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'The Great Gatsby': Developing a personal response
English•Key Stage 4•Fiction: books that changed my world
Lesson Description
I can develop a personal response to an extract from ‘The Great Gatsby’.
Lesson Overview
Key learning points
- An opinion is a view or judgement formed on something, not based on fact.
- In order to add credibility to our opinions, we must be able to justify them.
- Themes like the 'American Dream' and wealth are central to understanding 'The Great Gatsby'.
- Using textual evidence supports interpretations and inferences about characters in a text.
Keywords
- theme
- a repeated idea in a literary work
- American Dream
- the idea that all Americans have the right to achieve success and prosperity
- Jazz Age
- a period in the USA (1920s) known for its freedom, exuberance and carefree parties
- console
- to comfort someone in a time of disappointment
Common mistakes
Students might believe that West Egg and East Egg are actual geographical locations.
While West Egg and East Egg are based on real places on Long Island, they are fictional locations created by Fitzgerald to symbolise different social classes and the contrasts between new and old wealth.
Lesson Video
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