As you know, We are starting work on The Great Gatsby this term. You should all have a copy of the novel, and have read it through once. If any of you have had problems in accessing a copy, it can be found on the net at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/
This may seem like a big change from dramatic genre, but you will find your work on tragedy is very useful when evaluating the novel.
The novel was published in 1925, and it is important that you
understand something of its historical context. Therefore your first task this term will be to produce a short presentation (you may use PowerPoint) that examines the
significance of one aspect of the background to the book. I am giving you our first lesson back to work on them (Tuesday 3rd) and we shall see the
presentations in next Monday's lesson (January 9th).
You may work in pairs, if you wish, but may not duplicate
presentations, so you must come into class to sign off the area of background that you wish to
consider (this will also count as your register). The choices of areas include:
- The aftermath of
World War 1
- The American dream
and its implications
- Poverty in the 1920s
- Prohibition
- Gangster culture and
bootlegging in the 1920s
- The significance of
a college education in the 1920s
- Attitudes towards
women and their role in society
- The importance of
marriage in the 1920s
- The environment of
Long Island