The American Dream

Chapter 4

1. The introductory section of Chapter 4 gives a long roster of those who attended Gatsby’s parties. How do they behave toward their host? Why, then, do they accept his hospitality?

2. Describe Gatsby’s car.

3. Discuss the details that Gatsby shares with Nick about his past.

4. Does Nick believe Gatsby’s story? Why or why not?

5. Who is Meyer Wolfsheim? What seems to be his connection with Gatsby?

6. Jordan Baker tells Nick about Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom. Summarize the story.

7. Explain the epigraph on the title page of the novel (“it’s the quote”). What does it reveal about Gatsby and his love for

Daisy?

8. Do we know why Gatsby has so many parties? Why did he buy the house? Explain.

9. What new meaning do you see in the last two paragraphs of Chapter 1? What does Nick mean when he says, “Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on the June night”?

10. When Gatsby spoke to Jordan in his library in Chapter 3, he had devised a plan involving Nick. What was it? Why did he not ask Nick directly?

Chapter 5

1. Gatsby’s actions in preparing for Daisy’s arrival seem both flamboyant and absurd. What does he do? Why?

2. Discuss Gatsby’s actions once Daisy arrives. How do we know he is nervous? How does he try to impress her?

3. Toward the end of the chapter, Nick attempts to explain “the expression of bewilderment that had come back into Gatsby’s

face.” What explanation does Nick give? Why, in his opinion, is Daisy not at fault?

4. Describe Daisy’s reactions during the course of her meeting with Gatsby.

5. Has Nick been affected by the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy? In what way?

Chapter 4 Notes

umor #4 - "He's bootlegger"
Rumor #5 - "One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil."

Nick has a timetable effective July 5th 1922.  It is an old timetable now, but on it he had written all the names of people that came to Gatsby's parties.  Within the list are tales of drunks (and fights), names of history (Stonewall Jackson Abrams, Mrs. Ulysses Swett), and people from the movies.  Mrs. Ulysses S. Swett's automoblie runs over Ripley Snells hand (another automobile accident).

There is also Klipspringer.  Known as "the boarder" because he is at Gatsby's house so often.

One morning in late July, Gatsby comes to ask Nick to lunch.  There's a big description of Gatsby's car: "a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes...terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns."  (this is important)

On the way to town, Gatsby tells Nick his back story: 1) Gatsby went to Oxford.  "It's a family tradition."   2) His family is from the mid-West and all died.  3) He lived in all the capitals of Europe as a young man.  4) He was a 1st lieutenant in the war and in the Argonne Forest took "two machine-gun detachments so far forward that there was a half-mile gap on either side of us..."  He became a war hero and won a medal from Montenegro.  (Question: how much of this is truth?)

On the way to town, the police stop him and Gatsby waves a Christmas card from the Police Commissioner.  The cop apologizes and Gatsby continues.

At lunch Nick meets Mr. Wolfsheim.  Mr. Wolfsheim relates the murder at the old Metropole (allusion) and talks about how he made Gatsby (that is after Gatsby takes a phone call).  Wolfsheim has cuff buttons made from human molars.  After Wolfsheim leaves, Gatsby explains to Nick that Wolfsheim is a gambler, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series (allusion to Arnold Rothstein).

Gatsby wants Nick to talk to Jordan about something he'd like Nick to do for him.

Later, Jordan tells Nick the back story of Gatsby and Daisy.  We learn that Daisy's maiden name is Fay.  (Fay is a fairy.  Think of Daisy's voice.  It can also be the female version of faith.  Gatsby faith in his dream.  Both work here).

Daisy, like a lot of young girls, entertain men heading off for war.  She meets Gatsby who is nearby at Camp Taylor and the two fall for each other.   She's even found to be "packing her bag...to go to New York to say good-by to a soldier who was going overseas" (Gatsby).  After the Armistice, she had her debut (or coming out party - a Southern tradition) and was soon engaged to Tom Buchanan of Chicago.  Tom gave Daisy a string of pearls valued at $350,000 (in 1919).  Compare this necklace to the dog collar of Myrtle.  Similar thing going on, but one is worth more.

