The goal (I believe) of studying literature is to be able to read something closely and offer an original perspective on the meaning of the work. To that end, we will conclude The Great Gatsby by writing an essay. This essay should be A MINIMUM OF 750 words (about 2-3 pages). PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN COPY OF THIS DOCUMENT.
You may choose one of the following topics, or make up one of your own. Each topic has a number of questions to drive your investigation. You do not need to answer each one, or limit yourself to what I have written; they are only to help you get started.
Cars and driving – The 20’s was one of the first eras in which automobiles were in widespread use. Cars figure heavily in the plot of the story, and in dialogue and character development. Trace the use of cars through the book, and examine what role(s) the play. How does the author use cars to show us things about his characters?
THESIS: In his book The Great Gatsby, the author uses cars to demonstrate _________________________ of his characters.
You may use a PDF of the book (this is a pain, but click on the note about it in today’s Schoology folder, and then click three times on that long address, open a new browser and in the address box click CTRL-V) This will take you to the PDF that you can copy and paste from. For each scene, first go to those pages and gather quotes which show why the scene is important. Then, write a paragraph explaining what it shows and why it is important. You are trying to show how terrible these things are. If you were describing them to a friend, what quotes would you show to make these events look as bad as they can be? This will be the outline of your paper. After you complete this, each of these incidents will be a paragraph in your paper. These are the scenes that you will be discussing in your paper:
(p. 58 book, pg. 64 PDF) Nick with Jordan in a car EXAMPLE
Quotation(s):
Example – First, put pg 64 into the box at the top, to take you to page 64 of the PDF.
‘You’re a rotten driver,’ I protested. ‘Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn’t to drive at all.’ ‘I am careful.’ ‘No, you’re not.’ ‘Well, other people are,’ she said lightly. ‘What’s that got to do with it?’ ‘They’ll keep out of my
Paragraph explanation:
This shows how careless wealthy people are because of Jordan’s reaction. She is driving so close to the side of the road
(pg. 53-55 book, pg. 59-61 PDF) the car accident scene near the end of Gatsby’s party
Quotation(s):
Paragraph explanation:
(p. 57 book, pg. 63 PDF ) story about Jordan and a borrowed car
Quotation(s):
Paragraph explanation:
(p. 63-69 book, pg. 73-74 PDF) Nick riding in Gatsby’s car as Gatsby drives.
Quotation(s):
Paragraph explanation:
(p. 77 book, pg. 83 PDF) Shortly after getting married, Tom is in a car accident with a woman, and this made it into the papers.
Quotation(s):
Paragraph explanation:
(very bottom pg. 142-144 book, pg. 153-154 PDF) Gatsby and Nick discussing accident that killed Myrtle
Quotation(s):
Paragraph explanation: