Social Stratification in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
As we read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald we will be working on our analytical writing ability. The goal of this unit is to develop better pre-writing skills. What observations are worth bringing into an essay? What evidence would properly support my observations? How many sentences do I dedicate to my evidence and how many sentences do I dedicate to my commentary?
If you forgot your book today, load up this electronic copy of The Great Gatsby.
Novel: The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Lexile Measure: 1010L - ATOS Book Level 7.3 - Word Count 47,094
Audiobook: The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fizgerald - Narrated by Frank Muller - esl-bits.net
Essay #1: The Character Analysis Essay
Prompt: How does F. Scott Fitzgerald characterize __________ in the first and second chapter of The Great Gatsby?
Students are allowed to choose from either Tom Buchanan or Daisy Buchanan for their analysis. Nick Carraway will be used for examples.
Presentation: Character Analysis Pre-Writing Process
Graphic Organizer: Jane Shaffer Shaping Sheet (Everhart)
Handout: The Jane Shaffer Multi-Paragraph Essay - Terminology
Models for Individual Character Tracking
Essay #2: The Symbol Analysis Essay
Prompt: F. Scott Fitzgerald uses colors as symbols in The Great Gatsby. What colors does he use and what does each color represent?
Students are required to explain the use of green. Students are required to do one more, and have the choice of blue or yellow.
Color Counts (Ctrl+F can quickly find a particular word in electronic documents)
The word yellow is used in The Great Gatsby 24 times - 22 yellow, 1 yellowy, 1 yellowish
The word blue is used in The Great Gatsby 22 times - 21 blue, 1 Blues
The word green is used in The Great Gatsby 19 times - 16 green, 1 greenhouse, 1 apple-green, 1 Greenwich
Other color counts: 50 white, 18 gray, 13 black, 13 gold, 11 silver, 9 red, 7 brown, 6 lavender, 6 pink, 4 orange, 2 cream colored
Color Analysis
Website: Color Symbolism and Culture - IncredibleArt.org
Infographic - Color Emotion Guide - IncredibleArt.org
Infographic - Colours in Cultures - David McCandless - April 2009
Infographic - Emotional Color Spectrum - Kelly-Moore Paints and Column Five
Infographic - What Your Brand Colors Say About Your Business - Marketo and Column Five
Color Evidence Files
Research: The Great Gatsby - Blue Quotes
Research: The Great Gatsby - Green Quotes
Research: The Great Gatsby - Yellow Quotes
Essay #3: The Theme Analysis Essay
Prompt: What do you conclude F. Scott Fitzgerald is saying about the different classes in society through his novel The Great Gatsby?
Students are required to explain the social stratification portrayed in The Great Gatsby.
Students are expected to analyze the author's portrayal of the middle class and several flavors of the upper class using the novel as evidence.
Discussions about Economic Classes
Infographic - Are the 1% Paying Their Fair Share - Cameron Keng - GOOD - April 18, 2012
Infographic - Living on Less: Which Countries Survive On Just A Few Dollars A Day? - GOOD and Column Five Media - June 24, 2011
Infographic - Not Your Parent's American Dream:The Pursuit of a New National Ideal - GOOD and Column Five Media - January 28, 2012
Infographic - The Overworked American - GOOD and Column Five Media - July 22, 2011
Web Interactive Infographic - Millenials: Coming of Age - Goldman Sachs
Infographic - Hunger Pains - GOOD and Column Five Media
Article - The Hierarchy of "The Rich" in the United States - Joshua Kennon - December 7, 2010
Article - The New Elite: A Look In The Top 1% of Wealth in the United States - Joshua Kennon - October 9, 2011
Article - How and Why Athletes Go Broke - Pablo S. Torre - Sports Illustrated - March 23, 2009
What I Might Bring in this year:
https://www.bls.gov/opub/100-years-of-u-s-consumer-spending.pdf
https://howmuch.net/articles/income-classes-in-america
https://www.statista.com/chart/15005/statutory-minimum-paid-leave-and-public-holidays/
Close Reading - Architecture
Analyzing Diction in the Architecture of the The Great Gatsby
Image Search - Hôtel de Ville - Paris, France - Wiki
Image Search - Georgian Colonial (style)
Image Search - French Windows (style)
Close Reading - Old Sport
Analyzing "Old Sport" in The Great Gatsby
"old sport" is used 45 times in the novel.
