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The Great Gatsby

by

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Meet the Author

About the Author

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was named after a famous relative and a deceased sister.

Fitzgerald’s first published writing was a detective story when he was only twelve years old.

At sixteen, Fitzgerald was expelled from the private school he attended because he did not complete his work.

After graduating high school, Fitzgerald entered Princeton University where he wrote for the Princeton Triangle Club.

Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light…

It was published in his school’s newspaper.

While at Princeton, Fitzgerald penned his first novel, The Romantic. However he never graduated from the university.

Did You Know?Fitzgerald made $8,397.00 from The Great Gatsby; his daughter has made over $500,000 a year from the novel!

In 1999 Calvin Klein created a commercial to advertise their perfume, Obsession. The commercial was called The Great Gatsby.

Other titles Fitzgerald considered for the book were “Gold-Hatted Gatsby” and “High-Bouncing Lover”.

Fitzgerald wrote a short story, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. In 2008, it was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt.

The Last Tycoon, Fitzgerald's fifth and final novel, was never finished.

Thank you daddy!

While reading the novel, identify who is obsessed with whom.

Have you watched the movie?

Objective

Bloom’s: knowledge, comprehension

IDENTIFY THE SETTINGOF THE STORY

The Setting

The Jazz Age is a period of time between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression.

Jazz music and dance was widespread and influenced a flourishing society.

Attempting to find their place in the world after WWI, young people began acting out – pushing boundaries with shocking types of behavior. Wild music, fast cars and shorter skirts were just a few symptoms of this unusual postwar era.

Prohibition was in effect and the beginnings of social change were taking place.

The Jazz Age was an era of wealth, self-indulgence, and selfishness.

Flapper girls were popular during the Jazz Age; they smoked, drank, danced, and voted. How are they different than women today?

How does Jazz music differ from the music you listen to now? What similarities do they have?

How is the Jazz Age different than today?

1. Where are the East Egg and West Egg villages located? a) Long Island, New York b) Texas c) Oregon a) Long Island, New York

2. What type of music was popular during the story? a) Classical b) Heavy Metal c) Jazz c) Jazz

3. Most likely the people who live in East Egg were born into a) a wealthy family b) a poor family c) middle class family a) a wealthy family

Directions: select the best answer to each question

Comprehension Check

Plot Elements

Jay Gatsby throws extravagant parties and arranges to meet Daisy at Nick’s

house.

The narrator, Nick, introduces the setting and characters, Daisy, Tom,

Jordan, and the mysterious Jay Gatsby.

The argument between Gatsby and Tom while in a New York hotel.

Daisy’s rejection and the death of a character.

Nick leaves West Egg; the transformation of Nick as a person

and lack of change in Tom and Daisy.

The Characters

Daisy BuchananA distant cousin of Nick’s, Daisy promised to wait for Jay Gatsby to come back from the war. She did not wait, and married Tom Buchanan because he was a rich man.

Tom BuchananThe story’s antagonist. A former football star at Yale University, Tom is Daisy’s wealthy husband. He is a racist and bully who abuses his wife and mistress. Tom is a man with many issues!

Nick learns that Jordan is a professional golfer and thinks he heard something about Jordan in the news but can’t remember exactly what.

Daisy jokingly comments about Nick and Jordan getting together.

Nick returns home to see Jay Gatsby step outside, staring across the lawn. Gatsby opens his arms.

Gatsby is reaching toward a light across the water in East Egg.

Gatsby disappears.

Whatever Nick heard, can the news be trusted?

Predict: will Nick and Jordan get together?

What color is the light? What is Gatsby reaching out for?

Chapter 1

1. The narrator of the story is

a) Gatsby b) Nick Carraway c) Jordan Baker

b) Nick Carraway

2. Nick lives in

a) West Egg b) Long Island c) East Egg

a) West Egg

3. Who invites Nick to dinner?

a) Jordan Baker b) Tom and Daisy c) The Carraways

b) Tom and Daisy

Directions: Select the best answer to each question.

Comprehension Check

Character Diary Project

a)Persuasive – what does your character want? What would he/she do to get it? For example, what would Myrtle write to Tom to get him to leave his wife? Or… What is Jay Gatsby thinking as he prepares to see Daisy for the first time in years?

b) Reflective - describe in detail what a significant event meant to your character’s personality, how it changed him or her personally, and the lesson he or she learned from it.

c) Descriptive - use strong visual and sensory images to create a lasting impression on your reader. Anything can be vividly described – a room, a place, an object, a person, or an event-- which was significant to your character. d) Narrative - detail a short story of an event including setting, characters, time sequence, brief plot, and dialogue.

Directions: A minimum of six entries are required, using each of the writing styles listed; you will use a style more than once.

Chapter 7Another Saturday, but no party at Jay Gatsby’s! No need; he and Daisy are having an affair.

Daisy’s visits to Gatsby’s house are more visible; she comes over in the afternoons.

Nick goes to the Buchanan’s; it’s a very hot day.

Gatsby shows up; Daisy sends Tom out to make drinks. While Tom is out of the room she kisses Gatsby announcing that she loves him.

Daisy asks, "What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon? And the day after that, and the next thirty years?"

Describe what Daisy and Jordan are wearing.

He fired all the servants to avoid gossip.

What does this tell us about Daisy?

Chapter 9Some time later, Nick runs into Tom Buchanan.

Tom shares that he told George Wilson that Gatsby was driving the car!

Nick realizes that Tom and Daisy are “careless people”, creating problems and leaving other people to fix them.

Gatsby’s house is empty; Nick walks the “blue lawn” and looks toward the “green light” across the bay.

Nick realizes that Gatsby believed in the future. And everyone is like him – arms open reaching for what will come while searching for a lost past.

What does Nick compare to Gatsby?

Wait! Does this mean Tom still doesn’t know Daisy was driving the car?

1. Daisy and Tom help with funeral arrangements.

a) True b) False

2. Henry Gatz is Jay Gatsby’s father.

a) True b) False

3. It was Daisy who told George Wilson that Gatsby was driving the car.

a) True b) False

Comprehension CheckDirections: Select T for True or F for False.

b) False

b) False

a) True

These locations must be included and clearly labeled on the map:

East and West Eggs The Buchanans’ home Jay Gatsby’s home Nick Carroway’s home Long Island Sound Valley of the Ashes T.J. Eckleberg billboard Road from East and West Egg to the city. The Wilsons’s garage/home New York City Tom and Myrtle’s apartment New York hotel

The Setting

Sketch out a map on a piece of paper.

Once your teacher approves the rough draft, you will need a piece

of poster board.

All areas/locations must beclearly marked.

The final product must be big and colorful.

Your task is to create a map of the setting Fitzgerald so carefully crafted. Here is what you need to do:

Symbol

Page/Passage

What does the symbol represent?

Green light Hint - Chapter 1 Hope or dream

The eyes of Dr. T.J. EckleburgThey represent God watching and

judging everyone.

The clock Gatsby knocks over Hint- Chapter 5

Symbol Starters