The Great Gatsby, Chapter 9 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Nick discover when he calls Daisy after Gatsby's death?

   • Correct answer: She and Tom have left without a forwarding address
   • She promises to telegraph Nick before noon
   • She is sending flowers and a message to the funeral
   • She has locked herself in and refuses to answer the telephone

   When Nick calls Daisy, the servants tell him that she and Tom left that afternoon with their baggage, left no address, and gave no indication of when they would return.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why does Klipspringer call Nick?

   • To invite Nick to join a picnic in Greenwich instead
   • Correct answer: To retrieve a pair of tennis shoes he left behind
   • To express his condolences privately
   • To confirm the arrangements for the funeral

   Klipspringer calls not to mourn Gatsby but to ask Nick to have the butler send him a pair of tennis shoes he left at the house. He declines to attend the funeral, claiming he has a picnic. Nick hangs up on him.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Henry C. Gatz show Nick from Gatsby's childhood?

   • The yachting outfit Dan Cody bought him in Duluth
   • A photograph of young Jimmy Gatz
   • Correct answer: A copy of Hopalong Cassidy with a self-improvement schedule
   • A diploma from St. Olaf, the small Lutheran college

   Mr. Gatz produces a ragged copy of Hopalong Cassidy containing a handwritten daily schedule and list of "General Resolves" dated September 12th, 1906, revealing the young Jimmy Gatz's earnest drive for self-improvement.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What reason does Meyer Wolfshiem give for refusing to attend the funeral?

   • He claims he never knew Gatsby well
   • He claims to be traveling out of the country
   • He says the funeral should wait for Gatsby's father to come
   • Correct answer: His rule is to never get involved when someone is killed

   Wolfshiem tells Nick, "When a man gets killed I never like to get mixed up in it in any way. I keep out." He suggests they should show friendship to the living, not the dead, and his rule is to "let everything alone."

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Tom Buchanan admit to Nick during their encounter on Fifth Avenue?

   • Correct answer: That he told Wilson it was Gatsby's car that killed Myrtle
   • That he had always known Daisy was the driver
   • That he felt guilty about Gatsby's death
   • That he was buying Daisy a new pearl necklace

   Tom admits he told Wilson that Gatsby owned the car, effectively directing Wilson to murder Gatsby. Tom justifies himself by claiming Wilson was armed and threatening, and that Gatsby "had it coming."

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6. 6

   Question 6. Which former party guest attends Gatsby's funeral?

   • Klipspringer
   • Jordan Baker
   • Correct answer: Owl Eyes
   • Meyer Wolfshiem

   Owl Eyes, the bespectacled man who once marveled at Gatsby's library, is the only former party guest to attend the funeral. He arrives late, splashing through the rain, and remarks, "The poor son-of-a-bitch."

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Nick conclude this story has really been about?

   • A love story about Gatsby's five-year dream of winning Daisy
   • Correct answer: A story of the West—Westerners unadaptable to Eastern life
   • A detective story about Gatsby's criminal empire
   • A comedy of manners about the upper class

   Nick reflects that all the main characters—Tom, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and himself—were Westerners who "possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life." He declares, "I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Nick do on his last visit to Gatsby's abandoned house?

   • He switches on every light, as Gatsby once did
   • He mows Gatsby's overgrown lawn himself
   • He removes a library volume as a keepsake
   • Correct answer: He erases an obscene word scrawled on the white steps

   On the moonlit white steps, Nick finds an obscene word written by some boy with a piece of brick. He erases it by scraping his shoe along the stone—a small, protective gesture of loyalty to Gatsby's memory.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • True or False: Daisy sends flowers or a message for Gatsby's funeral.

     Didn't happen

     Nick specifically notes that "Daisy hadn't sent a message or a flower." She and Tom disappear completely after Gatsby's death, never acknowledging it.

   • True or False: Owl Eyes says "The poor son-of-a-bitch" at Gatsby's graveside.

     Happened

     After the burial, as the small group staggers through the rain to their cars, Owl Eyes speaks to Nick by the gate and delivers this epitaph—one of the most memorable lines in the chapter.

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10. 10

    Question 10. In Chapter 9, Nick fears the story will be reported as a "racy pasquinade." What does "pasquinade" mean?

    • Correct answer: A satirical lampoon
    • A brief news article
    • A legal proceeding
    • A serious investigation

    A pasquinade is a satirical piece of writing meant to mock or ridicule. Nick worries the press will turn Wilson's jealousy and Myrtle's affair into sensationalized satire.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "commensurate" mean in the phrase "something commensurate to his capacity for wonder"?

    • Diminished by
    • Inferior to
    • Correct answer: Proportionate to
    • Held in memory of

    Commensurate means corresponding in size or degree. Fitzgerald describes the Dutch sailors encountering a landscape vast enough to match their ability to feel awe—a sight proportionate to the human capacity for wonder.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Mr. Gatz arrives wearing a "long cheap ulster." What is an ulster?

    • A knitted scarf
    • A leather vest
    • A type of hat
    • Correct answer: A long overcoat

    An ulster is a long, loose overcoat, originally from Northern Ireland, typically made of rough cloth. Its cheapness underscores Henry Gatz's humble origins—a contrast to his son's mansion.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What is the final line of The Great Gatsby?

    • "And one fine morning—"
    • Correct answer: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
    • "The poor son-of-a-bitch."
    • "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us."

    This famous closing line compares human striving to rowing against a current that pushes us backward. It encapsulates the novel's central tension between the desire for the future and the inescapable pull of the past.

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