12th Grade ELA | The Great Gatsby

Unit Summary

As students read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, they will conduct in-depth character analysis of Gatsby and evaluate how Fitzgerald uses the character of Gatsby, as well as other literary devices, to comment on the society and values of the American 1920s. Students will consider issues of social class and the impact of history and memory on the lives of the characters as well as on our own.

While we do not typically take a stand on whether reading is done in class or at home, this particular unit is most suited to students reading the majority of the novel at home, allowing class time for analyzing key excerpts as well as writing about and discussing the text. If teachers would like to read in class, they should allow for the number of lessons to be roughly double the estimate below.

Texts and Materials

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Core Materials

Book: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner, 2004)

Supporting Materials

Article: “"The Great Gatsby": Thirty-Six Years After” by A.E. Dyson (JSTOR)
Article: “8 Ways 'The Great Gatsby' Captured the Roaring Twenties - And Its Dark Side” by Sarah Pruitt (History.com)
Article: “Gatsby's Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers” by Sara Rimer (New York Times)
Movie: The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann, 2013

Text Selection Rationale

Purchase Books

Assessment

This assessment accompanies Unit 5 and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.

Download Content Assessment

Key Knowledge

Intellectual Prep

Suggestions for how to prepare to teach this unit

Intellectual Prep for English Lessons

Read and annotate the novel.
Read and annotate this unit plan and all paired passages.
Gather outside sources on World War I, the Jazz Age, and the Roaring Twenties if students have not previously studied these eras.

Intellectual Prep for AP Projects

Read and annotate the Supplementary AP Projects, and the articles and texts included.
Decide the pacing appropriate for your students. These projects can be integrated into the reading of The Great Gatsby or completed at the conclusion of the reading of the novel.
Select a print or online style guide that students will use to develop their own writing skills and style. See the following articles for ideas:
- AP English Language and Composition: Grammar Web Guide by CollegeBoard
- AP English Language and Composition: The Concept of Style by CollegeBoard
Review the basics of rhetorical analysis by reading What Do Students Need to Know About Rhetoric? by Hepzibah Roskelly.
Read the AP English Language and Composition 2005 Sample Student Responses.
Read the AP English Language and Composition 2005 Scoring Commentary.
Depending upon your level of familiarity with the CollegeBoard AP English Language and Composition exam, you may wish to spend more time exploring other resources on the College Board AP English Language and Composition Course website. If you are unfamiliar with FRQ 1, it is recommended that you begin by reading through the 2018 AP English Language and Composition Sample Student Responses and Scoring Commentary.

Essential Questions

The central thematic questions addressed in the unit or across units

Wealth and Social Class: How far can one go to break boundaries that separate the classes? How far should one go to break boundaries that separate the classes?
Memory and the Past: Is “the past” a boundary we cannot overcome (as Nick rationally argues, “you can’t repeat the past”) or is the future a boundary we cannot overcome (as Nick notes, we are “ceaselessly born back into the past” as the “future recedes before us”)?

Writing Focus Areas

Specific skills to focus on when giving feedback on writing assignments

Students will produce short written responses to each target task question in this unit. The focus is for students to produce short pieces that show a commitment to the task, purpose, and audience. This requires that they succinctly articulate their claim and provide brief but compelling evidence from the text(s) to support their analysis.

Spiraling Literary Analysis Writing Focus Area

Focus on Task: Comprehensive and consistently appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience
Analysis: Demonstrates effective and comprehensive reasoning
Evidence: Sophisticated and varied evidence that deepens insight on the topic

Vocabulary

Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text

Literary Terms

first-person narration, characterization, metaphor, irony, symbol, allusion, foreshadowing, motif, theme

Roots and Affixes

ol- (olfactory), som- (somnambulatory)

Text-based

Chapters 1–3: feign (1), levity (1), privy (1), elation (2), supercilious (7), fractiousness (7), unobtrusively (12), irreverently (9), cynical (16), peremptorily (19), involuntarily (21), transcendent (23), impenetrable (23), sumptuous (25), countenance (29), inexhaustible (35), innuendo (40), contemptuous (42), staid (44), florid (48), jaunty (52), subterfuge (58)

Chapters 4–6: incredulous (66), olfactory (68), somnambulatory (69), inconceivable (92), vitality (95), contemptuous (98), conceit (99), antecedents (101), ingratiate (101), lethargic (106), euphemism (106), incalculable (108), incarnation (111)

Chapters 7–9: obscurely (113), cynically (116), inexhaustible (120), boisterously (121), contingency (121), incredulous (122 & 129), inviolate (125), precipitately (125), disquieting (125), invariably (136), incessantly (138), truculent (140), indiscernible (148), interminable (154), conceivably (158), amorphous (161), elocution (173), complacent (176), transitory (180)

Idioms and Cultural References

Chapters 1–4: Great War (3), John D. Rockefeller (27), Fifth Avenue (28), Town Tattle (29), Gilda Gray (41), Follies (41), Von Hindenburg (61), Oxford (65), 1919 World Series (73), debut (75), Armistice (75), Coney Island (83), Trimalchio (113), medium (122), Hopalong Cassidy (173)

Content Knowledge and Connections

Fishtank ELA units related to the content in this unit.

