"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
Kudos on having read one of the giants of American fiction and one of the most pored over works in literature. You'd think it'd be difficult to get a fresh take, what with all the summary sites, movies, YouTube videos, and legitimate scholarship over the last last century, but bear in mind that there is one unique perspective that has not been mined yet--yours. As you come into the final third of this book, it's a good time to, as Gatsby and Nick and others do, look backward as much as forward. Fitzgerald has crafted such a gem that multiple readings will reward you in the way that multiple viewings of a great movie do. For example, in my probably 12th reading of this book, I noticed that in the beginning chapters we had the green light of Daisy's dock, in the middle we had the yellow lights above Wilson in the garage, and at the end we had a "red circle" of blood around Gatsby in the pool. It might just be coincidence, but the green-yellow-red progression, along with the critical importance of the automobile in this book, got me to wondering. (Incidentally, the first 3-color traffic light was installed in Detroit in 1920 and expanded rapidly after that, so surely Fitzgerald would have known about them.) Make sure that you finish up your DATA SHEET for The Great Gatsby as you finish the book--waiting to do it later when it's no longer fresh in your mind is much harder and far less beneficial. For this week's postings, select one of the following options. As always, make sure to post once and respond at least once. Option 1: I'd like you to take a look at how The Great Gatsby can compare to other works in terms of how it's built. For example, Nick is the narrator, but the remarkable character is Gatsby, of course--the book carries his name, after all. The Sherlock Holmes stories are built similarly--Watson narrates, Sherlock stars. In the movie Amadeus, there is a slight twist in that the observer, Salieri, is insanely jealous of the star, Mozart, but the concept is similar. So for your posting, take a look at how Gatsby uses this observer-star diad, and compare it to a work not mentioned above that does the same thing. Then answer the question: what's to be gained from using this trope, both in The Great Gatsby and in literature in general? Option 2: I'll make this one simple: in this book, the binary of rich and poor results in a clear winner: the rich, right? But does it? Pick a representative passage of a few sentences and show us who wins in this struggle. (And how the answer might be surprising!) Option 3: A number of races and ethnicities are mentioned (or not mentioned) at various points in the book, e.g., blacks, Jews, Greeks, to name a few. How are they presented, in general, and what should we make of it? Make sure that you don't just fixate on one example alone, but dig for several. Lastly, in addition to the above options, tell us of your reading experience. What were your annotations like? Did the book live up to the hype for you? Next week: more Gatsby, but this time it's writing about writing (which is what you guys will be doing on the AP Exam), so pay attention to how Tyson tears apart the text and uncovers no doubt what you will find surprising observations about this great work. Introduction (1-10); New Criticism (150-64); Marxist (69-78); Feminist (119-30) for next Monday. After next week, a week break! Hang in there! #345
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