At the beginning, Nick explains his father’s attitude toward judging the morals of others, which specifically suggests that immoral acts are committed by those with fewer social advantages. By the end of the novel, he has become so disgusted with the East Coast world he’s inhabited that he returns to the Midwest. Do you think his attitude toward moral judgment has changed? Or does he retain the same class-based system of judgment that he began with?

Discuss the tension between realism and fairy tale in this novel. Do you consider this novel realistic? Why, or why not? In what ways does the novel fit the genre of fairy tale? In what ways does it depart?

What is the significance of the valley of ashes? How does the divide between the valley and East and West Egg reflect broader socioeconomic divides in the United States, both in the 1920s and today?