She received a letter from Gatsby the night of the marriage and gets "drunk as a monkey".  She tells Jordan to take the necklace "down-stairs and give 'em back to whoever they belong to.  Tell 'em Daisy's change her mind."

Daisy gets married the next day to Tom anyway.

For a while everything is fine, until in Santa Barbara "Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night, and ripped a front wheel off his car.  The girl who was with him got into the papers, too, because her arm was broken - she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel."  (Two things here 1) This is one of Tom's other affairs; and 2) Another car wreck).

After this wreck, Daisy has her daughter.

Gatsby, after he returned from the War, searched for Daisy until he brought "that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay."  He threw parties in hope that Daisy would come to one, and then began asking around if anyone knew Daisy.  Ironically Jordan is the first person that knew anything about Daisy.  Gatsby would like Nick (this is the favor) to ask Daisy to his small house for tea so that Gatsby can later so off his "big mansion".

Nick states, Gatsby "came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor".  Ah - womb = eggs = dreams.  Purposeless splendor is an oxymoron.  Gatsby does have purpose: a single force driving purpose, Daisy.

Jordan tells Nick that Daisy "should have something in her life."

And Nick ends the chapter by kissing Jordan. 

Nick Carraway – (narrator), claims to be non-judgmental and this has made him “privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.”

Is from the West and moved to the East.  His family is in the hardware business.  He claims that he is descended from the “Dukes of Buccleuch” (look this up).

He is descended or claims to be descended from aristocracy.  His family is probably upper-middle class.  He works for a living. 

Was in World War I (The Great War).  Graduate from YALE (New Haven).  He works selling bonds.

Nick seems to be a reliable narrator but he does have moments.

“Midas, Morgan, and Maecenas” (page 4) – allusion (look up).

Eggs – West Egg and East Egg (these are in the Long Island Sound).  There is the egg in the Columbus Story (Columbus story).

Birth – the idea of infinite possibilities, dreams.  Before the egg is hatched anything can happen.

Setting: East and West Egg; June 7^th 1922. 

Tom: Yale – extremely rich (he inherited).  Played football – “one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven – a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax.” 

“They had spent a year in France for no particular reason and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.”

  “I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.”

Tom Buchanan – has a girl in New York (she’ll be important) and is a racist. 

Daisy “Fay” Buchanan – “there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered “Listen,” a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.” 

From Louisville, the South.  She is from a rich aristocracy (a south family that probably owed a plantation). 

Jordan Baker – golf player.  From Louisville.  Single – symbol of the “new” woman of the 1920s.  Has a male name.  Foreshadow: Nick remembers a “critical, unpleasant story” about Jordan that he heard somewhere.

Jay Gatsby – at the end reaching out his had for the green light.

“No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interested in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.” 

Myrtle Wilson (Tom’s girl). 

Chapter 2

Settings: Valley of Ashes and New York City

Valley of Ashes is both an allusion (to T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land – a poem that refers back to World War I, and turns London into a city of the dead, spiritually dead) and a symbol.  The Valley of Ashes is were “dreams” die and the spiritually dead live. 

In the Valley of Ashes another symbol resides: The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg.  A symbol to eyes of God (though God is dead). 

In the Valley of Ashes live George and Myrtle Wilson.

George Wilson is a sick, anemic man.  He is of the working class and he has failed in life.  He owns a poor little gas station.  He hopes – or dreams – of buying Tom’s car so that he can sell it for a profit and move west.  As one point in this chapter, Myrtle “smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom…”

Myrtle Wilson is Tom’s “girl”.  Tom is using her for a fling.  Tom has rented Myrtle an apartment in Manhattan (New York) and in this apartment Myrtle dreams.  Her dream is to escape her working class life and become wealthy and live like the wealthy. 

On the way to the apartment, Tom buys Myrtle a dog.  This “dog” will be an allusion (keep this in mind for the end of the novel).  Myrtle in reality is Tom’s dog.   There’s a reference about a dog collar later in the chapter.  Who is this collar for?

