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Section 3: Section Diagnostic

Write a multiparagraph response that analyzes a key scene from the novel, focusing on its presentation, development, meaning, and significance. The response should be organized by a thesis about the significance of the scene and developed through a series of evidence-based claims that present and explain your analysis of the scene. You should include specific references to the text and demonstrate that you can integrate quotations that support your analysis. Keep in mind the following question:

  1. How does Fitzgerald develop, contrast, and sequence scenes to complicate the plot of The Great Gatsby and build toward the novel’s climax and resolution?

Chapters 5–7 unfold through a series of dramatic scenes and vignettes that develop and complicate the characters’ stories, interactions, and conflicts and that further develop thematic ideas in the novel. Select one of the listed scenes and analyze its significance in The Great Gatsby, considering the following questions from the Scene Analysis section of Question Set 3.6.

Choose and examine one of the following scenes:

  • Chapter 5: Daisy and Gatsby are reunited at Nick’s house (pp. 81–89); Gatsby shows Daisy his house and his shirts (pp. 89–92).

  • Chapter 6: A flashback reveals Gatsby’s past as James Gatz (pp. 97–101); another flashback reveals the moment Daisy “blossomed for Gatsby like a flower” (pp. 109–111).

  • Chapter 7: Tom and Gatsby confront each other at the Plaza Hotel; they all drive “on toward death through the cooling twilight” (pp. 125–135).

  • Chapter 7: The events of the accident in front of Wilson’s garage are recounted; Tom and Nick discover what has happened; Tom reacts with tears and anger (pp. 136–141).

  • Chapter 7: The aftermath at Tom and Daisy’s house unfolds; Nick leaves and finds Gatsby outside the house; Nick observes Tom and Daisy in the kitchen and leaves Gatsby “watching over nothing” (pp. 141–145).

In your response, be sure to answer the following scene analysis questions:

  1. Summarize the scene: Where and when does the scene occur, whom does it involve, and what happens?

  2. Examine the narrative point of view: How is the scene presented, and how do its narrator’s perceptions and descriptions influence your reading?

  3. Analyze character relationships: What do we learn about the characters and their perceptions, interactions, and conflicts?

  4. Evaluate effects: How does description, imagery, symbolism, or dialogue contribute to the mood, atmosphere, and meaning of the scene?

  5. Make comparisons and connections: How does the scene present a contrast, or counterpoint, to other scenes in the novel? How is it connected to other scenes in developing the story?

  6. Interpret meaning: What theme or themes of the novel does the scene develop? What do you think Fitzgerald is suggesting?