- give a recount of the events in the opening chapter
In the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, we meet four main characters, these are Nick – the narrator, Daisy Buchanan – Nick’s second cousin once removed, Tom Buchanan – Daisy’s husband and former football player at New Haven(yale) and Miss(Jordan) Baker – a family friend of the Buchanans. Nick is in the early stages of being a bondsman and recently moved to West egg, Long Island of New York State, living in a small house next to a mansion belonging to a mysterious man named Gatsby. Nick goes to dinner with his extended family, the Buchanans who live on the East Egg and it is there he meets Miss Barker, a young lady who knows of his neighbour Gatsby who he has not yet meet. that night he finds out about Tom and his affair which Daisy too knows and of the Buchanan’s daughter who is spoken about as if she is an item rather than a person.
2.Make a list of at least 5 words used to characterize Daisy, Tom and Jordan Baker. Explain what impression these words helped you form.
Tom Buchanan: sturdy, supercilious, arrogant, dominant, gruff. These words that describe Tom make me think of him to be a well built man who likes to think of himself as someone who possesses power over others.
Daisy Buchanan: conscientious, charming, thrilling voice, sad face(expression), gay (happy). Daisy seems to be a light minded and light hearted woman but, underneath all of the happiness she is sad and this is indicated by the expression she showed on her face.
Jordan Baker: chin raised, motionless, self-sufficiency, charming, rapid movements. The impression I get from Miss Baker is that she was brought up to be very proper and reserved and that she likes the thought of being an independant woman.
3.Explain your first impression of Nick. Do you think he will be a reliable narrator? Justify your answer with evidence from the text.
My first impression of Nick, the narrator, is; he seems to be a very indecisive character for example, when he describes a certain character to the reader he will use a set of words that totally contradict each other which can be confusing to get a good idea of what the person really is like. He also likes to talk about the characteristics when describing something/one, rather than telling the reader the basics of what they look like and what their different features are etc.I thought that Nick would be a good narrator because he said “I’m inclined to reserve all judgments.” but after reading through chapter one it became quite clear that Nick was giving us his opinion on
