______, reinvented.
The Great Gatsby Language A
Situation: In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s story is revealed to us by a narrator, Nick, who is both fascinated and disillusioned by him. As Nick learns the “truth” about the great Gatsby, he struggles with what to believe about his past because it is wrought with inconsistencies and mystery. Consider the following passage (a commentary by Nick) which occurs about half way through the novel:
“I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people—his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a 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. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (104).
How do you think Nick feels about Gatsby?
What information about Gatsby is revealed to us?
What does Nick mean by “his Platonic conception of himself”? Note: Platonic “love” refers to the idea of creating a union with beautiful, lofty ideals.
What do you think is suggested in its context by the Biblical allusion “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (King James version, Luke 2:49)
Your Task: Imagine you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself—maybe you are going away to college or you have moved to another state or country. You are leaving behind everything and everyone you know and are venturing out alone. For whatever reason, you are choosing to take on a new persona, one that you must create for yourself before your arrival in this new place and life. In a well-developed response of 500-1000 words, recreate yourself on the page (30 points). Consider the following points as you develop the new version of you:
Ø What reason(s) (besides this assignment!) would you have for reinventing yourself?
Ø What persona would you wish to take on if given the opportunity? Persona, in this case, means an identity or role that you take on for yourself in public.
Ø What personality or character attributes would your new persona assume or take on and why? How would you portray or practice these in public?
Ø What aspects, experiences, mistakes, etc. of your life would you leave behind or forget and why?
Ø How would you portray your past if you could create a new one? What would your family be like? Your educational background? Your interests, experiences? Your relationships? What might you keep the same? Why?
Ø What are you most proud of for yourself? Ashamed?
Ø Consider your regrets. Would you erase them if you could or would you prefer to act on what you’ve learned from them? How would you?
Ø What “new” responses from people or “new” experiences do you wish to gain from the new you?
Ø Where would the new you go and why?
Ø What would you pursue in terms of education, experience, career choices, relationships, etc.
Ø Look again at the passage about Jay Gatsby. As you consider your new life, what reasons can you come up with for why someone would want to reinvent themselves and “remain faithful” to their “conception?”