The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Chapter 6

2. Exploring themes • In your envelope, you each have a collection of quotations from chapter 6 of the novel • Your task is to decide on four headings which represent themes from the novel into which these quotations will fit • Divide an A3 sheet into quarters; label each quarter with one of the themes you have chosen and stick the appropriate quotation under the appropriate heading • You should then annotate your sheet with explanations and analysis of the quotations

3. Chapter 6 could be seen as a pivotal episode in the novel ... • We finally learn some truths about Gatsby’s past • Tom finally becomes aware of Gatsby • Daisy finally comes to one of Gatsby’s parties • We finally learn exactly what Gatsby’s plans are for the future (“to fix everything just the way it was before”) • In chapter 7 the parties stop; the Tom/Daisy/ Gatsby triangle comes out into the open – and Myrtle Wilson dies.

4. Questions to ponder ... • What happens in chapter 6 to make Gatsby stop hosting the parties? • Why do you think Fitzgerald reveals what he does of Gatsby’s past at this stage of the story? (Nick himself only learnt these things the night before Gatsby’s death (p. 154) so he is giving the reader information he himself did not at this time have) • What impression have we formed of Tom, Daisy and Gatsby by this stage of the novel?

5. For our next lesson • Please read over chapter 7 before our next lesson • It’s a long chapter and you need to have a good grasp of what happens in it!