1. Today’s Warm-up Activity
Think of a time when you dreamed of getting something (an object, an award, a job, even a boyfriend/girlfriend). How can the attainment of the goal be less satisfying than the pursuit of the goal? Is it worth it in the end?

2. Chapter 5 Close Analysis
The Great Gatsby

3. Whiteboards
You will be asked a number of questions during this class discussion. When the slide is this blue color you will be expected to write down your answer on your whiteboard.
All the other slides are black so it will be obvious when you should be writing down an answer.
I will be walking around to make sure everyone has an answer on their whiteboard and will then cold call on students to share what they have written

4. 1) What is the meaning of Gatsby knocking over Nick’s clock?
We will watch this scene to help refresh your memory before answering this question:

5. 1) What is the meaning of Gatsby knocking over Nick’s clock?
Write down the answer on your whiteboard. I will be walking around the room making sure everyone has an answer.
After everyone has had some think-time I will cold call so make sure you have an answer ready

6. Clock
His nervousness about the present and about how Daisy’s attitude toward him may have changed causes him to knock over Nick’s clock, symbolizing the clumsiness of his attempt to stop time and retrieve the past.

7. 2) How is Gatsby’s persona different when he meets Daisy than in the rest of the novel?
To answer this we are going to compare and contrast the scene in which we first meet Gatsby with the scene where he sees Daisy again for the first time in five years

9. 2) How is Gatsby’s persona different when he meets Daisy than in the rest of the novel?
Write down the answer on your whiteboard. I will be walking around the room making sure everyone has an answer.
After everyone has had some think-time I will cold call so make sure you have an answer ready

10. Gatsby’s Persona
Gatsby’s character throughout his meeting with Daisy is at its purest and most revealing. The theatrical quality that he often projects falls away, and for once all of his responses seem genuine. He forgets to play the role of the Oxford-educated socialite and shows himself to be a love-struck, awkward young man.

11. Do you think that Gatsby loves Daisy or is he obsessed with her for some other reason?
Write down the answer on your whiteboard. I will be walking around the room making sure everyone has an answer.
After everyone has had some think-time I will cold call so make sure you have an answer ready

16. 3) Why do you think Gatsby is so uncomfortable talking about where his money comes from?
During Chapter 4 we discussed Gatsby’s nebulous identity.
He tells people he inherited his money but hangs out with shady characters and receives unusual phone calls about business.
In Ch. 5 he tells Nick he earned the money for his house and snaps at Nick for questioning the nature of his business.

17. I agreed that it was splendid.
Page 89-90
“My house looks well, doesn’t it?” he demanded. “See how the whole front of it catches the light.”
I agreed that it was splendid.
“Yes.” His eyes went over it, every arched door and square tower. “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it.”
“I though you inherited your money.”
“I did, old sport,” he said automatically, “but I lost most of it in the big panic –panic of the war.”
I think he hardly knew what he was saying for when I asked him what business hew as in he answered: “That’s my affair,” before he realized that it wasn’t an appropriate reply.
“Oh, I’ve been in several things,” he corrected himself. “I was in the drug business then I was in the oil business. But I’m not in either one now.” He looked at me with more attention. “Do you mean you’ve been thinking over what I proposed the other night?”

18. 3) Why do you think Gatsby is so uncomfortable talking about where his money comes from?
Write down the answer on your whiteboard. I will be walking around the room making sure everyone has an answer.
After everyone has had some think-time I will cold call so make sure you have an answer ready

19. 4) Gatsby is constantly getting phone calls throughout the novel
4) Gatsby is constantly getting phone calls throughout the novel. What conclusion can you draw about Gatsby from these phone calls?

21. 5) What is this quote saying about the green light
5) What is this quote saying about the green light? What is it saying about Gatsby’s dream of obtaining Daisy?
“The colossal significance of that light has now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” (93)

23. 6) Read this quote and think about whether Gatsby had the right dream…
“The expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt has occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness. There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams – not though her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man wills tore up in his ghostly heart.” (95-96)