prepares for Daisy’s arrival by sending a man to mow Nick’s lawn, buys an innumerable amount of flowers, gets twelve lemon cakes and Gatsby himself arrives in a “white flannel suit, sliver shirt, and gold-colored tie.” Gatsby does all of this in order to impress Daisy, after not seeing her for five years; he wants to show her that he is able to offer Daisy more than ever before and more than her husband Tom every could. 2) Discuss Gatsby’s actions once Daisy arrives. How do we know he is nervous? How does he try to impress her? * Once Daisy arrives, Gatsby is nervous, shy and terrified. Initially Gatsby believes this whole idea to be terribly but Nick convinces him otherwise and to stop acting like a child. We know he is nervous since Gatsby while at the door was “pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets” and when he says to Nick “This is a terrible mistake.” Eventually, as the chapter progresses, Gatsby becomes confident and no longer nervous. Gatsby tries impressing Daisy by giving Daisy a tour of his house, taking her into “the Mertons College Library”, “through the period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers” and also shows Daisy his beautiful shirts he has sent to him from a man in England. Gatsby also has Mr. Klipspringer play the piano for them as they sit on the couch. 3) Toward the end of the chapter, Nick attempts to explain “the expression of bewilderment that had come back into Gatsby’s face.” What explanation does Nick give? Why, in his opinion is Daisy not at fault? * Nick says the reason for this “expression of bewilderment” that has come back to