At Myrtles (or Tom’s) apartment a party happens.  Myrtle invited up the Mckees and her sister Catherine.

Mr. McKee is a photographer – a poor photographer. 

Catherine is around thirty, slender, and “worldly” (not).  She’s a gossip. 

Catherine gives the first rumor about Gatsby – “he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s.” 

Catherine also presents a lie about Tom and Daisy’s marriage: “Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to” (this in reference to Tom and Myrtle).  “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart.  She’s a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce.”

Myrtle, of course, challenges (after an afternoon of drinks) Tom’s marriage by yelling “Daisy Daisy Daisy” over and over.  Tom, showing her that Myrtle is beneath Daisy and that his marriage isn’t to be question, breaks her nose. 

New York City is the place in this book where dreams run into reality. 

Versailles (what happens there) is mentioned a few times in this chapter as is Town Tattle and Simon Called Peter

 

Gatsby's Party

Nick Carraway is invited to his party, but he claims to be one of the few.  People at Gatsby's party's at "according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks."  A chauffeur in a "uniform of robin's egg blue" (is this important?) brings Nick the invitation.

Gilda Gray - Follies (allusion -Ziegfield Follies).  Lots of mentions of automobiles in this chapter.

Nick quickly runs into Jordan Baker at the party.  Jordan is with a younger man who is still in college (there is a reason for this - he is "a persistent undergraduate given to violent innuendo").  Nick and Jordan sit with a few girls who share some gossip:

1) One rip her dress at a former party and Gatsby sent her a new one worth $265 - because "He doesn't want any trouble with anybody"

2) Rumor #2 - Gatsby had "killed a man once."  Gatsby's name = BY GATs

3) "He was a German spy during the war".  Rumor #3

The three girls are all with girls named "Mr. Mumbles" (this is a joke).

Jordan and Nick go to Gatsby's library where they meet OWL EYES (think of the name).  Owl Eyes tells them that Gatsby's library is full of real books, but the pages are uncut.

Owl Eyes is in the library because he's "been drunk for about a week" and  he "thought it might sober" him up "to sit in the library."  Mrs. Claud Roosevelt brought him.  Allusion.

Nick later accidentally meets Gatsby.  Gatsby recognizes him from the war and uses the phrase "Old Sport" a lot.

Gatsby's smile "was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance".  The butler comes and tells Gatsby that Chicago is on the line.

Jordan than tells Nick - Rumor #4 - that Gatsby claims to be an Oxford man.  She doesn't believe him.

Mr. Tostoff's "Jazz History of the World" plays out in the Gardens (allusion - think Jazz Age and famous musicians).

There are a bunch of "drunken" fights as husbands tried to get there wives to leave.  Nick then witnesses a car crash with someone so drunk that they don't even know that they crashed and the wheel of the car is no longer connected.  (1st mention of car crashes)

Nick and Jordan after a while begin dating.  He says, "I felt a sort of tender curiosity."  At a house-party in Warwick, Nick reports, Jordan borrowed a car and left it in the rain with its top down and then lied about it (not a car wreck - but close and due to someone being careless.  This is also Jordan's 1st "lie" that the reader becomes aware of).  Nick quickly remembers what "eluded me that night at Daisy's.  At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers --a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round."  The caddy withdrew his statements and it was dropped, but there it was.  According to Nick, "Jordan instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men" (ah - so back to the undergrad).  "She was incurable dishonest...and wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage."

Then - Jordan drove so close to a workman that the fender flicked a button on the man's coat.  Nick tells her that she is a rotten driver and should be more careful.  Jordan responds that it takes two to make an accident (love is a car wreck metaphor).

Nick: "Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself."
Jordan: I hope I never will.  I hate careless people.  That's why I like you."

Nick claims at the end of the chapter that he is one of few honest people that he has known.  (interesting statement.  He says it after admitting he needs to break it off with some girl back West who he has been writing letters and signing them "Love Nick".

 

Learning Goal: Demonstrate knowledge of early-twentieth century foundational works of American Literature by relating a text to the historical time period and discussing the distinct features of Modernism found in the text.
 
