Tom & Daisy's Home
The specific body of water that separates East Egg from West Egg.
What is the bay/Long Island Sound?
The real-life author and book that Fitzgerald thinly veiled with the reference to "The Rise of the Colored Empires" by "Goddard."
Who is Lothrop Stoddard and his book The Rising Tide of Color?
Nick identifies this specific, physical quality of Daisy's voice as being both "low" and "thrilling."
What is money (or full of money)?
The two items Nick sees at the end of the chapter that Gatsby is reaching toward in the darkness.
What are the dark water and the green light?
Nick claims he is "inclined to reserve all" of these.
What are judgments?
The feeling or condition that Nick observes affects Tom, Daisy, and himself, causing them to "drift" and move frequently.
What is restlessness?
Tom claims the "rise" of these two specific "empires" is a threat to the white race.
What are the yellow and white empires?
The emotion Daisy feels immediately after waking up from the ether after giving birth, due to Tom's absence.
What is an "utterly abandoned feeling?"
The specific time of day when Nick glimpses Gatsby for the first time.
What is dusk/evening/night?
The specific region of the U.S. that Nick and his family originate from.
What is the Midwest?
During the house tour, Tom reveals his masculinity through this physical act towards Nick.
What is grabbing/seizing Nick's arm?
Tom's tone when discussing the "Nordic race" suggests he feels this way about his own social position.
What is superior or entitled (or dominant/threatened)?
The profession of the person who delivers Daisy's child and is asked, "was it a boy or a girl?"
Who is the nurse?
The three descriptive words used in the text (often related to ghosts or concealment) that Nick associates with Gatsby's initial appearance and departure.
What are figure, shadow, and vanish?
The specific type of business Nick moves to West Egg to learn.
What is the bond business (or bonds)?
The room where Nick first finds Daisy, characterized by a white, rippling effect caused by the breeze and the curtains.
What is the living room/drawing-room?
Daisy's primary reaction to Tom's discussion of the "colored empires," showing she does not engage with his ideas.
What is a change of subject or indifference?
Daisy hopes her daughter will be one of these, stating it is the "best thing a girl can be in this world."
What is a beautiful little fool?
The major historical event Nick returns home from that contributes to his feeling of "restlessness" before moving East.
What is World War I?
Nick makes his living selling this financial instrument in New York.
What are bonds/securities?
Tom's act of shutting the windows reveals a difference in personality, contrasting his desire for order and control with Daisy's desire for this.
What is soft, aimless freedom (or chaos/flux)?
This 1924 U.S. law, restricting immigration, was passed partly due to the xenophobic sentiments Tom's book helped popularize.
What is the Immigration Act of 1924?
What literary device is most evident in Nick's struggle to describe the "insincere" but charming quality of Daisy's voice?
What is imagery or figurative language (or simile/metaphor)?
The central idea or ideal that Fitzgerald is reflecting upon through the repetition of the word "promise" in relation to Gatsby and Daisy.
What is the American Dream?
The term for the literary element where a narrator's knowledge, bias, or background influences how a story is told (Nick's "inclined to reserve all judgments" refers to this).
What is narrative perspective (or reliability/bias)?