Independent Study• Write a one sentence summary for Chapters 5 • Choose a single quotation to sum up each chapter• What can you say about chapters 5 and each of the aspects of narrative?

– Time and Sequence– Characters and Characterisation– Points of View– Voices in texts– Scenes and Places– Destination

• Create a flow diagram (like the one from last lesson) on your given theme:– Aspirations and the American Dream James– Class and status Lauren C– Appearance and reality Ella– Artificiality Lauren M– Idealism v. Realism Jacob– Identity Josh– Perception (sight and insight) Leah– Desire Lauren E– Heroism Lily– Masculinity and femininity Betsy– Honesty and deceit Tamara– Corruption v. Purity Emily

Next week it’s Chapters 7, 8 and 9 so reread please.

Chapter 6

Exploring the Narrative of The Great Gatsby

Learning Objective:How does Fitzgerald tell the story in Chapter 6 and 7 of the Great Gatsby?

Learning Outcome:To explore Fitzgerald’s use of:

• Time and Sequence• Characters and Characterisation• Points of View• Voices in texts• Scenes and Places• Destination

Platonic Conception

• A platonic conception is the most perfect you. What would you be like if you were still you but incredible in every way? How do you imagine yourself to be in your most arrogant and hopeful moments?

Gatsby could be seen as a Religious Figure

‘He was the son of God – a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that – and he must be about his Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty.’Nick links Gatsby directly to God. This statement could be ironic – the ‘Father’ that Nick is referring to could be Dan Cody or Wolfshiem, immoral self-made businessmen who were father figures to Gatsby. Gatsby’s business is the pursuit of wealth.Alternatively, Fitzgerald could have intended to connect Gatsby with Jesus or Adam. There are biblical allusions that develop similarities between Gatsby and Jesus – Jesus became mortal and sacrificed himself for mankind’s sins whereas Gatsby tied himself to Daisy’s mortal “perishable breath” and died because he took the blame for Daisy’s sins. The American Dream of creating a land of opportunity, a perfect world where anything is possible, echoes the nature of the Garden of Eden. A woman is responsible for the downfall of both Adam and Gatsby – Eve and Daisy respectively.

In the novel’s shallow, materialistic and immoral society, religion has been replaced by consumerism, so Gatsby’s wealth and dreams could make him a corrupted Christ-like figure within a corrupted world. However, any allusions to Gatsby as a religious figure are the result of Nick’s narration, and may just reflect Nick’s own moral confusion.

Daisy’s role as a symbol of the American Dream

• Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy can be seen to symbolise the American Dream. The image of him as a lone figure, reaching out for the green light (end of chapter 1) shows him striving for the object of his desires.

• The fact Gatsby strives to win Daisy, who’s shallow, snobbish and fickle, reflects the corruption of the American Dream – it has become focused on the shallow pursuit of wealth.

• Gatsby doesn’t care that breaking up Daisy’s marriage is immoral – he claims it’s “nothing underhand”. The American Dream has become about individual satisfaction, not reaping the rewards of hard work.

• Nick juxtaposes the physical reality of Jordan, “the girl beside me” with the dream image of Daisy’s “disembodied face” to show that the woman Gatsby loves is just a dream. He also associated with the “blinding signs” of New York shops, which symbolises the way Gatsby’s dream of Daisy is tied up with his dream of financial success.

Remember this in Chapter 4:

Past Perfect TenseGatsby’s kiss with Daisy is narrated through Nick’s second person perspective using past perfect tense – Nick’s narrative voice emphasises the fact that Gatsby’s first kiss is something belonging to the nostalgic past.

Past Perfect Tense:The past perfect tense is quite an easy tense to understand and to use. This tense talks about the "past in the past". It is formed with [had + past participle]

Chapter 6

• Write a one sentence summary• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter• What can you say about chapter four and each of

the aspects of narrative?– Time and Sequence– Characters and Characterisation– Points of View– Voices in texts– Scenes and Places– Destination

Independent Study: Reread Nick’s account of Gatsby’s past. Do you think that Gatsby achieved the American Dream? Give examples from the text in your answer.

Chapter 7

Number Crunching the Punctuation

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Total words 6018 4330 5819 5527 4293 4103 8933 4612 5304

Question marks

28 30 34 36 34 24 89 22 30

Exclamation marks

9 10 15 12 9 5 51 4 9

•What do you notice about the use of question marks and exclamation marks across the novel?Which chapters leap out as unusual? What might the number of question marks or exclamation marks suggest about the chapter?