Essential Questions: What is Modern?  Can ideals survive Catastrophe?  How can people honor their Heritage?  What drives Human Behavior?

Texts: "The Love Song Of J. Afred Prufrock", poetry by Langston Hughes, "How it feels to be Colored Me", "Chicago", "The Death of the Hired Man", "A Worn Path", The Great Gatsby.

 

Monday: Read the overview of "The Harlem Renaissance and Modernism" and outline the effects of WWI, the Jazz Age, and the Great Depression on writers of the time.

 

The Themes:
1.This novel is filled with multiple themes but the predominate one focuses on the death of the American Dream. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. Through his dealings with organized crime he didn't adhere to the American Dream guidelines. Nick also suggests this with the manner in which he talks about all the rich characters in the story. The immoral people have all the money. Of course looking over all this like the eyes of God are those of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg on the billboard.
 

2.The second theme that needs to be acknowledged is the thought of repeating the past. Gatsby's whole being since going off to war is devoted to getting back together with Daisy and have things be the way they were before he left. That's why Gatsby got a house like the one Daisy used to live in right across the bay from where she lives. He expresses this desire by reaching towards the green light on her porch early in the book. The last paragraph, So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past reinforces this theme.
 

3.Fitzgerald was in his twenty's when he wrote this novel and since he went to Princeton he was considered a spokesman for his generation. He wrote about the third theme which is the immorality that was besieging the 1920's. Organized crime ran rampant, people were partying all the time, and affairs were common play. The last of which Fitzgerald portrays well in this novel.
 

4.The eyes of T. J. Eckleburg convey a fourth theme in this novel. George Wilson compares them to the eyes of God looking over the valley of Ashes. The unmoving eyes on the billboard look down on the Valley of Ashes and see all the immorality and garbage of the times. By the end of the novel you will realize that this symbolizes that God is dead. 

 THE JAZZ AGE:  THE ROARING TWENTIES

A brief backdrop to Fitzgerald’s the GREAT GATSBY

A time-line for discussion

Radio came into America in 1916 as independent stations in cities like Chicago and New York began broadcasting to small audiences.  During WWI the United States government took control of most radio stations for military use.

1917—The New Orleans Jazz Band recorded “Livery Stable Blues”.  It helped make jazz popular and introduced the record player to American society.  In a few years record players where like television sets—everyone had to have one.  The first records were under 3 minutes in time length.

1918 Nov. 11 1918 END OF WWI.  WWI brought disillusionment.  It seemed to most that technology had failed and brought massive graves.  People renew their vigor in leading alternative life styles—fast paced full of hedonism and living for the day instead of the future.

Jan 16 1920  the 18^th Amendment brought on the Prohibition.  The Prohibition lasted 13 years and introduced into America speakeasies, Organized Crime and bootlegging.  It was an era of fast money.

Thus began, as Fitzgerald said, “The most expensive orgy in history.”

1920 also introduced the 1^st commercial radio station.  By 1922 their were 670 commercial stations in the country.

Oct. 28 1929 The stock market crashed and the Jazz Age came to a close.

THE GREAT GATSBY was published in 1925 and the story takes place in the early 20s right after the close of WWI.

The novel is primarily about the failure of the American Dream.

'Resume'

Razors pain you; 
Rivers are damp; 
Acids stain you; 
And drugs cause cramp; 
Guns aren't lawful; 
Nooses give; 
Gas smells awful; 
You might as well live. 

Dorothy Parker

Observation

If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.

Dorothy Parker

 

SYMBOL: An image that represents a larger idea.  Usually a symbol is tied in with one of the themes of the novel

 

Some symbols

 

Valley of Ashes—represents spiritual death.  It is tied in with the Death of the American Game (or the death of Gatsby’s American Dream).  With the failure of the American Dream comes a spiritless wandering.  It also represents the spiritual wasteland that most people felt after WWI.  Technology, the great survivor of society, had failed and had become the great destroyer. 

 

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg—represents the lost of religion.  Ties in with the Valley of Ashes as it is a spiritless ghost that looks over the wasteland.  It also represents the failure of technology.  Because of WWI people feel the need to live for the moment. 

