A-Level English Lit The Great Gatsby
Hi guys,
My English lit teacher this year (yr 12) for The Great Gatsby is really… bad. She has just read the book with us and not annotated it or anything.
Do any year 13s / old a-level lit students have any advice for annotating the great gatsby please? And what themes would you advise I tab?
P.S could anyone possibly comment an annotated version of the book x
My English lit teacher this year (yr 12) for The Great Gatsby is really… bad. She has just read the book with us and not annotated it or anything.
Do any year 13s / old a-level lit students have any advice for annotating the great gatsby please? And what themes would you advise I tab?
P.S could anyone possibly comment an annotated version of the book x
Reply 1
Original post
by izzymcvHi guys,
My English lit teacher this year (yr 12) for The Great Gatsby is really… bad. She has just read the book with us and not annotated it or anything.
Do any year 13s / old a-level lit students have any advice for annotating the great gatsby please? And what themes would you advise I tab?
P.S could anyone possibly comment an annotated version of the book x
My English lit teacher this year (yr 12) for The Great Gatsby is really… bad. She has just read the book with us and not annotated it or anything.
Do any year 13s / old a-level lit students have any advice for annotating the great gatsby please? And what themes would you advise I tab?
P.S could anyone possibly comment an annotated version of the book x
Hi! If this is for AQA, the most important aspects to focus on are relationships between the characters, mainly focusing on Gatsby and Daisy, but also considering:
-Tom and Daisy
-Daisy and Myrtle
-Nick and Jordan
-Gatsby and Nick
Even if you are doing a different exam board not focusing on Love, the relationships between characters are a core aspect to analyse.
The main theme that I personally would focus on as it can be used for a variety of questions is of fantasy vs reality and the consequences of trying to reach the unattainable. This can be seen in the unreliable narration, Gatsby's lies about his life, Gatsby's idealised version of Daisy, etc. As a starting point, I'd recommend annotating these parts of the novel:
-the green light
-Gatsby's introduction (especially the way Nick and others describe him)
-Gatsby and Daisy's meeting at Nick's house and the aftermath
-Tom and Gatsby's argument in chapter 7
-the final few pages
Other key themes are:
-money/capitalism
-class
-the American Dream (ties into fantasy vs reality)
If you have the Penguin modern classics edition, I would also highly recommend reading the introduction. It's quite long but it has some great context and critical ideas and could be a good starting point to understand the important themes and analysis.
Good luck. Lmk if you'd like more advice - I love talking about the great gatsby
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