Thursday, April 2, 2015

Fishbowl #4: The Great Gatsby, chapters 7-9

Let's have one last great discussion of The Great Gatsby!  First, a couple of reminders of what I'm looking for in your writing in addition to just having had posted 5 good ideas/ questions.

1.  Be sure to carefully proofread your ideas.

2.  Use the thread feature to indicate to whom you're replying.  If you're beginning a new line of thinking or questioning, use the general post feature.

3.  For each comment you make or question you ask, contextualize or support your thinking with text.  Be sure, too, that you introduce the relevance of that comment to your thinking, thoughtfully incorporating your passage into your ideas versus throwing out the quote & leaving it to your audience to infer why you're using it.  Please cite these quotes as well.

Here are a few good examples of posts from last class that did an excellent job meeting these requirements:

Here's a great question from Kenny:  "On page 105 'I've never met so many celebrities,' Daisy exclaimed. 'I liked that man - what was his name?- The sort of blue nose.' Gatsby identified him, adding that he was a small producer.(Fitzgerald 105) Do you think Gatsby invited famous people intending to impress Daisy?"

A another from Darby:  "On page 98 it talks about Gatsby changing and 're-inventing' himself. It says, 'So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.' So my question is, what was Gatsby's true motivation in going through with this."

And one more from Mason:  "On page 109 Gatsby says,'And she doesn't understand,' he said. 'She used to be able to understand. We'd sit for hours.....' Gatsby seems to hint that Daisy has changed. If you agree that Daisy has changed, in what ways do you think she has?"

Happy posting!