 

TIME—watch out for the mention of time.  Nick the narrator is very conscious of time and the passing of time.  Mark your book every time Nick mentions time, or time passing, or sees a watch, a clock, etc.  People are living for the moment, everyone except Gatsby. 

The Green Light at the end of the dock—this represents Gatsby dream: Daisy, and how close he has come to fulfilling it.

 Also - RUMORS.

Students reading The Great Gatsby will learn about social issues of America during the Roaring Twenties and the failure of the American Dream. In the novel we will look at characters and characterization, and see how they prove to be harsh, lively, compelling and most of all—human.

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the unit students will be able to

1) Define character development, irony, metaphor, personification, subplot, atmosphere and allusion and symbol
2) List all the characters that appear in the novel and describe their physical appearance, motivations, social class.
3) List various allusions and foreshadows and discuss what they mean in relation to plot.
4) List the various types of conflict that occur throughout the novel and discuss who the conflicts are between.
5) Keep a journal that outlines each chapter by listing setting (if applicable), characters, conflicts, and summaries.
6) List three themes and in a paragraph or more discuss how these themes work in the novel.
7) In an essay of a page or more discuss how Fitzgerald uses particular images or characters as symbols and discuss how these symbols reflect larger themes or ideas in the novel.
8) Outline the character development (inward change) of various characters (to be mentioned later).
9) List and outline four subplots in either novel.
10) List and outline the central plot.
11) In a paragraph or more discuss how social class or social problems fit in the novel and relate them to conflict and theme.
12) Pick out two or three examples of similes and/or metaphors and in a paragraph discuss how they are used.
13) Given a quotation identify the speaker.
14) Write various journal entries from different characters’ points of view, which demonstrates an understanding of the character and the character’s attitude towards life.

 

THE GREAT GATSBY STUDY QUESTIONS 

Chapter I

1. How does Nick describe himself at the beginning of the book?
2. Why has Nick come to the East?
3. How does Nick describe Tom Buchanan?
4. Who is Jordan Baker? What does Nick find appealing about her?
5. How does Daisy react to the phone calls from Tom’s woman in New York?? 6. What is Gatsby doing when Nick first sees him?
7. Notice how many times Fitzgerald uses the words hope, or dream. Why does he do this?
8. Nick starts the novel by relaying his father's advice "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." Does he reserve judgment in the novel?
9. Pay attention to time. What is the day and year during the first scene at Daisy's house?
10. Describe Nick. What facts do you know about him, and what do you infer about him? What kind of a narrator do you think he will be?
11. What image does the author use to describe Jordan Baker? What does it mean? 12. How does Nick react to Jordan?
13. What does Tom's behavior reveal about his character?
 
Chapter II
1. How does Nick meet Tom’s mistress?
2. How does Myrtle react to Tom’s arrival?
3. Describe George Wilson. How does he react to Tom’s arrival?
4. How does Myrtle behave as the party progresses?
5. Why, according to Catherine, has Tom not left Daisy to marry Myrtle?

6. Why did Tom break Myrtle’s nose? How is this consistent with the author’s description of him in Chapter I? Judging by his treatment of Myrtle and his wife Daisy, what seems to be Tom’s attitude toward women?
7. Describe the "valley of ashes." What does it look like and what does it represent? 8. Describe Mr. Wilson and Myrtle. Do they seem to fit into the setting?
9. What more have you learned about Nick in this chapter? Is he similar or different than the people he spends his time with?

Chapter III
1. Why does Gatsby throw huge, expensive parties for people he does not even know? 2. Describe the two ways in which Nick differs from the other guests at the party?
3. What does the owl-eyed man find extraordinary about the books in Gatsby’s library? 4. Why does the owl-eyed man describe Gatsby as a real Belasco?
5. What is the significance of the owl eyed man?
6. What does the reaction of the drivers of the wrecked automobile suggest about the values of Gatsby’s guests?
7. What does Nick learn about Jordan after he’s spent some time with her? 8. What is the significance of Jordan’s lies?
9. Pay attention to Nick's judgments. Whtado they reveal about his character that he does this (especially in relation to his opening comments)?
10. Describe Gatsby the first time Nick sees him.
11. What rumors have been told about Gatsby? Why does Fitzgerald reveal rumors rather than fact? 12. What does Nick think of Gatsby after meeting him?
13. How is Gatsby different from his guests?
14. Why does Nick choose to share his thoughts and feelings with Jordan?
15. Nick thinks he's one of the few honest people he knows, why? Do you thikn he is honest?