Said by Jay Gatsby to Nick Carraway (#1-23, #26-28, #35-45)
Said by Jay Gatsby to Ewing Klipspringer (#24, #25)
Said by Jay Gatsby to Tom Buchanan (#29, #31, #32, #33, #34)
Said by Tom Buchanan to Jay Gatsby (#30, #35)
Video: Supercut: Gatsby Says "Old Sport" - from The Great Gatsby (2013) - Tribeca Film
Is it a phrase used to insult people secretly without them realizing it?
Is it a phrase used to sound rich and Oxford educated as Gatsby claims to be?
Is it a phrase used to replace a person's name as a term of endearment like "my friend" or "bro" or "dude"?
Is it a phrase used to replace a person's name as a place holder when you don't remember someone's name?
Is it a phrase that labels a person as someone who is no competition, like the recipient isn't in your league?
Close Reading - T. J. Eckleburg
"Eckleburg" is used 7 times in the novel.
#1 and #2 are done together as an anadiplosis.
The eyes are specifically mentioned or implied in six out of seven. #1, #2, #3 "persistent stare", #5 "faded eyes", #6 "kept their vigil", #7 "just emerged, pale and enormous"
Visualizing - The Cars of The Great Gatsby
Article: The Cars of The Great Gatsby by Jack Stewart - May 16, 2013
Jay Gatsby drove a cream-colored Rolls-Royce with green leather interior. "I’d seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory, we started to town." Without any extra details to go off of, a good guess is the 1922 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. The 1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost has a straight 6 engine (7428cc) with a 4-speed transmission. It was manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts. 7874 of the vehicles were made from 1906 to 1926. We can guess that under 400 were sold every year. This was not an easy car to get a hold of. Tom called Gatsby's car a "circus wagon."
On the Mecum Auction site I found a few Silver Ghosts. The pictures are a full tour of the inside and outside.
1921 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Limousine - Mecum Auctions
1924 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Pall Mall Tourer - Mecum Auctions
Tom Buchanan drove a "blue coupe" so we know it had two doors.
Nick Carraway had "an old Dodge" but there are no scenes of him driving it.
Daisy Fay (age 18) drove a "little white roadster" in 1917.
Jordan Baker drove someone else's car. The quote "she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it" helps characterize her right before we learn she might cheat at golf. It is likely that Fitzgerald named Jordan Baker after the Jordan Motor Car Company and the Baker Motor Vehicle Company.
The Cars of The Great Gatsby Films
The Great Gatsby (1974) Jay Gatsby's Car - 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I
The Great Gatsby (2013) Jay Gatsby's Car - 1932 Duesenberg II SJ
The Great Gatsby (2013) Tom Buchanan's Car - 1933 Auburn
Here's a 1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost with the right colors for the novel.
Time Period: The Jazz Age
The Great Gatsby is a work of early Modernism.
More specifically, the story takes place during The Jazz Age that spanned from the end of World War I (1918) to the beginning of The Great Depression (1929).
What Would Daisy Wear? - Women's Fashion 1915-1929
Jazz Age Music
Béla Bartók (Hungary and later the U.S.) - Pianist and Composer - The Best of Bartók - Active Starting in 1899
Count Basie - Pianist, Bandleader, and Composer - Active Starting in 1924
Duke Ellington - Pianist, Bandleader, and Composer - Active Starting in 1923
George Gershwin - Pianist and Composer - The Best of Gerswhin - Active Starting in 1916
Arnold Schoenberg (Austria and later the U.S.) - Pianist and Composer - The Most Important Classical Piano Music by Arnold Schoenberg - Active Starting in 1897
Igor Stravinsky (Russia and later the U.S.) - Pianist and Composer - The Best of Stravinsky - Active Starting in 1907
Dances of the Jazz Age
The Charleston - Originated from the James. P. Johnson Broadway musical Runnin' Wild in 1923.
The Lindy Hop - First shown on film in the movie After Seben in 1929 (scene).
The Texas Tommy, Toddle, Black Bottom, Shimmy, Varsity Drag, Collegiate Shag, Waltz, Baltimore
Holding Area for Notes and New Things to Consider
Documents in Progress:
Character Analysis Introduction Precis? (Search!)
Full Essay Examples (Collect)
Character Analysis:
The white supremacy book Tom recommends Nick is a real book from 1920: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rising_Tide_of_Color_Against_White_World-Supremacy
Name Meaning/History? Seems unlikely other than Daisy and Baker
Town Tattle
Symbolism of Moving Air/Wind/Window
Future one day assmts on the subplots of Jordan and Nick, Daisy and her daughter, others?