Complete the activity
for each chapter. Each is worth 10 pts.
Chapter 1:
In
Chapter I, the five principle characters of the novel are introduced.
Fitzgerald’s methods of characterization include expository, dramatic, and
visual. For each of the five main
characters (Nick, Jordan, Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy) find a quote from the book
that is an example of characterization. Identify what type of characterization
is being used, and briefly explain what insight this gives us about each
character.
Chapter 2:
Choose one of the passages provided and
decide what is being described. List the details Fitzgerald gives. Sketch or
create a visual representation of the scene using original sketches, magazine
pictures, computer graphics, or pieces of fabric. Attach a quotation from the
text to your picture that best captures the scene.
Write a short explanation of the idea
suggested by the image of the scene.
n P. 27 1st paragraph
n P. 29 “the
interior”
n P. 33 “the apartment”
n P. 41 “then there were bloody towels”
Chapter 3:
The colors, lights, continuous cocktails,
music, and dancing, excited people all create an atmosphere of
enchantment. Describe an event that
enthralled or enchanted you. Use details to create the atmosphere you
experienced. List some of the details of the event. Go back to the list and add adjectives,
figurative language, and specific, concrete description. Write a 150-word
description of this experience to get the reader’s interest.
Chapter
4:
At
the start of Chapter IV, Nick informs the reader that he keeps a list of the
names of the people “who accepted Gatsby’s hospitality” because the names “will
give you a better impression than my generalities” of the people who come to
Gatsby’s parties.
1. Write your impressions of the list.
2. List the general characteristics or
“types” of people who come to the parties.
3. Make a list of the general types that
attend and develop a statement that would reflect the reason all these people
attend.
Chapter
5:
Chapter
IV ends with the story of Daisy’s romances and marriage. In Chapter V, Daisy
and Gatsby are reunited. It seems
that they have fallen in love again when Nick says:
“As
I watched him he adjusted himself a little, visibly. His hand took hold of
hers, and as she said something low in his ear he turned toward her with a rush
of emotion. I think that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, feverish
warmth, because it couldn’t be over-dreamed—that voice was a deathless song.
They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby
didn’t know me now at all. I looked once more at them and they looked back at
me, remotely, possessed by intense life. Then I went out of the room and down
the marble steps into the rain, leaving them there together.” (101-2)
Imagine
that Daisy calls Jordan when she returns home. Compose a poem about what was
said. The poem does not have to rhyme. The contents of the poem will depend on
how you interpret the discussion and meeting between Gatsby and Daisy. Your
poem must deal with the significance of Daisy’s crying over Gatsby’s shirts,
the meaning of Gatsby knowing how long it has been since had last seen Daisy,
Daisy’s comments about the clouds, or, possibly, the implied conversation after
Nick leaves.
Chapter
6:
Chapter
VI opens with a reporter who is investigating Gatsby’s “notoriety” asking him
questions. Obviously, not much is known about Gatsby’s past or his money,
beyond the foolish rumors that are described in the beginning of this chapter.
Nick does reveal a bit of Gatsby’s history. Imagine that you are the reporter. Come
up with a list of ten questions that you would like to have Gatsby answer for
your paper. As you read further in the book, write down the answers to any of
the questions that you come across
Chapter
7:
Write
two
letters to Tom from offering reasons that show he why his opinions are wrong.
The first letter must be from the perspective of any character in the book; the
second letter must be from your own perspective.
Chapter
8:
Look at the vague description of
Gatsby’s death. How far do you think that it is a ‘fitting’ end for the
character? Why do you think that Fitzgerald illustrated Gatsby’s death with the
Butler hearing a ‘few shots’? Rewrite Gatsby’s death passage so that we
actually witness the killing. Once you have written your own version of the
scene, write a short paragraph comparing your versions to the book reflecting
on which version is most effective. Why do you think Fitzgerald chose portray
the death this way?
Chapter
9:
Look
again at the passage that tells of Gatsby’s funeral. Imagine that his funeral
had been attended by some of those who, in the text, refuse to attend. Choose
one of the characters and write the oration that they would deliver in memory
of Gatsby. In writing your oration, try
to make it represent what that character felt about Gatsby and base it on
evidence from the text.
Reread from ‘Gatsby’s house was still empty when I
left’ to ‘borne back ceaselessly into the past’. Annotate the passage focusing
on how Fitzgerald uses language to mark the sense of the closing of an era.
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