1. Take out your Gatsby book and a piece of paper
Tuesday, 3.17
Take out your Gatsby book and a piece of paper

2. Symbols / Symbolism
Today you are going to work on identifying the various symbols seen throughout The Great Gatsby.
You may work with one other person to find the textual evidence in which the symbol occurs. Working with a person sitting next to you.
You will have 15 minutes to find one quote for each symbol. (Suggestion: it would be best to split up the work between the two of you, and don’t waste too much time on one symbol)
Remember to work quietly, to stay on task, and not to distract other groups.

3. Symbols Valley of Ashes Owl-Eyes Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg
The Colors Gold and Silver
Automobile
The Color Green
East Egg
The Color White
West Egg
The Color Gray

4. Object/Idea
Symbolic Significance
Example (including page reference)
Valley of Ashes
Eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg
Automobile
East Egg
West Egg
Owl-Eyes
The Colors Gold and Silver
The Color Green
The Color White
The Color Gray

5. Symbolic Significance Example (including page reference)
Object/Idea
Symbolic Significance
Example (including page reference)
Valley of Ashes
Poverty, barrenness, hopelessness
“…a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens…” (Fitzgerald, 23)
Eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg
Omniscient power, aware of everything, God is dead and people are now praying to money/capitalism
“But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg.” (Fitzgerald, 23)
Automobile
Destruction and recklessness, rise of industrialism comes with a quick fall
“In the ditch beside the road, right side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupe which had left Gatsby’s drive not two minutes before.” (Fitzgerald, 53)
East Egg
Fashionable, affluent, old-money and values
“Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water…” (Fitzgerald, 5)
West Egg
Wealth and material excess
“I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two…” (Fitzgerald, 5)
Owl-Eyes
Wisdom, the ability to see beyond appearances, omen of death/truth
“He snatched the book from me and replaced it hastily on its shelf, muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.” (Fitzgerald, 46)
The Colors Gold and Silver
Pretentious, glittery, but really an imitation. Distraction from true wealth
Gold = yellow, silver = white
“…and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in.” (Fitzgerald, 84)
The Color Green
Imitating false hope, the American dream, greed, envy, money
“ – he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way…Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light.” (Fitzgerald, 21)
The Color White
Innocence and purity, used ironically or sarcastically? Not to be trusted?
“They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” (Fitzgerald, 8)
The Color Gray
Death, mystery, ominous, secrets
“I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby’s bedroom a gray, florid man with a hard, empty face…” (Fitzgerald, 100)

6. Chapter 6 (finish reading and answer questions due tomorrow)
Who is James Gatz?
How was Dan Cody involved in shaping Gatsby into the man he is now?
Why did Gatsby not get the money that Cody left for him?
For what reason do you think Fitzgerald interrupted Gatsby’s story for the visit from the horseback riders? Why doesn’t Gatsby understand that he isn’t really welcome?
Why does Tom attend Gatsby’s party? What is ironic about this?
What does Gatsby want Daisy to do? What is Nick’s response?
Do you agree or disagree with this statement: “You can’t repeat the past”?