So here we are, a third of the way through Fitzgerald's master work, The Great Gatsby, and through the first week of our summer reading. For those of you who posted this week, I think we're off to a good start. Half of the challenge this summer, I think, will be maintaining a schedule and keeping abreast of your responsibilities. For those who did not post this week, do not despair--there is plenty of time to get on board, although I will say this: do not post on previous assignments...it is unfair to expect people to revisit old topics and reacquaint themselves with stuff they've moved on from. So be sure to catch the next bus and hopefully stay on it until the end!
Some observations and recommendations on our first batch of posts, in no particular order: 1. BEWARE generalities. Avoid words like "everybody" and "always" when you are making claims. Such claims are almost always undermined by the author at some point, and it shows a simplistic rendering of a pretty complex object, the text. Better to start with specifics and offer what they may suggest. 2. Organize your thoughts before you start writing, even for something so short as these posts. I view them as miniature essays and practice for the bigger ones we'll be doing all year. (They also give me a sense of your writing ability.) It's good to have good habits when doing them. Remember: paragraphs are your friend! And ONE IDEA PER PARAGRAPH! 3. Look at the list of tonal vocabulary in your packet. (It's pg. 24, "Tone-Style-Syntax Handout.") I lost count of how many times I was told that Fitzgerald was "descriptive." Sorry, but not good enough. Tighten the lens. In what way, perhaps? Would we describe a passage as colloquial, maybe? Or vibrant? Playful? Sneering? I KNOW that all of you have impressive vocabularies, but what good are they if you don't use them to effect? 4. Good strategies for initiating commentary are the mnemonics DIDLS (pg. 21) and TPCASTT (22). They can be used for both poetry and prose. You don't have to include every section (and such writing would get pretty laborious to read), but the mnemonics serve as a good self-check to see if you might be missing something important. Another mnemonic not in your packet is SQUIDS, which deals with the handling of quoted passages. Read about it here. Believe me, during the mind-emptying stress of an essay for which you have 40 minutes to compose, you'll be grateful that you took the time to learn them. 5. As we move along, I will continue to comment, but I hope to do so less and less as you all take up more of the burden. TRY TO POST ONCE, AND TO COMMENT AT LEAST ONCE. Your commentary can take the form of reactions or questions, and will tend to be a lot shorter than your initial posts, so why not? This is your space, in my opinion--ideally I want to be the super who occasionally pops in to check the wiring and plumbing. 6. Last thing: while it is very important to mention evidence from the text, you must do something with it. NO WHAT WITHOUT A HOW, NO HOW WITHOUT A WHY. Always be asking, "So what?" after every observation you make or passage you cite. Then (try to) ANSWER that question. NOW ON TO THE FUN STUFF! Chapters 4-6! This week, I want you to pick one of the following options for your post. Concentrate on the text of Chapters 4-6, please. OPTION 1: The Great Gatsby features a number of characters whose actions and words seem to contradict themselves. Gatsby throws parties he doesn't enjoy. Jordan says she hates careless people, yet she is one. Nick sees himself as honest, but doesn't have a problem two-timing with dishonest Jordan. And so on. So there's a lot going on upstairs in the characters of this book that needs to be sorted out. I'd like for you to take either Gatsby, Nick, or Daisy and play armchair psychiatrist. Pick a passage that you think exemplifies some interior conflict and point out how Fitzgerald brings it out in his writing, or implies it. Remember #4 and #6 from above. OPTION 2: This one requires a (small) bit of outside reading. "The American Dream" is a concept that prior to the popularization of the phrase by James Truslow Adams, had existed in spirit since the inception of our nation. Fitzgerald experienced this in his personal life, the ideals were very present in the society in which he lived and wrote, and the character of Gatsby grapples with it in his fictional life, too. Jay Gatsby nee James Gatz is literally a "self-made man." I'd like for you to pull a quotation from one of the quotations used in the Wikipedia link and talk about how the concepts play out in Gatsby. Make sure you're using specific evidence, and DO NOT GENERALIZE! OPTION 3: A productive way to dig into a text is to pit characters against each other (the dreaded compare-and-contrast, ugh!) and see what shakes out. I invite you to take on one of the following pairings: 1) the "bro-mance" of Nick and Jay Gatsby, 2) Gatsby and Dan Cody, 3) Nick and Daisy, or 4) Jay Gatsby and Tom. What does a close parsing (get used to THAT word!) of the text reveal about the relationship? What does the relationship add to the work as a whole? (Get used to THAT phrase!) That is all for this week. Posting begins on Monday and closes Friday evening. As always, "have a take, and don't suck." #345
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