1.

About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight. But above the grey land and the spasm of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high … his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passenger on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. There is always a halt there of at least a minute and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress.

Which of the following BEST describes the mood of this excerpt?
a. Serious and somber
b. Frightening and mysterious
c. Dreary and depressing
d. Transcendent and obscure

2.
Which of the following BEST describe the purpose of Fitzgerald’s inclusion of the last two sentences in the excerpt on the previous page (detailing the drawbridge and the fact that the train always must stop there)?
a. These details highlight the carelessness of society during the Roaring 20s.
b. These details demonstrate Nick’s attitude toward this new society, because he does not want to meet Tom’s mistress Myrtle.
c. These details serve as foreshadowing for Nick’s first mysterious meeting with his neighbor Gatsby at the party he attends later on.
d. These details emphasize the contrast between the glamour of Long Island/NYC and the poverty of the Valley of Ashes because the train stop is a reminder of the lower class.

1. The excerpt is overwhelmingly dreary as everything is described in tones of grey and as a derivative of ashes. The only touch of color mentioned in the passage are the eyes of the doctor.

The mood is very depressing as even the smallest tasks are describes as arduous labors. Words that contribute to the bleak and dreary landscape are: ash-grey, desolate, grotesque, crumbling, ghastly, leaden, impenetrable cloud, obscure, and bleak.

2. The train stopping at the drawbridge is almost like an unwanted interruption in the lives of the rich and famous who live in the lap of luxury and have enough money to travel in the fastest and most expensive transportation at the time.

The stop in the Valley of Ashes is described almost sarcastically as if the passengers in the train would have desired to take in the bleak and somber landscape of the dark and filthy valley laden with ash and industry.