World War I
The Jazz Age
The Roaring Twenties

Previous Fishtank ELA Connections

The theme of memory and the past features heavily in both The Great Gatsby and The God of Small Things. Students should be able to compare how the two authors develop this theme and what each author’s message is.

Lesson Map

“8 Ways 'The Great Gatsby' Captured the Roaring Twenties”
The Great Gatsby — Chapter 1

Identify contradictions present in 1920s society and evaluate how these contradictions are revealed in the opening chapter of the novel.

The Great Gatsby — Chapters 1 and 2

Analyze the key diction used to characterize the setting as well as the major characters: Nick, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, etc.

Compare how Nick, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, etc., are characterized versus how Gatsby is characterized.

The Great Gatsby — Chapters 1-3

Identify details from chapter 3 that can support assertions about Gatsby’s character.

Analyze how Fitzgerald develops the symbolic meaning of cars in the novel.

The Great Gatsby — Chapter 4

Identify details from chapter 4 that can support our assertions about Gatsby’s character.

The Great Gatsby — Chapters 5 and 6
“Gatsby's Green Light”

Analyze Fitzgerald’s characterization of Gatsby and his development of theme in chapters 5 and 6.

The Great Gatsby — Chapter 7

Analyze Fitzgerald’s use of diction, characterization, and historical context to develop the themes of memory and social class.

The Great Gatsby — Chapters 8 and 9

Evaluate Fitzgerald’s use of foreshadowing and symbolism in the final chapters of the novel.

Discussion & Writing

The Great Gatsby — Entire novel

Evaluate the essential questions of the unit in the context of the novel.

Assessment

Select a topic and begin work on a unit paper.

The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby

Analyze how the filmmaker establishes tone in the film version.

AP Projects

(PROCESS)

Does the pursuit of self-interest benefit society? Explain your position by synthesizing information from both the cartoon "The Great GAPsby Society" and the novel The Great Gatsby. Your argument should be the focus of your paragraph. Use the cartoon and novel to develop your claim, but do not merely summarize them.

(PROCESS)

Consumerism is the preoccupation of a society with the acquisition of goods. A capitalist economy such as that of the United States of America relies on the purchasing of goods and services by consumers for the economy to grow, but some believe consumerism has gone too far. Throughout the history of this country, consumer demand has had an impact, both positive and negative, on the economic and social order of the country.

Carefully read the following six sources. Then synthesize the material from at least three of the sources and incorporate them into a coherent, well-developed essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies the notion that American consumerism is a crisis.

Your argument should be the focus of your essay. Use the sources to develop your argument and explain your reasoning. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources you are using, whether through direct quotation or summary.

(ON DEMAND)

For this project, we ask students to debate and write a response to a question from the released 2005 AP English Language and Composition Exam. We are unable to reproduce the content here; however, teachers can find the question at the link below.

AP English Language and Composition 2005 Free-Response Questions (page 4)

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

The content standards covered in this unit

L.11-12.1

L.11-12.2

L.11-12.3

L.11-12.4

L.11-12.5

RI.11-12.1

RI.11-12.2

RL.11-12.1

RL.11-12.2

RL.11-12.3

RL.11-12.4

RL.11-12.5

RL.11-12.6

SL.11-12.1

SL.11-12.2

SL.11-12.3

W.11-12.1

W.11-12.2

Unit 4

Famous Speeches

The Great Gatsby

Unit Summary

Texts and Materials

Core Materials

Supporting Materials

Assessment

Key Knowledge

Intellectual Prep

Intellectual Prep for English Lessons

Intellectual Prep for AP Projects

Essential Questions

Writing Focus Areas

Spiraling Literary Analysis Writing Focus Area

Vocabulary

Literary Terms

Roots and Affixes

Text-based

Idioms and Cultural References

Content Knowledge and Connections

Previous Fishtank ELA Connections

Lesson Map

AP Projects

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Literature

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Writing Standards

Writing Standards

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