Do Now Pick up your copy of Gatsby by the door. Then, in your Cornell notes for chapter 2, write a brief analysis for each of the following quotes: This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air (23). Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life (35).

Level Questions for chapter 2 As we share and discuss the level questions that you’ve composed, let’s discuss the major literary elements (i.e. plot, characterization, emerging themes, etc.) that you recorded and analyzed in your Cornell notes. What kind of person is Myrtle? What effect do Catherine and the McKees have on Tom and Myrtle/the events of this night? Characters in this chapter demonstrate a certain attitude about working class people; has this attitude always been prevalent in our society? Is it still and will it always be?