 

 

Vocabulary Words

1)    Wan

2)    Prodigality

3)    Feigned

4)    Languidly

5)    Colossal

6)    Complacency

7)    Levity

8)    Extemporizing

9)    Supercilious

10) Infinitesimal

11) Fractiousness

12) Incredulously

13) Contemptuously

14) Incurably

15) Cardinal

16) Pasquinade 

 

Essays

Today we are going to go over your essay and then begin your essays.  Note - essays should be 2-3 pages and will be due on Monday.  There is a rubric below.

Unit Learning goal: Students will demonstrate knowledge of nineteenth 

century foundation works of American Literature by analyzing satire in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and relating one of its main themes to another text and issue of the time. 

 

Scale/Rubric relating to learning goal:

4 – The student can analyze Mark Twain’s use of satire to address an issue of the day and compare/contrast multiple themes in the text with other texts of realism

3 – The student can analyze satire used in Huckleberry Finn and connect a major theme of the book to another text and issue of the time

2 – With some direction/help from the teacher the student can analyze the satire in Huckleberry Finn and connect the novel to a issue of the day

1 – Even with help from the teacher the student is unable to analyze satire or connect the novel to an issue of the day.

	A	B	C	D
FOCUS	Hook, Thesis Statement, Order of development are fresh and original, and connected to a theme.  Thesis is narrow and manageable.  Order is precise and helps develop one clear idea.  Hook and thesis are connected.	Hook, Thesis Statement and Order are present in the first paragraph.	There is a thesis statement but either it is not clear, or the order of development and/or hook is missing.	No thesis statement
Examples and Analysis	The examples from the source (text) not only back up the thesis but are introduced, explained and analyzed. The analysis shows depth of thought and insight into the text.	The examples used back up the main ideas of the essay.  The analysis offers some insight into the theme, but the depth is not necessary original.	The examples used don’t necessarily back up the thesis.  They are summative in nature and not exact.  The analysis doesn’t offer much if any depth into the text or is merely plot summary.	No Analysis and/or Examples
Voice/Word Choice	Point of view is evident.  Clear sense of audience.  Ideas are original.  Work is engaging.  Precise, fresh and original words.	Some sense of audience.  Conveys ideas to reader.  Ideas are not necessary original.  Uses favorite words correctly.  Some experiment with new words or SAT words.	Paper lacks energy.  Essay lacks focus and/or doesn’t persuade.  Language relies on repetition of the same words or there is an overuse of “to be” verbs.	Voice is not apparent, or doesn’t necessary seem that of the author.
Mechanics	No mistakes	One to five small mistakes that do not affect the reading of the essay	Five to ten mistakes	Numerous mistakes that impair reading

A – it is three pages or longer

B- It is at least two full pages in length

C – it is not quite two pages in length

D – it is under two pages

 

ESSAYS:

COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY: outline

Paragraph 1: Thesis Statement and order of development (you might even think about a hook)

HOOK:

THESIS:

ORDER:  1)

           

                2)

               3)

You can use either block or alternating paragraphs.

Block means you compare or contrast both characters in a paragraph.  Example: Pa Sexton and Granddaddy Cain react to problems differently.  You would show how they react to problems differently in a paragraph

Alternating Paragraphs

You could say Pa gets angry when confronted with problems and his eyes dance fire.  He doesn’t think he reacts with a violent temper.  This could be one paragraph.

The second paragraph would be about Granddaddy Cain.

Today we are going to read Emily Dickinson.  You will be required to choose one of the poems we read in class and write a paragraph (5-7 sentences with a topic sentence) about what you believe the poem means (please reference the poem in your writing).

