from wikipedia.org

The Great Gatsby

by

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Introduction

In Fitzgerald’s novel, “class struggle” in America is portrayed as an intensely personal affair, as much a tension within the mind of a single character as a conflict between characters. During his evening at the Buchanans’, Nick Carraway says Daisy “looked at [him] with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged” (p. 22 in the Scribners paperback edition). Nick, a transplanted midwesterner uneasy in the East, is anxious to belong yet sensitive to the subtle snub; his mixed emotions are suggested here in the juxtaposition of “lovely” and “smirk” in his description of Daisy. Through a close study of the text of The Great Gatsby, an examination of Fitzgerald’s letters and other statements, and a consideration of class, wealth, and status during the turbulent 1920s, we explore the nature of the “secret society” implied in Daisy’s knowing smirk.

The social scene is full of drama. Who’s out? Who’s in? What’s cool? What’s not? Behind many of these questions is a burning desire to belong. To assert their status in a crowd, people learn the unwritten and unspoken codes of behavior. Personal experience of the struggle to belong can provide a starting point for an exploration of how concerns about wealth, race, geographical origins, and other factors affect the perception of social status in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

That was always my experience—a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy’s school; a poor boy in a rich man’s club at Princeton…. However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works.” 
—F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York: Scribners, 1994. pg. 352.

Lesson Objectives:

• Engage in practical textual analysis and critical thinking
• Reflect on the class struggles of early twentieth century
• Combine critical thinking, textual analysis, and imaginative writing skills

Read The Great Gatsby available at this link:

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/index.html

Think about these guiding questions while reading the book:

• What tensions about wealth and status are revealed in The Great Gatsby?
• How are these tensions reflected in Nick Carraway’s struggle to belong?

Resources:

Reviewing these resources may help you understand the sentiments and contexts of the novel.

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/quotes/quotes6.html

Lesson Review

Directions: Answer the following lesson questions, Chapter 1 through Chapter 9.