The Great Gatsby

Every one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Great Gatsby. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.

1. 1

   Early in the book

   In what book do enormous blue eyes behind yellow spectacles loom over a wasteland from a faded billboard?

   ✓ Answer

   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are painted on a faded oculist's billboard above the valley of ashes. They become a haunting symbol of a watchful, almost godlike presence over a morally bankrupt world.

2. 2

   First half

   In what book does a woman claim that it takes two to make an accident, defending her own reckless driving?

   ✓ Answer

   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Jordan defends her reckless driving by saying she relies on other people being careful. The exchange foreshadows the careless behavior that defines the novel's wealthy characters and ends in tragedy.

3. 3

   First half

   In what book does a drunken bride sob over a letter and try to call off her wedding?

   ✓ Answer

   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Jordan recalls finding Daisy drunk and weeping the night before her wedding to Tom Buchanan. The letter Daisy clutches, which dissolves in her bath, hints at her unresolved feelings for the soldier she had once loved.

4. 4

   Second half

   In what book does a poor boy on Lake Superior become someone new in a torn green jersey?

   ✓ Answer

   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   This is the moment James Gatz becomes Jay Gatsby. Nick narrates the origin story in chapter 6 to dispel the rumors swirling around his neighbor's past.

5. 5

   Second half

   In what book does a wealthy host fire every servant to keep his afternoon visits private?

   ✓ Answer

   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Gatsby replaces all the staff with people supplied by Wolfshiem because Daisy has been visiting in the afternoons and he wants no gossip. The grocery boy reports the kitchen looks like a pigsty.

6. 6

   Near the end

   In what book does a wedding march drift up from a ballroom while a marriage breaks apart upstairs?

   ✓ Answer

   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Mendelssohn's Wedding March from a wedding below the suite serves as ironic background music while Tom and Gatsby fight over Daisy at the Plaza Hotel.