Monday: Final Timed Passage Analysis for The Great Gatsby

Today you were given a passage from either chapter 8 or 9 to closely analyze, examining the use of rhetorical, literary, and stylistic devices.

Here is "refresher" of some devices you might have chosen to write about:

Rhetorical Devices:

allusion

analogy

anaphora

antithesis

asyndeton/polysyndeton

chiasmus

metaphor

parallelism

hyperbole/understatement

zeugma

rhetorical question

satire

paradox

irony

foil

parody

rhetorical appeals

organization/structure

Stylistic Devices:

diction

imagery

figurative language

tone

syntax

Literary Devices:

symbolism

characterization

imagery

ambiguity

plot

theme

narrator

setting 

mood

Gatsby's Glasses and the end of the novel

Thursday we worked hard to try to articulate the main argument of Siri Hustvedt's essay on The Great Gatsby by using the Graff Template.  Here is the link to the handout: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0zERdqb5ufTSEJzNTBqcUlVUFU/edit?usp=sharing

Friday we began by discussing this prompt: 

F. Scott Fitzgerald crafted Nick Carraway as a “perfect narrator.”  But Nick does have imperfections.  Examine his imperfections and discuss how they affect the outcome of the novel.  Is one more important than the other?  Do they compliment each other?  How do they play off his “cardinal virtue” of honesty?   Consider how there were contradictions and imperfections in the society and culture of the 1920’s as a point of comparison.  Write an essay that examines imperfections in society and in Nick Carraway.

Then we read and discussed the questions on the handout in the packet with Gatsby's Glasses titled "Land of the Free, Home of the Dream."  Filling that out will help you with your analysis on Monday.

Also, read HUCK FINN to page 68 (or the end of chapter 11) for FRIDAY.  

Tuesday: Chapter 8

Character Foils

Today we will begin rereading closely the section about Nick's birthday from Chapter 7. 

What do you notice after a careful rereading? Use padlet so we can see: http://padlet.com/wall/noinj6vcg9

"Now he found he had committed himself to the following of a grail."  (chp 8)

Discuss how this word choice affects your understanding of Gatsby's motivation so far.

The last four paragraphs of Chp 8:  What's going on here?

Chapter 7: It's all in the EYES

Reviewing and Revising Claims

Today we will be reviewing the posts you made this weekend for Chapter 7 on collaborizeclassroom: http://goo.gl/mqbyB9

Then, we will be examining references to EYES in chapter 7.  Here is a link to our padlet exercise:

2nd period:http://padlet.com/wall/gvwhnvx4f3
6th period: http://padlet.com/wall/nod289d238

Tomorrow, we will be working on a dissecting a passage from chapter 8, and reviewing EYES, as well as Nick's passage about turning 30...

FRIDAY's Class: Gatsby's romanticism

We reviewed some key moments from Chapter 5 today in class before we took on Chapter 6.

One thing that you MUST consider when carefully analyzing a passage is its CONTEXT.  In order to fully grasp what is going on at the end of Chapter 6, we must look carefully at a particulary dense passage from the beginning of this chapter : Chapter 6 passage-part one

Monday we will return to that passage you wrote about yesterday in order to revise our thinking about what it means....

This weekend, please log on and register to http://jlamonte.collaborizeclassroom.com
Click REGISTER NOW and complete the form (no email address required).

I will have to approve your registration first.  Check back later and try to answer at least one of the discussion questions about CHAPTER 7 posted there.

Robert Redford (1974)                            Leonardo di Caprio (2013)

Thursday: "She blossomed for him like a flower..."

Timed writing practice

Today I am asking you to write an analysis of the last 4-5 paragraphs of chapter 6 in The Great Gatsby so that I can give you feedback and so you can have practice gathering and organizing your thoughts during and after a close reading of text.  If you were absent today, I have a copy of the passage, but you can do this without it; simply start with the paragraph: 

"He talked a lot about the past...." to the end.

Prompt:  Read the passage and in a well-organized essay discuss how Fitzgerald uses literary (symbolism, irony, characterization, point of view) and rhetorical techniques (imagery, diction, syntax, tone) to convey meaning (this is the "purpose" in non-fiction texts)....

Try using the close reading scaffolding to get your thoughts in order.

Wednesday: CHAPTER 5

"None of it was any longer real"...

Today you will be working on answering some text-specific questions about chapter 5.  I would like you share your answer to the last question on https://todaysmeet.com/Gatsby5

Feel free to continue the conversation, as long as you keep it appropriate (Kevin, I am talking to you).

Please read chapter 6 tonight for timed writing practice tomorrow. 

Tuesday: Share and Respond

Gatsby: Chapters 3 & 4

If you have a tablet or smartphone, please sign on to todaysmeet.com/lamonteap to respond to the assertions presented today.  

Tomorrow, you will be asked to present your assertions about chapter 5 on a different site:

jlamonte.collaborizeclassroom.com

"Spectroscopic Gayety" and Gatsby's Parties

The Great Gatsby: 

"Instead of rambling this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobilty of the countryside--East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety."

                                spectroscopic: radiated energy, visible light dispersed through a wavelength

Journal Warm-up: Review 1 & 2

Contrast the Buchanan evening with the New York party.

Close Reading

You will be assigned a number up to 9 today. Reread the passage marked below and fill out the "close reading" handout.  Then share with the other classmates who share the same number as you.  At the end of class, I would like you to share your best assertion with the class and/or turn it in to me.

Here are the passages for our close reading group practice for chapters 3 & 4:

Chp 3:

#1: "There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights...." to "The party has begun." (paragraphs 1-6)

#2: "'Let's get out,' whispered Jordan..."  to "We shook hands with him gravely and went back outside." (paragraphs 38-58)

#3: "I was still with Jordan Baker" to "...and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby's head for one link." (paragraphs 60-93)

#4:  "But as I walked down the steps I saw that the evening was not quite over..." to "...the figure of the host who stood on the porch his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell."

#5: "For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker..."  to "I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."

Chp 4:

#6: "On Sunday morning while church bells rang..." to "All these people came to Gatsby's house in the summer." (paragraphs 1-10)

#7: "At nine o'clock one morning late in July..." to "Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder."

#8: "Roaring noon." to  "I turned toward Mr. Gatsby, but he was no longer there."

#9: "One October day in nineteen-seventeen---" to "Her wan scornful mouth smiled and so I drew her up again, closer, this time to my face."

FRIDAY POST: Chapter 1 & 2

Link to Lesson 10 Words ( in case you missed them): http://quizlet.com/1385914/lesson-10-book-3-flash-cards/

Today we discussed the passage from chapter 1 that you looked at on Wednesday, looking at how you move from close analysis to big idea.

 We started to talk about the Valley of the Ashes and T.J. Eckleburg as well.

Continue reading chapter 4 this weekend.  We will study passages from 3 and 4 on Monday.

Tuesday: "The High-Bouncing Lover"

Beginning The Great Gatsby

Here is a link to an online version of the novel: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/

Today we began the novel, looking closely at how Fitzgerald chose to begin the novel.  We read the first 4 paragraphs closely, looking for information about our narrator.

REMINDERS:

Finish and submit your RA tonight on my dropbox.  (don't forget to share it with me first: jenlamonte@gmail.com)

Read chapter 1 if you can.  Tomorrow I will give you time to take vocab notes on Lesson 10 and expect you to answer questions about chapter 1.  Make sure you have read chapter 2 by Thursday, and chapter 3 by Friday.