Walt Whitman

2/11: Walt Whitman

Today we are going to look at Walt Whitman.  But first let's see if we can connect Huckleberry Finn to either Lincoln or Frederick Douglas?

Homework: questions 1-4, 6 on page 541.

FRIDAY

Today we are going to look at the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas" (pages 558 - 569) and answer questions 1-3, 5-7.

Today I will take any further questions on Huckleberry Finn and then we will read Abraham Lincoln.

He is a possible question from a future exam:

4) Discuss Lincoln's purpose in "The Gettysburg Address" and his "Second Inaugural Address".  Give a summary of the "Emancipation Proclamation" and how its form reinforces it idea.

So as we read today you need to figure out Lincoln's purpose in his two speeches, "The Gettysburg Address" and his "Second Inaugural Address" and write these purposes out with examples from that text on your blog.  (Each of these should be a paragraph).

Example - Abraham Lincoln's purpose in "The Gettysburg Address" is to......  This can be scene by his.... and ....  He uses these examples to reinforce the idea that .....


Lastly, for Friday you need to summary the "Emancipation Proclamation".

Emancipation Proclamation

The Gettysburg Address

Second Inaugural Address

Picarsque Novel: Usually a satirical novel which depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who survives by his or her wits in a corrupt society.

Bildungsroman: A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological and intellectual development of a youthful main character.

Episodic Plot: A structure that features distinct episodes or a series of stories linked together by the same character. Huck Finn can be broken up into 8 or 9 episodes.

Romanticism:
Work of literature that deal with imagination, that represent ideals of life, these works often include fantastic adventure stories, spiritual connections with nature, gothic stories of the fantastic. Authors include: Sir Walter Scott, Fenimore Cooper, Poe.

Realism:
Works of literature that depict life and people as they really appear. Hence Realistic.
Themes include corruption of society as a whole, racism.

Anithero:
A protagonist who doesn't fit the traditional description of a hero.

Persona:
An assumed identity or character.

Satire:
A work of literature that uses irony and hyperbole to attack and mock some aspect of society as a way to promote social change.

Study Questions

Movements

Hannibal
St. Petersburg

Movement 1:
Being in and around Petersburg.
(Civilization)
[[[Chapters 1-12]]]

Movement 2:
On the River
River adventures/Jim + Huck Outside of society
[[[Chapters 13-30]]]

Movement 3:
Return to Society
Phelp's Farm
Captives in Society
[[[Chapters 31-43 === Chapter the last]]]

Episode 1: Chapters 1-4

Episode 2: Chapters 5-8

Episode 3: Chapters 9-11

Episode 4: Chapters 12-16

Episode 5: Chapters 17-18

Episode 6: Chapters 19-20

Episode 7: Chapters 21-23

Episode 8: Chapters 24-30

Episode 9: Chapters 31-43

Huck Finn TEST

Today we are going to discuss your upcoming Test on Huckleberry Finn and look at the things you need to know.  Read 515-523 in your textbook (it's an overview of Realism).  Here is an outline for the rest of the Unit.

2/5 Review
2/6 Test on Huckleberry FINN

2/7 Lincoln: “The Emancipation Proclamation”; “The Gettysburg Address”; “Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address”

2/8 from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

2/11: Walt Whitman

2/12: Emily Dickinson

2/13: Begin Essays

2/19: Essays Due

Learning OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the novel students will be able to

1)    Define realism, satire, dialect, antihero, unreliable narrator, irony (situational, dramatic, and verbal), episodic plot, romanticism, dramatic foils, hyperbole, motif, picaresque novel, parable, sarcasm, simile, metaphor, oxymoron, allegory, euphemism, bildungroman

2)    Pick out examples of symbols, irony and dialect

3)    Example the meaning of at least one major symbol

4)    Discuss how Huck is both an unreliable narrator and an antihero

5)    Discuss how Huckleberry Finn, the novel, fits both a bildungsroman and picaresque novel

6)    Give examples of and discuss the following motifs in the book: superstition, parodies of previous literature (romantic novels and Shakespeare), the adopting of personas (or reinventing self), childhood games, religion, lies and cons, death, and perhaps one or two others that I will bring up in class

