Great Gatsby chapters 1-2
Today’s goals:
1. I can describe at least two or three important physical attributes of each main character.
2. I can describe at least three important attributes to each main characters personality.
3. I can describe the difference in West Egg & East Egg.
4. I can make 2 educated predictions about Gatsby based on what has been said about him.
5. I can describe the symbolism of the colors white, grey, and green as well as the Eckleburg eyes on the billboard.
6. I can make two comparisons between Fitzgerald’s life and those of the characters.
7. I can make at least two comparisons between the events of the novel and events of today.
Directions:
You will be assigned a section(s) to research in your book and/or lead a discussion about with class. You will be given about 15 minutes to investigate your section with a small group. Afterwards, please explain your findings to the class. As classmates, listen carefully to each presentation as you will be responsible for all the goals of the day.
*Hint of the day* If there is a quote used in this activity, you should have at least a section of it annotated in your book.
*2nd hint of the day* When we have a quiz, these goals will be used as a guide for writing the quiz.
1. I can describe at least two or three important physical attributes of each main character.
TOM BUCHANAN
“Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and have him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body – he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body” (7).
Find one more quote about Tom’s physicality:
Describe Tom’s physical attributes with at least three descriptors…
Who do you think would best play Tom in a movie?
DAISY BUCHANAN
“Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget…” (9).
Find one more quote about Daisy’s physicality:
Describe Daisy’s physical attributes with at least three descriptors…
Who do you think would best play Daisy in a movie?
JORDAN BAKER
“She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, discontented face” (11).
Describe Jordan’s physical attributes with at least two descriptors…
Who do you think would best play Jordan in a movie?
GEORGE WILSON
“He was a blonde, spiritless man, anemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us, a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes” (25).
Underline the 2 words that most vividly describe George’s physicality.
Who do you think would best play George in a movie?
MYRTLE WILSON
“She was in her middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediate perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering” (25)
Underline 2 words that most vividly describe Myrtle’s physicality.
Who do you think would best play Myrtle in a movie?
NICK CARAWAY
Why do you think there is so little physical description of Nick? Provide at least 2 reasons.
Who do you think would best play Nick in a movie?
2. I can describe at least three important attributes to each main characters personality.
TOM BUCHANAN
“Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven – a national figure in a way, one of those men who reached such acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax” (6).
“As for Tom, the fact that he “had some woman in New York” was really less surprising than that he had been depressed by a book. Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as id his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his preemptory heart” (20).
“Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (37).
Find one more quote that personifies Tom’s character.
Describe Tom’s personality with at least 3 vivid descriptors.
DAISY BUCHANAN
“I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming” (9).
“She was only extemporizing, but a stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words” (14).
“She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’” (17).
“I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything” (17).
Find one more quote that personifies Daisy’s character.
Describe Daisy’s personality with at least 3 vivid descriptors.
NICK CARRAWAY
“…I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bored” (1).
“…I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart” (2).
“I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler” (4).
Find one more quote that personifies Nick’s character.
Describe Nick’s personality with at least 3 vivid descriptors.
MYRTLE WILSON
“With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur” (30).
“’I married him because I thought he was a gentleman’ she said finally. ‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick m shoe’” (34).
Find one more quote that personifies Myrtle’s character.
Describe Myrtle’s personality with at least 3 vivid descriptors.
3. I can describe the difference in West Egg & East Egg.
Look at pages 4-5. Be sure to include who resides in each and significance of the division.
4. I can make 2 educated predictions about Gatsby based on what has been said about him.
“…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (20-21).
“Well, they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from….I’m scared of him. I’d hate to have him get anything on me” (32).
Make at least 2 predictions about how the plot will progress to include Gatsby based on his description so far.
5. I can describe the symbolism of the colors white, grey, and green as well as the Eckleburg eyes on the billboard.
WHITE
Who was described as wearing white or being in a white room?
What does white symbolize?
How do those characteristics of white match with the person who wears white?
GREEN
Page 21 mentions the color green; predict why Gatsby may have been looking at the green light.
What does the color green symbolize?
Who most personifies what green symbolizes? Why?
GRAY
Page 23 describes the “valley of ashes.” Why was this area so gray? Also look at the description of gray on page 25.
What does gray symbolize?
Who spends most of their time in this gray area?
Why do these people spend their time in the gray area?
ECKLEBURG (page 23-34)
Read the following paragraph…
“An excellent example of symbolism in The Great Gatsby can be found in many places including, the ash heap, Gatsby's silk shirts, the green light, The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, and Gatsby's library. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, "bespectacled" eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes, "But above the grey land and the spasms 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. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose." They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point plainly. Instead, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because characters fill them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and God exists only in George Wilson's grief-stricken mind; Wilson later points to this saying, 'God sees everything' before going on his murderous rampage. The lack of solid meaning contributes to the disturbing nature of the image. And so, the eyes also come to represent the meaninglessness of the world and the uncertainty of people.”
INFORMATION TAKEN FROM:
"Symbols and Symbolism Essay - Role of Symbolism in The Great Gatsby." 123HelpMe.com. 03 Feb 2008
<http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=14602>.
Describe in your own words what Dr. T.J. Eckleberg’s eyes symbolize.
6.I can make two comparisons between Fitzgerald’s life and those of the characters.
Describe at least one way Tom is like F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Describe at least one way Nick is like F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Describe at least one way Daisy is like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda.
7. I can make at least two comparisons between the events of the novel and events of today?
What is going on in today’s media that is similar to the events of the first two chapters of Gatsby? Describe at least 2 events.