Study and Discussion

1. Divide the extract into logically complete parts and give a title to each.

2. Speak on the main idea of the text. What did the author want to tell the reader by the extract?

3. Identify the tone of the passage. Which words does the author use to provide us with clues as to what his tone is?

4. Explain why most guests did not need an invitation to the party? What sort of people were attracted by the party? What layers of society did they represent? Dwell upon their behavior.

5. What was the main hero’s mood at the party? Find some words or phrases in the text to prove your statement.

6. What sort of rumors about Gatsby were in circulation among the guests? Express your opinion concerning Gatsby’s remaining a mysterious person. Do you think it was on purpose or because of his guests’ ignorance? Try to make a portrayal of Gatsby according to what you have read about him and his “little party”.

Exercises and Assignments

I. What stylistic means contribute to the description of the party atmosphere? Comment on all of the lexical means used to convey continuous moving of people, objects, and colors.

II. Comment on the atmosphere created by the following similes in the beginning of the extract.

1. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.

2. …his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.

III. Identify the part of the extract where a developed metaphor is to be found. What is the stylistic effect of it?

IV. Look for epithets which add to showing people’s attitude towards each other and the event. Say how they contribute to the tone of the text.

V. What additional connotation does the word yellow acquire in the combination the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music? What is the yellow color associated with?

VI. Identify the types of antonomasia and metonymy used in the text and comment on their role.

VII. Pick out examples of direct and indirect ways of color designation. Identify their artistic function.

VIII. Speak on the stylistic peculiarities of the language of the text. Can any examples of bookish and colloquial vocabulary be found?

IX. Pick out the terms used in the text and classify them into thematic groups.

X. Study the cultural background of the text. For what purpose does the author mention Castile, Gilda Grey and the Follies, Belasco, Frisco?

XI. What is the stylistic function of the conjunction and in the fourth paragraph? Pick out all examples of polysyndeton and consider the effect they produce.

XII. Analyze all of the types of present tense (Present Simple, Present Perfect, Present Progressive) in the paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and identify their stylistic functions.

XIII. Find expressive verbs suggesting movement and explain how they contribute to the description of the party.

XIV. Explain the transformations in the translation of the proper names.

1) …shawls beyond the dreams of Castile – шали, какие не снились даже кастильским сеньоритам.

2) …two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound – две его моторки режут водную гладь пролива Лонг-Айленд.

3) Suddenly one of these gypsies in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage, and moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas platform. – Но вдруг одна такая цыганская душа, вся в волнах чего-то опалового, для храбрости залпом выпив выхваченный прямо из воздуха коктейль, выбежит на брезентовую площадку и закружится в танце без партнеров.

XV. Translate the following set expressions. Supply the context for these expressions from the text:

at high tide, in full swing, ill at ease, in the vicinity, do stunts, on the spot.

XVI. Give equivalents for the following loanwords and say from which language they were borrowed. Comment on their function in the context:

hors-d’oeuvre, bona fide, chauffeur, oboe, innuendo, contralto, tenor.

XVII. Paraphrase the following sentences from the text.

1. A momentary hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and there is a burst of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray’s understudy from the Follies.

2. I was immediately struck by the number of young Englishmen dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry and all talking in low, earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans.

3. They were, at least, agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.

4. Instead of rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside – East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety.

XVIII. Match each name of a musical instrument in the first column with a suitable definition from the second column.

1) piccolo	a) a stringed musical instrument with a long neck and a round open-backed body consisting of parchment stretched over a metal hoop like a tambourine, played by plucking or with a plectrum
2) oboe	b) a small flute sounding an octave higher than the ordinary one
3) banjo	c) a woodwind instrument with a slender, tubular body, played with a double-reed mouthpiece
4) traps	d) a brass instrument similar to the trumpet in pitch and construction but more compact and with a deeper mouthpiece
5) viol	e) percussion instruments, such as snare drums and cymbals, especially in a jazz band
6) cornet	f) a large brass instrument consisting of a long tube bent parallel to itself twice and ending in a bell mouth
7) trombone	g) any of an early family of stringed instruments played with a curved bow, characterized generally by six strings, frets, a flat back, and sound holes

XIX. Match each word from the first column with a synonym from the second column. Make up sentences of your own with a few of them. Comment on the difference in the shade of meaning, or in coloring.

1) harlequin	a) garish
2) prodigality	b) naivety
3) swirl	c) headscarf
4) cordial	d) real
5) bona fide	e) lurk
6) scamper	f) liqueur
7) gaudy	g) funny
8) permeate	h) run
9) swell	i) eddy
10) shawl	j) increase
11) simplicity	k) wastefulness
12) slink	l) penetrate

XX. Trace an etymology of the following nouns and give their translation of Russian origin:

buffet, salon, shawl, triumph.

XXI. Fill in the gaps choosing a suitable word or word combination from the synonymic row. Change the grammatical form of a word if necessary.

Amplify, expand, inflate, swell

1. The author follows Vulgate narrative closely but _________ and embroiders (Saintsbury). 2. …Caesar’s ambition, which _________ so much that it did almost stretched the sides of the world (Shakespeare). 3. Poems so _________ with metaphor, that they may be compared to the gaudy bubbles blown up from a solution of soap (Goldsmith). 4. Metals _________ when they are heated.

Overdo it, drive oneself too hard, work one’s fingers to the bone, toil

1. A gang of cleaners with mops and brushes _________ all day to make the place look habitable again. 2. I’ve _________ all these years, but don’t seem to be any better off for it. 3. The President’s advisers are worried that he might have been _________ lately. 4. It’s no wonder she had a nervous breakdown – she’s been _________ for months.

Antics, behavior, conduct, manner

1. Comparative studies on dog and wolf _________ and anatomy have shown that dog physiology and most dog _________ are comparable to those of young wolves. 2. The Queen is said to disapprove of _________ of some of the younger members of the Royal family. 3. The Medical Committee found the doctor guilty of unethical _________ of three of his patients. 4. I thought his _________ was a little unfriendly.