1. Gatsby
Revision Session

2. AGREE/DISAGREE WITH THESE STATEMENTS?
Fitzgerald suggests that wealth is attractive and poverty isn’t.
The Great Gatsby proves that The American Dream is dead.
In the novel Fitzgerald is attacking conventional ideas about masculinity.
Fitzgerald seems to be suggesting that there is no such thing as honesty and integrity.
The novel’s narrator is so unreliable that it is difficult to say that anything is right or wrong, good or bad.
For Fitzgerald the past seems more important than either the present or the future.
Fitzgerald suggests that true vision doesn’t exist, humans only see what they want, inherently lacking any vision at all. 
Fitzgerald suggests that humans would be happier if love didn’t exist.

3. Copy the question:
Choose a novel in which there is a central character to whom you react with mixed feelings. With reference to appropriate techniques, briefly explain why you react to the character in this way and discuss how this reaction adds to your understanding of the text as a whole.

4. Discuss: Which characters could we talk about? Which one is the best?
How do we react to them?

5. Evidence Model:
Gatsby One way we react: Incredulously to his views on the past. Evidence: “You can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can.” Text as a whole: Helps us to understand Fitzgerald’s views on the American Dream. Gatsby is a fantasist and believes that he is owed Daisy. Fitzgerald dismantles this idea due to Gatsby’s downfall.

6. Gatsby characterisation key quotes:
“Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. […] His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” Technique: symbolism, theme (American Dream)
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” Technique: symbolism, word choice (orgastic), characterisation/theme (Gatsby’s hope)
“He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you." After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken.” Technique: word choice “obliterated” Characterisation: Gatsby’s hope/American Dream
“"I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight - watching over nothing.” Technique: foreshadowing Gatsby’s death (Daisy’s rejection has ‘killed’ him before George does.
"They're a rotten crowd...You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.” Technique: characterisation. Gatsby’s naïve, romantic dream is seen by Nick to be more ‘real’ than the frauds that are Tom and Daisy.

7. Although the reader is somewhat sympathetic to Gatsby throughout the novel, the reader may react incredulously to Gatsby’s inability to accept reality. In a conversation with Nick about Daisy, Gatsby states: “You can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can.” Gatsby steadfastly believes that either his wealth, his undying love for Daisy or his determination to follow the American Dream allows him to ignore reality. His tone is matter of fact and he is here presented as a tragic character who cannot face up to the facts in his life. This presentation of Gatsby as a flawed, tragic character who is unable to accept reality helps us to understand Fitzgerald’s criticisms of the class system in the USA in the 1920s. Gatsby – and, similarly, the other wealthy characters – set themselves apart from the working class and believe that they can change situations due to their wealth and power. Of course, with the tragic end to the story, Fitzgerald’s criticism of this belief is clear.

8. Writing the essay Finish for homework (Friday) Intro:
Title
Author
Rationale (“I will clearly show how Fitzgerald…”)
Techniques (“Fitzgerald uses symbolism, characterisation…”)
VERY SHORT plot summary
Four (or there abouts) main paragraphs
Conclusion:
State clearly what your essay has done to show you’ve been focused
Summarise very briefly the points you have covered in your essay
Try to finish on a high showing thought and emotion