Consequence Chains

This analytical worksheet is designed for Grades 9-12 and helps students examine how key character decisions in The Great Gatsby drive the novel’s rising tension and tragic outcomes. Students trace a chain of events by identifying a character’s choice, its immediate consequence, and a later result, encouraging them to see the novel as an interconnected sequence of cause and effect rather than isolated moments. The activity strengthens close reading, plot analysis, and analytical writing while deepening understanding of Fitzgerald’s narrative structure.

Learning Goals

• Literary Cause-and-Effect Analysis – Trace how individual decisions lead to short-term and long-term consequences
• Plot Development – Understand how Fitzgerald builds tension through linked actions and outcomes
• Character Motivation – Analyze why characters make choices and how those choices reflect desire, fear, or moral conflict
• Analytical Writing – Explain multi-step reasoning clearly using evidence from the text

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Aligned with secondary ELA standards for analysis and reasoning
• Structured Thinking Tool – Clear cause → effect → outcome format supports deeper comprehension
• Encourages Systems Thinking – Helps students recognize patterns and inevitability in the novel’s tragedy
• Discussion-Ready – Works well for independent work, small groups, or whole-class analysis
• Flexible Use – Ideal for novel units, review days, formative assessment, or essay preparation
• Low Prep – Print-and-use worksheet with organized response space

This consequence chain worksheet helps students move beyond surface-level plot recall to understand how Fitzgerald carefully links character choices to unavoidable outcomes. By mapping these chains, learners strengthen their ability to analyze narrative structure, motivation, and theme-skills essential for advanced literary study. Whether used as a skill-building exercise or a bridge to analytical writing, this worksheet supports deeper, more connected thinking about The Great Gatsby.

This worksheet is part of our Great Gatsby Worksheets collection.