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Our Teaching College Literature Class was asked to lead the class in a discussion on an aspect of The Great Gatsby. My topic was "Geography: Eggs." While I feel that I prepared well and had good information to share, I did not time it out appropriately. We had ten minutes to present, and unfortunately I had too much information. The "too much information" could have been a good thing; however, I did not get to the meat of the discussion. Therefore, I need to prioritize the information for my next lead, realizing that we may not cover the end points. When the "one minute" signal is thrown at me next time, I want to be able to skip to the assignment knowing that we covered the most important information. Thus, the major lesson that I learned from this is to time out each part of the class in the margins of my plans (at least until I become a "seasoned" teacher who has a better sense of timing in the classroom).
I felt so disappointed with myself after my presentation, because I had high hopes for my lead, and I realized that I had not reached the meat of the issue: I really wanted to explore how the Eggs tied into the illusion vs. reality theme of the novel. While we scratched the surface of the topic, I spent too much time going over the description of the Eggs. Because this is something that I intended for the students to explore prior to class and send me notes on via e-mail (as I indicated at the outset of my lead), I did not need to read the description with my class. I could have spent more time drawing out the connection the Eggs had to the illusion of fulfillment, status, and identity. After my initial disappointment, I felt comfort in the fact that I had similar struggles in the beginning of teaching high school. It took me a couple weeks of teaching to master the 90-minute block timing; I always over-prepared (which is better than under-preparing in my opinion), but I quickly learned how to keep my eye on the clock, modify, and adjust accordingly. Therefore, I have assurance that I will learn how to time my lessons in the classroom, whether it is a 10-minute lead or a 3 hour class discussion.
Other things I would like to improve next time are my vocal speed and articulation. I have a feeling that I spoke fast, trying to cram in a bunch of information. As for aspects with which I am pleased, I felt that I had planned an interesting and worthwhile discussion. Given the time, the information would have been engaging and valuable. I also considered my students during my entire planning process. As Showalter suggested, I tried to think of ways in which my students would participate. Instead of the three minutes of brainstorming in the beginning of class as she suggested, I decided to have the students e-mail me with their ideas on the Eggs prior to class. This way I can call on students who have already thought the topic through and are prepared to answer. Furthermore, I can point out strong student responses as well as correct any misconceptions during the class. I did not plan on straight lecture; I had a point where I asked the students to get into groups and discuss how the characters represent the values associated with each Egg. I will continue to keep my students in mind as I plan. I want to engage them in the discussion and make them a part of the learning process.
East Egg vs. West Egg:
Geographical Illusions and False Fulfillment in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Objective of Discussion:
Students will explore the symbolism of the geographic Eggs in the novel and analyze the ways in which Fitzgerald uses these geographic locations to personify the values of the people living there.
Description of the eggs
Assignment: Students should send “idea notes” about the Eggs and what they represent to me by midnight the night before class, and I will begin class by calling on students to share their ideas and noting particularly good ones in the beginning of class.
· Read description beginning on bottom of page 4, “It was a matter of chance that I should have rented a house on one of the strangest communities in North America…” through top of page 5 “…To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size” (Fitzgerald 4-5).
· “I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them” (5).
What the Eggs Represent
· Many critics explain that the difference between the eggs is their view of status and money. While East Eggers typically come from a history of wealth in their families (thus carefree and unappreciative, at least as represented in Gatsby), West Eggers typically have gained recent money and try to emulate the attitudes and actions of the West Eggers. For instance, literary critic Kenneth Eble explains, “The characters are constantly measuring themselves or inviting us to measure them on a scale of social values…The carefully maintained distinctions between the aristocracy living on family money and those who have money still stained, so to speak, by the sweat of their own efforts, are other aspects of the book as a novel of manners. The treatment of society is ironical throughout—the basic irony is that of the ‘great’ in the book’s title. The character of Nick Carraway permits a consistent, ironic, point of view that keeps the author from being deluded by the glitter he creates” (97-98).
1. What evidence do we see in the story that Nick exempts himself from getting swept up in a desire to imitate the East Egg lifestyle? (possible answers: house size, turns down bootlegging, his initial unwillingness to shake Tom’s hand in the end, moves away from the Eggs in the end, to the midwest)
2. Contemplate the people associated with each egg. How do the attributes of the people living on the eggs represent the values and/or beliefs held by their Egg? (See description of Tom on page 6 and the description of Gatsby on page 99).
Unveiling the Illusion of East Egg Fulfillment
· “…I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn’t been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment” (Fitzgerald 105).
· “Instead of rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the country-side—East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety” (45).
3. How does this quote highlight the theme of illusion vs. reality in Great Gatsby? As the prime representative of West Egg in Nick’s story, how does Gatsby demonstrate that he longs to epitomize the East Egg? (p. 21, he stretches his arm out towards the green light of EE; p. 46, Owl Eyes calls him Belasco and points out how carefully Gatsby tries to convey the care-free money holders of EE).
· “…But the rest offended her — and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion. She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented ‘place’ that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village — appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand” (108).
4. What is Daisy’s view of the West Eggers? What type of picture does the word “Broadway” paint? (She sees them as imposters into the wealthy world. Broadway connotes acting or illusion).
Assignment
· Analyze the ending of The Great Gatsby on the Blackboard discussion forum. In 300-500 words, explain how Gatsby’s decision to move to West Egg and create a new image for Daisy leads him down this path of destruction, and what type of message is Fitzgerald sending his readers?
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner’s, 1953. Print.
Eble, Kenneth. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Boston: Hall, 1977. Print.
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