Your Paper Will Answer and Support One of the Following
English 11, Honors - Critical Research Paper 2016
English 11, 6.0
Topic: Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has been labeled the quintessential novel of the 1920s and the American Dream. The American dream is the promise that with hard work and talent, any law abiding citizen can achieve great wealth and prosperity, and pursue whatever line of work brings him happiness.
Your paper will answer and support one of the following:
1. Often considered the great modern novel of its time period, and the quintessential literary depiction of American life, The Great Gatsby portrays many elements of American society post WWI. Is Fitzgerald writing a love story that embraces American ideals, or a satire that comments on American ideals?
2. By the time you complete chapter the novel you know all about both Jimmy Gatz and Jay Gatsby. What do you think about Jimmy Gatz and Jay Gatsby? Who is the real person?
3. Does Gatsby deserve the title, “The Great…”?
4. While the novel is titled The Great Gatsby, is this really a story about Nick Carraway? It is Nick who moves east, seeking a life far from the “ragged edge of the universe.” It is Nick who moves east “permanently [he] thought in the summer of ’22,” only to return home in the fall. Is Nick the true protagonist?
5. The theme of seeing and not seeing, or variations on blindness, permeates the novel. Eyes are everywhere: Dr. T. J. Eckleburg’s on the billboard, Owl Eyes, a dog “looking with blind eyes through the smoke (41), a man “blinded by the glare of the headlights” (59), and Nick’s comment that the East is “haunted for me . . . distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction,” (185). Analyze the treatment of blindness, and of seeing and not seeing, in the novel.
Your thesis must be arguable. You must prove something. Your thesis must be approved by me before you start writing.
Paper Length: 6-87 pages, works cited, typed, double spaced, default font, normal margins. Do not exceed 7 pages. I will stop reading at the bottom of page 8. Do not enlarge margins, use a larger font, or go beyond default spacing. Points will be deducted for these transgressions. Points will be taken off for papers less than 6 full pages.
Sources:
Primary (The Great Gatsby text) minimum 20 quotations
Secondary (critical articles— minimum 4 sources, minimum 3 quotations per source
NO WEBSITES like Sparknotes,
Shmoop, etc.)
NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. All submissions MUST be hard copy. Be sure to keep an electronic copy for yourself. Failure to hand in the paper by the due date and submit to turnitin.com will result in a failure for the marking period.
Keep all notes, rough drafts, peer edits, and outlines. These materials need to be turned in as requested. IF YOU ARE ABSENT ON THE DUE DATE, YOU MUST ARRANGE TO HAVE SOMEONE DROP OFF THE PAPER TO ME BEFORE 3:00pm in K239. NO EXCEPTIONS. PLAN AHEAD.
Any evidence of plagiarism will result in a zero for the paper. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, failure to correctly cite, and using the work of another person. You forfeit your right to a college recommendation if you plagiarize, in addition to a certain failure for the marking period.