1. Warming up by taking a spin on the color wheel
- With your partner, choose any TWO of the following colors to analyze in The Great Gatsby: Green, yellow/gold, white, grey, or blue
- Using a web, free associate on each color (one at a time). What emotions/ ideas/ objects/ temperature, etc. do you associate with this color?
- Bolster your web by looking up the symbolic and/or cultural significance of your colors. Add a few more meanings to your webs. This website's pretty good.
- Find as many passages as you can from Chapters 1-4 in The Great Gatsby that mention your color. Add them to your webs by connecting them to the meanings they relate to.
- Lastly, look at the cover of your book. Pick ONE of your colors and examine where and how it appears on the cover. Revisit your blog post on the cover of the book and add to it by offering new a statement about the significance of the color on the cover and in the book.
2. Celebrating a few highlights from Tuesday's discussion
3. Enjoying a fishbowl discussion of The Great Gatsby, Chapter 4
HW:
1. Tomorrow, we will have a brief, open-note "quiz" on Grammar You Must Know #8: Redundancy. See Monday's blog if you were absent for the lesson.
2. Please read Chapter 5 and complete your blog by Tuesday, April 3.
Fishbowl leaders need to prepare their syllabus and post it to the document on the website; discussers should be ready to discuss.
3. The end of 12 weeks is Friday, April 6 (the Friday after spring break). All make-up work / revised work from the last 6 weeks is due by then.
""I see you're looking at my cuff buttons." I hadn't been looking at them, but I did now. They were composed of oddly familiar pieces of ivory. "Finest specimens of human molars," he informed me" (72). How can ivory represent the purity and impurity of human nature building blocks? Why do you think the author specifically choose to say it was ivory?
ReplyDeleteI feel like ivory can show impurity because it was taken from such a pure animal. I think that the ivory can also show another level of the extravagant lifestyle many people were living. Both of these things being said, I think it almost sets up a want for this lifestyle for years past, and therefore that could be why there are still people today who want ivory.
Delete"My family all died, and I came into a great deal of money" pg 65
ReplyDeleteCan we know as readers that this is the truth or could it be Gatsby playing the pity card to make Nick help him get closer to Daisy?
That's a great question. Since Gatsby is still such a mysterious character in the book that could be a posibility.
DeleteI feel like you can never tell if something is true or not with someone as mysterious as Gatsby. Earlier, not in chapter 4, a group of people with Nick talk about what exactly his identity is entailed of. With that, it seems to be hard to determine if he speaks the truth. However in this case, it seems as if this statement is true. I believe that because right after that, Nick states, "His voice was solemn, as if the memory of that sudden extinction of a clan still haunted him. For a moment I suspected that he was pulling my leg, but a glance at him convinced me otherwise" (65). In this moment, it seems as if Gatsby was genuinely disturbed by this, since it is a sensitive topic. I don't feel as if Gatsby is playing the pity card whether he is telling Nick little bits about his life. Maybe, his family's death could be a reason why he leaves his identification so unknown.
DeleteI think that Gatsby is playing a pity card to get closer to Nick. Due to Nick knowing Dasiy, it is easy for Gatsby to use Nick to get back with Dasiy. Also, it is just easier for Gatsby to tell Nick to set something up for all of them to meet up together. So Daisy will actually show up.
Delete"Look here, old sport." (Fitzgerald 71)
ReplyDeleteWhy does Gatsby say this saying? Did he take it from someone who he stayed with for a long time?
I was thinking that too. I was curious to know why he keeps repeating that saying.
DeleteGatsby appears to be an 'old soul' in a younger body. He also could be saying this due to the way his parents raised him, maybe it was something that just stuck with him. Or, it could be used as a result of trying to keep a part of his family with him.
Delete"gatsby bought that house across the bay so that daisy would be just across the bay"(78) why has gatsby been holding on to daisy this whole time? and why is daisy still with tom? gatsby clearly still wants to be with her and tom cheats on her all the time.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the relationship that Daisy has with Tom is a very complicated one, something that she and Tom have probably debated quite a bit. "The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking in a way that every young girl wanted to be looked at."pg 75 I think the war split up this young duo. Gatsby came back after the war and moved across the bay from his sweetheart, once Daisy gets confirmation that her old boyfriend is so close, she will leave Tom for Gatsby.