TrimalchioNick declares that Gatsby’s “career as Trimalchio was over” when Gatsby ends his parties. Fitzgerald gives Gatsby a new literary identity as the modern Trimalchio of the American Dream.

Trimalchio:Trimalchio is a character who is a former slave who has made a fortune through hard work and gained a degree of power. He’s famous for holding lavish parties, but the glamour of his exotic feasts is undermined by the fact that he’s vulgar and his display of wealth is garish.Trimalchio’s story ends with his guests acting out his funeral for his own entertainment, so Nick’s mention of Trimalchio could be seen as foreshadowing Gatsby’s death.

Chapter 7

• Write a one sentence summary• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter• What can you say about chapter four and each of

the aspects of narrative?– Time and Sequence– Characters and Characterisation– Points of View– Voices in texts– Scenes and Places– Destination

Jan 2012

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott FitzgeraldWrite about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 2. (21 marks)

ANDHow do you respond to the view that it is very difficult for readers to feel anything other than contempt for Tom Buchanan? (21 marks)

Spend one hour on this section

How do you respond to the view that it is very difficult for readers to feel anything other than contempt for Tom

Buchanan? Possible content: Some will agree and focus on • Tom as the antagonist to Gatsby • Tom as a bully and brute • Tom as arrogant • Tom as a racist • Tom as adulterer • Tom’s attitude to women • Tom’s language • the behaviour of Tom at the end of the novel/ his

collusion with Daisy • Tom’s dismissal of Wilson • Tom’s snobbery • Tom’s role as villain in the tragedy, etc.

Some will disagree and focus on • Tom as a victim of the world of the 1920s • Tom’s sadness at Myrtle’s death • Tom’s discovery of his wife’s affair • Tom’s own purposelessness, etc.

Some will challenge the word ‘contempt’. • Some will see Nick’s bias in the presentation of Tom. • Some will see Tom as a representation of a type. • Credit needs to be given for any relevant argument.

Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 2.

Authorial methods need to be related to the story being told in this chapter.

Possible content: • narrative perspective/voices: first person narrator,

self-conscious story teller and author, significance of Nick’s reconstruction of drunkenness, use of voices of Tom, Wilson, Myrtle, the McKees, Catherine, etc.

• setting: Valley of the Ashes, New York, Tom’s apartment, Pennsylvania Station/ early 20th century, one afternoon and evening, etc.

• 20th century tragedy, a novel about writing a novel, a love story, etc.

• linear chronology in this chapter but with a sense that the story is being told retrospectively begins with the description of the Valley of the Ashes, moves to the train journey to New York and the party at Tom’s apartment, ends with Nick on the station, etc.

• poetic prose, descriptive detail, sensual description, use of dramatic dialogue, descriptive writing, surreal description of drunkenness, references to newspapers and other texts, colloquial language, time references, use of names, language of altercation, use of ellipsis, etc.

Chapter 9

At the beginning Nick is...

At the end Nick is...

1. Judgemental – he becomes increasingly judgemental as the plot continues and finally condemns Tom and Daisy as “careless people” who “smash things up”.

2. Careless – Jordan accuses Nick of being a “bad driver” – she thinks he’s guilty of carelessness, the very thing he accuses Tom and Daisy of.

3. Morally ambiguous – he helps Gatsby to have an affair with Daisy.

4. Disillusioned – he wants to move back to the traditional West. He realises that it’s hopeless to try and escape the past.

The Ending of the Novel

1. Read the two extracts from Chapter 9 and discuss your initial thoughts about the ending of the novel. Think about:– Your view of what Fitzgerald was trying to achieve in

ending the novel in this way.– What view of Nick emerges at the end of the novel and

whether he seems to have developed through his experiences.

– What major themes are signalled and the way in which Fitzgerald achieves this.

– Whether the ending provides satisfactory closure for the reader.

– The mood of the ending and the style in which it is written.

The Ending of the Novel

2. Look at the critical extract, choose 1 and follow the prompts below to help you decide what impact the criticism makes on your own initial interpretation of the ending:– Does it give you any fresh knowledge/ information

that’s useful in reading the ending of the novel?– Does it confirm your interpretation of the ending?– Does it add to or develop your interpretation of the

ending?– Does it challenge your interpretation of the ending?

Chapter 8 and 9

• Write a one sentence summary• Choose a single quotation to sum up the chapter• What can you say about chapters 8 and 9 and

each of the aspects of narrative?– Time and Sequence– Characters and Characterisation– Points of View– Voices in texts– Scenes and Places– Destination