RE: The Great Gatsby Questions (Chapter 2)

  1. What do you find is the most crucial in the plot in Chapter 2?
  2. How does Nick meet Tom’s mistress?
  3. How does Myrtle react to Tom’s arrival?
  4. Describe George Wilson. How does he react to Tom’s arrival?
  5. Describe the setting of the valley of the ashes where George and Myrtle live. What aspects of the valley of the ashes are symbolic, and what do they symbolize? Use a quotation from the text to justify your answer.
  6. Why does Tom attack Myrtle at the end of the party?
Add Comment
5 Answers

5. “This is a Valley of Ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.”

The Valley of Ashes is a trash dump. The rotting valley represents the rotting American dream.

Answered on 21.06.2017.
Add Comment

Your Answer

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.