DeleteMy guess is that she still hopes that Tom will start acting better or that she wants a divorce, but it was hard for women to get them without having to prove that their husband committed adultery along with another crime (incest, bigamy, cruelty, or desertion)
DeleteWhy I think that Gatsby has been holding onto Daisy is because she was the "golden girl" to him. Since Daisy wanted a man that had a lot of money. Gatsby was wanting to strive to be that person for Dasiy. So he did everything possible to be back together with her.
DeleteWell Daisy could just be looking for someone to financially support her as she was becoming a grown woman entering the the scary, vast world. And she couldn't do it alone, and Gatsby wasn't really there to guide her.
DeleteOn page 62-63 how are the people of the East egg compared to those in the West egg?
ReplyDelete“He was balancing himself up on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American…” (64)
ReplyDeleteWhat does Nick mean by that statement? Does this have to deal with the idea of someone such as Gatsby, identifying the American Dream or what looks like it?
I think that Gatsby is the American Dream because Gatsby is young, successful, rich, and he's basically everything that people dream of being.
DeleteI believe the letter was from gatsby to daisy. I assume he was about him going to war which meant Daisy would be alone. That's why Daisy held on to the letter until she crumpled it up and moved on.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with this point. It does seem like Daisy felt the same way which is why she held onto the letter but then let it go when she came to the realization that she wouldn't be able to be his.
Delete"Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life" (66). How has his version of an 'enchanted life' flourished from then? What color/s do you associate with the idea of relief and death, why? Did any of his emotions have to deal with Daisy's life, why or why not?
ReplyDeletewhat does gatsby throw the parties for? does he do it to show his wealth? or does he do it to try to make people happy? or maybe because he wants daisy to come to one of them?
ReplyDeleteI've thought about this before and at first, I thought it was to make others happy and not to just show off his wealth because he doesn't boast and he also doesn't want many people to know who he is. But now that Daisies importance has been brought up in his life, it seems like he may host these parties with the hope that she will show up and he can introduce himself.
DeleteIt seems as if Gatsby throws parties almost as 'entertainment.' What I mean by this is since most people don't know what his identification is exactly, Gatsby seems to be mostly isolated at his parties. However, in this chapter, we find Jordan's opinion on Mr. Gatsby's relations with Daisy. Jordan says, "I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night, but she never did" (79). In the beginning of him hosting all these parties, this could be the main reason. However, as it progressed over the years, it seemed to be an escape from his reality by being entertained with what others have going on in their lives. Almost like observing, similar to Nick with his journals.
DeleteI think that Gatsby throws these huge parties so maybe one day Daisy will show up to one of his parties. I think he wants to impress her. Also, I think Gatsby is this lonely guy and throwing these huge parties helps cope with his pain of loneliness.
Delete"(mr wolfsheim)" his eyes,meanwhile, moved very slowly are the room-- he completed the arc by turning to inspect the people directly behind him"pg 71 Is mr Wolfsheim worried that others are listening? Does Mr Wolfsheim feel endangered?
ReplyDelete"Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." Pg 78 What do you guys think, has Gatsby been cushioning up to Nick just to get closer to Daisy?
ReplyDeleteI think that was more of Gatsby's second plan. It seemed as if he just got the house across the lake because he hoped Daisy would just curiously wander into his home at some point. However over the years, we find that it has not happened yet, therefore, Gatsby began to observe Nick and trying to bring him over his direction.
Delete"They shook hands briefly and a strained unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby's face." Pg 74, What do you guys think will happen when Gatsby makes his inevitable move on Daisy? Will Tom do something aggressive, or will he just cut his losses and go to his mistress.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Gatsby seem to have the need to get to Daisy and Nick when he is successful in life? is it because he might not have anything else to do?
ReplyDeleteI think that Gatsby's life is so successful, and almost at a peak, and because of that he wants to have a little bit of "adventure" so he then tries to get involved in Daisy and Nick's lives.
DeleteBecause he was irrevocably in love with Daisy, and so he used Nick to guide him to Daisy. Being happy isn't only about being successful, it's about having someone there beside you during your time of success, significant people whom love and encourage you through the rough patches too.
Delete"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired" (pg 79).
ReplyDeleteThis quote really makes me think about the people around me. I don't this this statement can be summed in in such a simple form though. I've observed the "tired" around me and they are still having to be busy and pursue life goals. Also I don't think someone can ever be fully pursued. Take Gatsby for example; he has all the money a man could want but he is still is pursuing Daisy.