1. The Great Gatsby
Chapter One

2. Starter
Draw a table which lists the advantages and disadvantages of first- person narration: (3 minutes)
Advantages
Disadvantages

3. Learning Intentions By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Identify evidence to suggest Nick will be a good narrator.
Identify evidence to suggest Nick will be an unreliable narrator.
Detail your initial impressions of Nick, Tom, Daisy and Jordan.
Explain the differences between East Egg and West Egg.

4. Nick’s Narration
This task should be completed by working in pairs (7 minutes).
Note down any evidence which suggests Nick will be a good narrator. Explain how your evidence creates this impression.
Note down any evidence which suggest Nick will be an unreliable narrator. Explain how your evidence creates this impression.
Based on your reading so far, do you think Nick should be trusted? Explain your reasons for answering in this way.

5. Characterisation
Write each of the following names at the top of a fresh jotter page:
Tom Buchanan
Daisy Buchanan
Jordan Baker

6. Tom Buchanan
On the page you have taken for Tom, write the sub-heading ‘First Impressions.’
Draw a mind map which includes everything you learn about Tom when he is first introduced (background, appearance, mannerisms etc.).
Underneath your mind map, copy and complete the following:
My first impression of Tom is that he is ________. I think this because _______________.

7. More about Tom
List as many negative aspects of Tom’s character as you find in the chapter.
Support each negative trait you identify with textual evidence.

8. Daisy Buchanan
‘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.’ Copy this quotation and then explain what impression it creates of Daisy as she is first introduced.

9. Daisy
Choose three of the adjectives from below which you think describe Daisy. Justify your choices with reference to the text:
Intelligent - Alluring - Manipulative
Charming - Disillusioned - Pessimistic
Self-aware - Shallow -Vain
Childlike - Bitter

10. Key Quotation
‘I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.’ Daisy is frustrated with the patriarchal society she is trapped in. Her intellect is given no outlet and she is treated as the inferior of her brutish husband who can cheat on her with impunity. She considers the world unalterable and desires that her daughter will be spared the pain inflicted upon her by Tom. The path to a pain free existence for a woman in 1920s America is here seen to be reduction to a mere ornament.

11. Jordan Baker ‘…completely motionless…’
‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I remember.’
What do these quotations suggest about Jordan and about the life of the upper class in America in general?
When Daisy argues with Tom, Jordan tries to hear what they are saying. What does this suggest about her character?

12. Gatsby
Although he is not directly involved in the chapter, Gatsby’s shadow looms large:
We learn that he is an idealist from Nick.
Jordan’s reaction to his name being unknown in the Buchanan household suggest that he is notorious.
His actions at the end of the chapter as he reaches towards a green light suggest a dynamic contrast to the inertness which characterises the residents of East Egg.

13. East Egg versus West Egg
Home to the Buchanans and Jordan
Home to Gatsby and Nick
Fashionable with elegant and tasteful mansions
Consists of gaudy, ostentatious and tasteless mansions
Residents belong to the traditional upper classes who have inherited vast fortunes.
Home to the ‘noveau rich.’ These people have made their fortunes rather than inherited it.

14. You can access further notes on chapter one at www. mrmcswegan
You can access further notes on chapter one at Ask any questions you may have in the comments section on this website. Comprehension questions for homework- due Monday.