DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Tom and Daisy move away during Chapter 9, leaving no trace of where they had gone or if they’d ever return, having “left no address” and not saying “when they’d be back.” Why do you think they chose to entirely restart their lives? What do you think they are doing now after the book has ended?

Had Gatsby been alerted to George Wilson’s presence, do you think he could have survived? Write out how you think the interaction could have gone differently if Gatsby were to talk with Wilson instead of being shot.

Were Daisy to have picked up the phone, how do you think the conversation would have gone? Why? Write a 10-line dialogue between Jay and Daisy, and include what you think would have happened.

As Nick Carraway notes, “nobody came” to Gatsby’s funeral. Given, Gatsby’s large social circle, one could assume that he would have at least some close friends, but it appears as though none of them were close to him at all. Why is it that Gatsby was unable to form friendships close enough for people to come to his funeral?

Nick notes that one of the only attendants of the funeral was Gatsby’s father. He was described as a “solemn man, very helpless and dismayed,” and seemed to be the only one who truly cared for the death of Gatsby. Why do you think that we don’t hear much about Gatsby’s family during the rest of the book.