Choose one of the themes in the book that we identified and discussed in class (this should be in your notes) and decide which one you believe is the primary theme of The Great Gatsby. Explain why you think this is the primary theme and provide three pieces of textual evidence to support your position.

I believe the American Dream is an unsustainable ideal that gives false hope and artificial happiness is the theme of the book. That theme is the one I wrote in class so I may be a bit bias towards mine instead of the others but I will explain why I think it is the one I chose. The American Dream was something that was not always formally brought up in The Great Gatsby but it was often something that was referenced and when it was referenced it never seemed as if it was being described as a good thing. When the American Dream was brought up or referenced it was talked about as a sort of deceiving thing or something people can't rely on to be a good thing. The reason I put unsustainable is because The Great Gatsby made me believe the American Dream wasn't something you could live forever and that was shown a lot when Gatsby died. The green light, as we talked about in class, was a symbol for the American Dream so on the last page when Fitzgerald wrote, " Gatsby believe in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us." If the green light was a symbol for the American Dream then Fitzgerald was saying the American Dream every year moved farther and farther away which made it less achievable even though Gatsby still believed in it. Also Fitzgerald wrote, "For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant." Since Daisy was living the American Dream basically Fitzgerald was saying that Daisy's world was not real and everything she thought to be so good was not actually.

What is the climax (turning point) of the novel? How do you know? How is the central conflict addressed in the climax? Use textual evidence to back up your claims.

For me the climax, or the turning point, was when Gatsby was shot because it got rid of the love conflict in the book. When Gatsby died there was no longer to guys for Daisy to chose between because the choice was made for her in a way. When Tom Buchanan's mistress died then Tom didn't have somebody to cheat on Daisy with even though he could probably just find someone else in the city. Even if Tom didn't have anyone to cheat with there is still the conflict of who does Daisy love. The climax of the story usually happens during the middle of the book but to me all the other characteristic of a climax were met when Gatsby died. Also, after Gatsby died everyone started leaving and going off on their own. Everything seemed to calm down and separate after Gatsby died.

In chapter 5, when Daisy and Gatsby meet, how is weather used to create mood, and what mood(s) is created?

The scene where Gatsby and Daisy meet exposes a lot about who the characters really are. For the first time in that scene you see the walls of these characters come down and they seem more genuine and show emotions. Gatsby acts like a nervous mess and is clearly hypnotized by Daisy. Daisy also seems to act more genuine and seem like she cares. Daisy seems less sarcastic and shows more part of her personality that she usually hides. The scene where they met also seemed kind of awkward and that is not something that was common for these characters before. These characters usually seem to be able to be normal in social situations and around others. This scene kind of helped put the characters together and tell the readers more about their personality.

In the first two pages of the novel, Nick Carraway claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgment." Do you find that this is true so far? Please provide textual evidence to support your position.

In the first two pages of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway said that he is, "inclined to reserve all judgment." There are times in the first few chapters where I started to question if that was really true. Most of the time Nick Carraway just played the narrator and explain facts and visual details to really give the reader an insight into what Fitgerald was envisioning. However, there were other times when Nick Carraway seemed to make judgments on people which he said he would not on the first two pages. On page 6 Nick said,"one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty or that everything afterward savors of anticlimax." He says that about Tom Buchanan who is Daisy's husband. By him saying that it seems like he is judging him for having success young and he is making assumptions about what the rest of his life will be. Nick also said on page 7,"It was a boy capable of enormous leverage, a cruel body." That may have just been a way to describe Tom but I found it as Nick making a judgment about Tom and his capabilities just based on the way he looked.