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Lesson 5

We will discuss our perceptions of the American Dream, how it has been depicted in various decades, and how The Great Gatsby might offer thematic commentary on that dream. We will also read and analyze a nonfiction essay from the 19th century about American prosperity and restlessness, making connections to the novel and to our current society.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of the central ideas of the Tocqueville essay?

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about Tocqueville’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in the essay?

  • Can I recognize points of connection between the ideas and perspectives in The Great Gatsby and the Tocqueville essay to make logical, objective comparisons?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner, 1925
  • Unit Reader
    • “Why the Americans Are so Restless in the Midst of Their Prosperity,” excerpt from Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, Public Domain, 1835

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

In a jigsaw, we will discuss our research about the American dream and how it has evolved over the decades.

Join one of several small expert groups organized by the various eras of American history in which notions of the American Dream developed.

With your expert group, share what you discovered from your homework research, explaining what the American Dream looked like at the time the article was written.

Next, form home groups containing a member from each of the expert groups. In chronological order by the dates of the eras you have studied or the articles you have each read, take turns sharing the important information about your articles. When every student has shared, discuss the following in your home group:

  1. Based on your research, how has the idea of the American Dream evolved?

  2. What elements of the American Dream have you seen so far in The Great Gatsby?

Discuss Question 2 as a class.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read, analyze, and discuss a short excerpt from a 19th-century essay that focuses on the restlessness of the American character. We will also examine the structure of a mentor sentence from the text.

Step 1

Read the excerpt “Why the Americans Are So Restless in the Midst of Their Prosperity” from the 19th-century text Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville.As you read, annotate the text and highlight important words or phrases that stand out or are challenging for you to understand.

As a class, do a close reading of the first two sentences of the excerpt, which present the essay’s thesis—a claim about the American character.

  1. What is the author saying about the behavior of “a native of the United States”? Summarize his commentary on the American character in your Learning Log.

Step 2

The first sentence of the second paragraph presents examples to explain and defend the author’s opening claim. Study the structure and meaning of this long sentence by breaking it into its parts (clauses separated by semicolons) as indicated below.

In the United States a man builds a house to spend his later years in it, and he sells it before the roof is on;

he plants a garden, and lets it [go] just as the trees are coming into bearing;

he brings a field into tillage, and leaves other men to gather the crops;

he embraces a profession, and gives it up;

he settles in a place, which he soon afterwards leaves, to carry his changeable longings elsewhere.

Discuss the following questions:

  1. What patterns do you observe in the opposing ideas and in the sentence structure in each of these linked clauses?

  2. In the first clause, what is the literal meaning of what the author says “a man” in the United States does?

  3. In another of the linked clauses that follow, what is the author literally saying?

  4. Overall, if we take the author’s examples as metaphorical or symbolic, what is he saying about Americans and their “restless spirit”? Do you agree?

In your Learning Log, write a sentence about the American Dream based on your research that follows the pattern of de Tocqueville’s sentence (or of one of his clauses).

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will make connections among de Tocqueville’s essay, what we have learned about the American dream, and The Great Gatsby.

Join a reading team and share with your reading team the sentence you wrote. Discuss the views of Americans you have presented and how your perspectives compare to de Tocqueville’s.

As a team, read through the rest of the excerpt and find another claim about Ameircans that stands out to you. Interpret and summarize what you think the author is saying. Then find a sentence or sentences following that claim in which the author develops and explains his idea (as he has in the earlier example you analyzed as a class). Discuss whether you agree with the author, and why.

Present the claim you have identified to the class, explaining what you think the author is saying and how he explains or develops his idea. Share your team’s opinion about whether you agree with de Tocqueville.

As a class, discuss the ideas that you have identified in this essay in relation to your earlier discussion of the American Dream and your reading of The Great Gatsbyso far.

Activity 4: Read – Write – Discuss

We will delineate de Tocqueville’s argument in this excerpt.

In your groups, use the Delineating Arguments Tool to analyze the essay. Discuss with your group your responses to the following questions:

  1. Based on your reading so far, how might de Tocqueville’s perspective compare to Fitzgerald’s perspective on the topic?

  2. To what extent do you agree or disagree with de Tocqueville and his text’s ideas?

  3. Do you think that his claims ring true in today’s America?

  4. Do you see any connections between de Tocqueville’s ideas and things you are reading in The Great Gatsby? Cite details from both texts to support your conclusion.