7)    Be out to pick out and example five – ten allusions

8)    Outline the plot according to the six elements

9)    Break up the book into three sections or three movements (and briefly explain each movement)

10) Break up the book into 9 episodes

11) Give a list of characters in the book with a brief description of each and their general purpose in the novel

12) Compare and Contrast Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer

13) Discuss the idea of and the historical reference of Family Feuds

14) Discuss the different types of conflict found in Huckleberry Finn

15) Discuss how Mark Twain uses allusions to back up his major themes and develop his characters

16)   Keep a list of Huckleberry Finns stories and pranks

17) Discuss how Huckleberry Finn is honest in dishonest world

18) Briefly explain the following themes: Racism and Slavery, Intellectual and Moral Education, The hypocrisy of society (appearance vs. reality), conflict between the individual and society, the quest for freedom (both freedom away from society and freedom within society), superstition vs religion, death and rebirth, coming of age and the hero’s journey, the concept of family, the role of the outsider, the nature and the significance of the following traits: gullibility, ignorance, and naivety, tolerance vs. prejudice.  

HUCKLEBERRY FINN TEST

Each question is worth 10 points.  200 points total

1)    Give two examples of the occurrence of Moses in the book and briefly discuss how it represents a main idea (or theme) or the novel.

2)    Give at least five examples of death (or the mentioning of death) and how these examples fit the theme of DEATH and REBIRTH.

3)    Give three examples of scenes that fit the individual vs. society theme and explain why they fit this theme.

4)    List the inciting event and the climax of the novel.

5)    List 9 episodes and give three events for each.

6)    For the following characters list what they did or why they are important in the novel.

King (the late Dauphin)

Duke of Bridgewater (or Bilgewater)

Ben Rogers

Judith Loftus

Colonel Sherburn

Harvey Wilks

7)    List three literary allusions in Huck Finn (please don’t use an author more than once) and discuss what the allusions reinforce (think main ideas or themes).

8)    List four ironies in the book and what they reinforce (think main ideas or themes).

9-12) Name the speaker of the following quotes and briefly discuss the significance of the quote:

“Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children—children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm”

SPEAKER:

SIGNIFICANCE:

“Is a cat a man?  Well den, dey ain’t no sense in a cat talkin’ like a man.  Is a cow a man?  Is a cow a cat?  Well den she ain’t got no business to talk like either one… Is a Frenchman a man?  Well den!  Dad blame it, why doan’ he talk like a man?”

SPEAKER:

SIGNIFCANCE”

“I’d been selling an article that takes the tartar off the teeth—an it does take it off, too, and generly the enamel along with it.”

SPEAKER:

SIGNIFICANCE:

“They call this a govment that can’t sell a free nigger till he’s been in the state six months…  Here’s a govment that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment and thinks it is a govment, and yet’s got to set stock-still for six whole months before it can take a-hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free nigger.”

SPEAKER:

SIGNIFICANCE:

13.   Discuss how Huckleberry Finn is both an unreliable narrator and an antihero.

14.   Discuss how Huckleberry Finn fits the definition of both a Bildungsroman and Picaresque novel.

15.   Discuss how personas are used in the novel (give five examples).  What is the underlying purpose of these personas?

16.   Give an example of dramatic foil in the novel and discuss the significance of this dramatic foil.  What idea(s) does this foil reinforce?

17.   How is Huck Finn, the novel, a satire?  Give examples?

18,  What is the major symbol of the novel?  Discuss how it is used?  What scenes or moments reinforce this idea?  What is Twain saying with this symbol about society?

19.Discuss the three movements of the novel (list chapter number within this discussion) and the main idea of each movement.

20.   List five Huck Finn stories (and their purpose).

Extra Credit:  (4 points each) must be completely right for credit.

21.   Name four people Huck pretends to be in the novel (full names)

22.   Explain how the items in the Grangerford’s house symbolizes the theme: Romanticism vs. Realism?

23.   Who is Miss Hooker (be exact)?

24.   What is significant about the Hairball episode?