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Annotation Guide: The Great GatsbyBig Ideas: Consider these as you read and write notes
below.
1. Theme - What is/are themes for the book?
2. Symbol - What is a symbol? What might be symbols in Gatsby?
3. Characterization - How does Fitzgerald create and reveal multiple sides of each character?
4. The American Dream: What is it? What was it? Is it relevant? How has it changed?
Chapter Annotations
Take notes on the following topics as you read. Make sure that you add to these notes throughout the chapter. They are not necessarily in order of appearance. Please write in complete sentences.
For this unit, you will write an essay using text to support a thesis statement. By marking passages in the book now, you’re preparing for that essay. So, paraphrase with page numbers in the space below. Using sticky notes in the margins of the book as you read will help, too.
Pre-reading: Quotation Briefing
Prior to Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby, there is a poem by Thomas Parke D’Invilliers whichreads: “Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for hertoo, Till she cry, ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!’”
1. What do you think this poem means (consider why there is the repetition of the words“hat”, “gold”, “lover”, and “bounce”)?
2. How does it indicate what the novel to come might be about?
Chapter 1 1. Gatsby. Consider:
Nick’s reflections/comments about him.
Rumors, what others say.
2. Nick, the narrator. Consider: What he tells us about his background. --His reflections on other people.
Your instinct: Like him or not? Why?
3. Setting. Consider: East Egg, West Egg
What kind of reputation/people does each place have? Where do our characters live?
4. The Buchanans, Tom and Daisy. Consider: Interactions with others, what they say/do.
Where they live
What Nick says about them
Your instinct: Like them or not? Why?
5. Jordan. Consider: What she says.
What is revealed about her.
What Nick thinks.
Your instinct: Like her or not? Why?
6. Nick, Daisy’s relationship. Describe and comment.
7. Tom’s secret. What is revealed about him?
8. Tom and Daisy’s connection to their daughter. Describe and comment.
9. Describe Gatsby’s actions at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 2
10. Summarize the description of the "valley of ashes." What might this represent?
11. Summarize the description of the "eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg.” What might this represent?
12. Tom’s secret. What more do we know?
13. George Wilson. Personality and actions.
Your instinct: Do you like him? Why or why not?
14. Myrtle Wilson. Consider Personality and actions.
Your instinct: Do you like her? Why or why not?
15. 158th Street Apartment. Consider: Description
Events at this setting
People in attendance
Marriages - ideas about marriage represented
Does this change/add to the plot?
How Tom’s actions reflect on his character
Chapter 316. Gatsby. Consider:
Gatsby's wealth.
What we know about him for certain.
Rumors
His parties: attendees, setting Your instinct: Like him or not? Why?
17. Nick Carraway. Reconsider: Nick’s background
His personality
His actions
18. Describe Nick’s interaction with Gatsby
19. Describe Nick’s interaction with Jordan
Chapter 4
20. Gatsby. Consider Klipspringer
What we now know about Gatsby’s history
Using Jordan as a go-between
21. Mr. Wolfshiem. Consider Personality and action
Overall description
Your instinct: Like or not? Why?
22. Daisy, Gatsby and Tom’s history:
Chapter 523. Describe the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy
Daisy’s words/actions
Nick’s role and reaction
Gatsby’s words/actions
Your thoughts
24. What does Daisy seem to represent to Gatsby? (now? in the past?)
25. What do we know about Gatsby’s house, clothing, guests, money?
26. Significance of the green light?
·
Chapter 627. Describe what we now know about Gatsby
History
Dan Cody
Gatsby’s hopes
28. Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, Tom, and Jordan at Gatsby's party What’s each person’s experience?
Daisy’s opinion?
Chapter 729. Describe Gatsby's reaction to:
Daisy's child
Tom
Tom’s treatment of Daisy/Tom’s relationship with Daisy
30. Wilson and Myrtle: describe their interaction, and how we know what’s going on with them.
31. Describe Daisy's reaction to Tom and Gatsby’s interaction.
32. Incident on the way home from New York
33. Myrtle’s actions (what she believes, how she acts)
34. Reactions to the incident: Wilson:
Tom:
Nick:
Gatsby:
35. How Daisy, Tom, Gatsby, and Nick end the chapter:
Chapter 836. Describe what the reader knows now about Gatsby’s past
37. Differing beliefs about Myrtle and Gatsby
38. Wilson: actions, words, beliefs
Chapter 939. Describe the funeral
Who attends
What it’s like
40. Jimmy’s book - What is it?
What’s in it?
What might it represent?
41. Nick, Jordan Baker What happens with them
Your thoughts about them
42. What Nick says about people like Daisy and Tom and why he might say it.
43. Your thoughts about Nick, Daisy, Tom, the ending...
Guiding Questions: Consider these as you read and write notes below.1. Wealth.
o How does money and wealth and the characters’ attitudes towards it affect their social status, the events in the novel, and their happiness?
2. Place. o How does place show significance for the characters? Think about how where the characters live affects
their social status in this novel.
3. Symbolism.o Note recurrent symbolism in the book and tie it into the overall themes of the story.
4. Characterization. o How does Fitzgerald create these characters and reveal multiple sides of them to the reader? Also,
consider these characters as if they were people in your social world. Who do you like and who do you dislike. Why?
5. The American Dream.o How do the characters and the social structure in this novel relate to the American Dream? If Fitzgerald
is trying to make commentary on that idea, what do you think he’s saying or pointing out to his readers?
The Great Gatsby: HINTS for your reading pleasure
The following list is a guide. Use your close-reading skills to identify other intriguing elements. Oh, the possibilities…
Themes:
Corruption of Society Moral and Spiritual Emptiness Positive and Negative Effects of Wealth Modern Love Superficiality Duality (external characterization versus internal characterization) Disillusionment (loss of hope) Hedonism (human behavior motivated by desire for pleasure) American Dream (Does this exist and in what form?) Interlocking System of Oppression (patriarchal treatment of gender
roles, social hierarchy, racial hierarchy).
Motifs:
Weather Daisy’s voice Time Eyes Face Material Extravagance
Symbols:
The Valley of Ashes The Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg Green Light The Owl-Eyed Man Gatsby’s Boyhood Schedule East Egg West Egg Colors (consider the symbolic meaning of colors)- white, green, yellow, pink Automobiles
Rhetorical Strategies:
Antithesis Extended Metaphor Connotative Diction/Euphony/Cacophony (shifts) Imagery Parallelism vs. Chiasmus/Antimetabole : The main difference between the two is that antimetabole will
reverse the EXACT SAME words in the sentence, while chiasmus will reverse grammatical structure, not necessarily with the same words. derived from a Greek word which means “turning about”