Lesson 7

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

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

Materials

Tools

• The Great Gatsby: Culminating Task Checklist

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Vocabulary Journal

Reference Guides

• Claims Reference Guide

Question Sets

• The Great Gatsby: Question Set 5.7

Editable Google Docs

• The Great Gatsby: Culminating Task Checklist

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• The Great Gatsby: Question Set 5.7

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will review our essay drafts, annotating the verbs we have used while talking about the novel, making our claims, and integrating textual evidence.

Review the draft of your essay, highlighting the verbs you have used while talking about the novel, making your claims, and integrating textual evidence.

As a class, discuss what you have noticed and learned about the use of verbs in literary analyses from the Claims Reference Guide and from reading essays by literary critics, as listed below:

• The verbs used in stating a claim should be as active and powerful as possible. (See the Claims Reference Guide for a list of effective verbs.) Example:

  • Fitzgerald blurs the reader’s sense of characters and events by recounting his story through the eyes and words of Nick Carraway, who may or may not be considered a reliable narrator.

• The verbs used to discuss characters, events, themes, and the author’s choices should be in the present tense. Examples:

  • Gatsby commits his life to a dream that is unattainable for him.

  • Myrtle’s “accidental” death serves as the climax and turning point in the novel’s narrative.

  • Fitzgerald presents the repeated image of Eckleberg’s haunting eyes as an ironic symbol (or motif) of the blindness exhibited by many of the novel’s characters.

• Only when discussing the history of the novel or the author’s life should the past tense be used: Examples:

  • The original cover for The Great Gatsby was designed by Cugat to represent motifs central to the novel.

  • Fitzgerald debated among several titles before accepting The Great Gatsby as a final choice.

Review your essay with an editing partner. Study the verbs you have used throughout your essay, considering both their tense and their strength. Change any verbs in the incorrect tense to the correct one. Consider alternative verbs that will strengthen the claim statements you have made.

Finish revising your choices of verbs for homework as you complete and publish your final draft.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will review the conventions of punctuation and parenthetical citation for using quotations as evidence in our essays.

As a class, review examples of integrated quotations from the four literary analysis essays or other sources selected by your teacher. Discuss the following question:

1. What are the various ways in which quotations are included and integrated in a literary analysis essay?

Notice how quotations are sometimes integrated (and punctuated) within a sentence and are sometimes formatted as separate, indented paragraphs. Discuss the conventions for when to do each of these things. Discuss the following question:

2. How do writers of literary analyses cite quotations from a novel? From other critical sources?

Review how writers, such as Donaldson, have included parenthetical page citations from the novel within their essays. Discuss how to cite a critical source such as one of the essays you have read in the formatting favored by your teacher and school.

Review your essay with a partner, paying attention to all of the quotations you have used. Look for places where you need to change punctuation or indicate a parenthetical citation.

Finish revising the editing of punctuation and citations for homework as you complete and publish your final draft.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will review the academic vocabulary and writing techniques in our essays.

Review your Vocabulary Journal. Now skim your essay again. Be sure that you have incorporated relevant terms from your Vocabulary Journal in your essay. If the ideas in your essay could be improved by using more precise language, make the revision.

Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Scan your essay to make sure you incorporated at least one writing technique that you have studied over the course of the unit. If the ideas in your essay could be improved by using a more effective writing technique(s), make the revision.

Activity 4: Write

We will finish writing and revising our literary analysis essay.

Review the Culminating Task Checklist for a final time, which will be the basis for the evaluation of your literary analysis. Using these expectations as a checklist, review your draft to determine how well you think you have accomplished each expectation. (Note: You might want to do this with an editing partner.)

Finish any final needed revising and editing of your literary analysis essay. When you are finished, proofread the essay to check for typos and spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Activity 5: Write

We will complete the formatting of and publish and submit our Culminating Task literary analysis essay.

Check that your formatting is in line with your school’s formatting guidelines. Prepare to submit and publish your Culminating Task essay according to your teacher’s instructions.