The Student Room Group

AQA A-level English Language & Literature (7707/2) The Great Gatsby - help!

Is anyone else studying The Great Gatsby in their Writing About Society section of Paper 2?
I wanted to start this so we can get thoughts and ideas together about language use to convey a character's personality.

Right now I'm writing a recast in the perspective of Myrtle Wilson when Tom, Nick and herself go into New York to buy a dog and visit the apartment.

What kind of language should I use to convey Myrtle's character?
I believe she would be ecstatic that she's able to spend Tom's money frivolously, which heavily contrasts her wearisome life with George. She's prone to forget her husband and her life in the Valley of Ashes completely when she's around Tom.

What do you guys think?
Reply 1
Original post by tylercadders
Is anyone else studying The Great Gatsby in their Writing About Society section of Paper 2?
I wanted to start this so we can get thoughts and ideas together about language use to convey a character's personality.

Right now I'm writing a recast in the perspective of Myrtle Wilson when Tom, Nick and herself go into New York to buy a dog and visit the apartment.

What kind of language should I use to convey Myrtle's character?
I believe she would be ecstatic that she's able to spend Tom's money frivolously, which heavily contrasts her wearisome life with George. She's prone to forget her husband and her life in the Valley of Ashes completely when she's around Tom.

What do you guys think?


I'm studying the great gatsby and really struggling with it
I'm studying Gatsby too, and yeah my teacher said for a myrtle recast try to convey how she likes to act as if she is in a higher class than she is and enjoys going to New York to escape from her dull, hopeless life in the valley of ashes, then for a commentary you can link it to the theme of the American dream, how people at that time were trying to climb up the class/wealth ladder etc
I'm also doing gatsby and I have no clue what to expect, I've done mocks on Myrtle, Jordan Baker and Gatsby but have no idea what to revise?
Original post by clrobinson3
I'm also doing gatsby and I have no clue what to expect, I've done mocks on Myrtle, Jordan Baker and Gatsby but have no idea what to revise?


Omg, honestly I'm having exactly the same issue!
What I've done so far is done recasts on the more minor characters, such as Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, Pammy Buchanan and Michaelis to expand my knowledge of different perspectives. I hope that way recasting as a main character will be easier :biggrin:

What I've done also is made spider diagrams for more sophisticated words to use for words like femininity, wealth, vanity, masculinity etc. in the instance that I have to recast as a higher class character (which is most of them anyway), in which case I can use more sophisticated and more fitting words to narrate with and so comment on the use of these sophisticated words in my commentary.

Hope that helps a little lmao
Original post by jessicarawlings
I'm studying Gatsby too, and yeah my teacher said for a myrtle recast try to convey how she likes to act as if she is in a higher class than she is and enjoys going to New York to escape from her dull, hopeless life in the valley of ashes, then for a commentary you can link it to the theme of the American dream, how people at that time were trying to climb up the class/wealth ladder etc


Yeah exactly!
I'm trying so hard to follow the mark scheme with my commentaries and obviously AQA only mark us for AO2, AO4 and AO5. I just wonder whether mentioning context of 1920s American society as an influence to my word choices will gain me marks, since it falls under AO3.
Original post by Steoh999
I'm studying the great gatsby and really struggling with it


Hahah the commentaries are so difficult because we only have about 40 mins to write it, as well as making sure we structure it perfectly too lol
Reply 7
Original post by tylercadders
Hahah the commentaries are so difficult because we only have about 40 mins to write it, as well as making sure we structure it perfectly too lol


How did everyone find the gatsby question yesterday?

Quick Reply

Latest