The Great Gatsby Discussion

Discussion Items Characters Setting Plot Theme Mood/Structure Fictional Technique Historical Context F. Scott Fitzgerald’s biography Your Point of View

Setting The time and place in which a narrative takes place; the physical and psychological background against which the action of a story takes place; the scenery and stage effects for a dramatic production. – Environment: The surrounding things, conditions, and influences in the narrative. – Place: The physical location of the narrative. Place – Time: The period or era in which the narrative takes place.

Setting as Means to Convey Theme Midwest vs. East West Egg - where Nick and Gatsby live, represents new money East Egg - where Daisy lives, the more fashionable area, represents old money The City - New York City, where the characters escape for work and play The Valley of Ashes - between the City and West Egg, site of Wilson’s gas station

East vs. West The East is corrupt. The West is innocent. Nick, Jordan, Tom, and Daisy are all from the West. The image of the West in America: the frontier, possibility, Hollywood. Nick remembers life in the Midwest, full of snow, trains, and Christmas wreaths, and thinks that the East seems grotesque and distorted by comparison.

Nick’s Memory of the Middle West

East: Setting Based on Real Places

Queens and Long Island The Valley of the Ashes is modeled on the city dump Fitzgerald passed many times, traveling between Manhattan and Great Neck. The huge fading eyes of T. J. Eckleburg convert a commonplace eyesore into a vast metaphor of modern desolation and futility. Great Neck is refashioned into West Egg. Manhasset is turned into East Egg (where the sun rises).

NYC In Manhattan: action takes place in specific locations. Tom's love nest is on west 158th Street. Nick first encounters Meyer Wolfshiem in a cellar restaurant on Forty-second Street. Nick dines at the Yale Club and often strolls afterward "down Madison Avenue past the old Murray Hill Hotel, and over Thirty-third Street to the Pennsylvania Station.” Wolfshiem's office is on frenzied Broadway. The main characters assemble at the Plaza Hotel, which Tom specifies as being on the south side of Central Park.

After Jordan tells Nick about Daisy and Gatsby…

Classwork Find quotations that describe settings. Look for contrasts between east and west, night and day, rain and sun. Notice the sensory details and the language that FSF uses to develop these settings. Note at least five quotations about setting. Then…

Classwork Choose your favorite quotation. Note the first and last words and page number. Do a LIP Analysis: – Literal translation: rewrite the text in Nutley English – Interpret: explain how the setting conveys a specific message or theme – Personal connection: make it yours. Draw an illustration, map or a diagram, or Write a detailed description of the setting as you imagine it.

By Lucy Bowes: