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Lesson 3

We will read and discuss Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby, further analyzing the description and mood of the party scene and examining the initial development of Gatsby’s character.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among the settings and characters in Chapter 3?

  • Can I evaluate the effects of literary devices in Chapter 3?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner, 1925

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will discuss the reading of the beginning of chapter 3 we did for homework, our responses to the guiding questions, and what we have written down on our setting Note-Taking Tools.

With a partner, discuss your reading of pages 39-49 of The Great Gatsby, your responses to the homework guiding questions, and your notes.

  1. What kind of mood does Fitzgerald create in this scene?

  2. How does Fitzgerald use language and other details to create this mood?

  3. What might be the significance of the scene in the library with Owl Eyes? How might this scene relate to the valley of ashes scene and the image of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg? What details from the text support your conclusion?

As a class, discuss the various ways in which you might describe the mood(s) of this party scene. Identify places and circumstances in which the mood shifts as well as important details associated with the shifts.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will use the Vocabulary in Context Tool to help us understand the meanings of unfamiliar words as we read.

Your teacher will provide you a list of words from the novel. Write down the list of words in your Vocabulary Journal. You will work with a partner to determine the meaning of the words. Use the Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, use another strategy, such as morphology or a reference material.

After you have determined the meaning of the words, work with a partner or group to respond to the vocabulary exercises, as directed by your teacher.

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine the initial introduction and development of gatsby’s character in chapter 3.

Return to the Character Note-Taking Tool you set up for Gatsby earlier in the unit. On your own, write down comments and details from Chapter 3 that reference Gatsby and characters’ comments about him.

Reread the passage in which Nick describes and then asks questions about Gatsby (pp. 48-49, beginning with “He smiled understandingly” and ending with “At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”)

Focus on the following sentences, in which Nick continues to describe Gatsby’s smile:

It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.

  1. What overall perception of Gatsby’s smile is Nick conveying?

  2. What are the verbs he associates with the smile? How do they convey his feelings about Gatsby?

  3. How are the two sentences structured? How do repetition and sequencing of verb phrases develop the description?

  4. How do these sentences contrast with the description that follows them?

Write down and analyze key details from these sentences and the rest of the descriptive paragraph. Thinking about the following question, form a new claim about Gatsby’s character, as presented by Nick:

  1. What do Nick’s contrasting descriptions of Gatsby suggest about Gatsby? About Nick’s perceptions as a narrator?

As a class, share and compare your claims about Gatsby and Nick—referencing the evidence from the text that led to them.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss

We will read the rest of chapter 3 and discuss the shifting mood that occurs toward the end of the party scene.

Read pages 49-59 together in class, beginning with “There was the boom” and continuing until the end of the chapter. As you read and listen, think about the following questions:

  1. How would you describe Gatsby’s party guests and their interactions? What evidence from the text supports your interpretation?

  2. Beginning with Nick’s statement, “I was alone and it was almost two,” how does the mood shift from earlier descriptions of the party? What details contribute to this shift in mood?

  3. What might be the point or purpose of the car accident scene? How do you know?

  4. On page 55, the narration of the party scene shifts to Nick’s reflection on his own life with the statement beginning, “Reading over what I have written so far.” What might be the purpose of this self-conscious shift in the narration of the story?

  5. What do we learn about Nick, as a character and as a narrator, from this shift?

  6. How does Nick characterize his relationship with the East Coast? With Jordan Baker? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

Discuss and compare your various responses to these questions. Following the class reading and discussion, update your Character Note-Taking Tool for Nick.

Activity 5: Read

For homework, we will read the opening part of Chapter 4.

For homework, read and annotate pages 61-74 of Chapter 4 (from the beginning of the chapter until “I turned toward Mr. Gatsby, but he was no longer there”). Think about the following questions as you update your Character Note-Taking Tools for Gatsby and Nick:

  1. What are some of the rumors about Gatsby revealed in this section?

  2. What statements that Gatsby makes cause Nick to be skeptical? What evidence from the text supports your conclusion?

  3. How does the scene with Meyer Wolfsheim complicate Nick’s understanding of and relationship with Gatsby?

  4. Who do you think Wolfsheim might be? What might be his significance in Gatsby’s life and story? What evidence from the text supports your conclusion?

Be sure to write down new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal and identify and write down sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned in your Mentor Sentence Journal.