This guide will help teachers plan for and teach approaches to The Great Gatsby by giving guidance on key concepts and suggesting classroom activities.

For A Level, students examine how narratives work, apply methods for linguistic and literary analysis, identify how meanings and effects are created and explore context.

When studying any novel, it is important that students understand the concept of perspective. For this activity, they should be familiar with terminology such as author and narrator; 1^st and 3^rd person narration; omniscient and partial perspective. Students are given these questions to consider as they read The Great Gatsby: 

• F. Scott Fitzgerald is the author of The Great Gatsby, but who is the narrator? 
• Is the novel narrated in 1^st or 3^rd person? 
• How reliable are Nick Carroway’s impressions of Gatsby? 
• From whose other perspectives does Fitzgerald present the character Gatsby? 
• What does the character Gatsby reveal about himself? 

Make copies of each character card in Student resource 1. Working in small groups, students should discuss the impression given of Gatsby by the quotes provided. This activity can be used as an introduction, before the whole novel has been finished. 

As they continue reading the novel, the students should add further examples of the different points of view given of Gatsby. 

This activity asks students to consider the main characters in the novel, their roles in the plot, and the ways that each is characterised by Fitzgerald. 

Students are divided into six groups (or three depending on class size), each focussing on one of these characters: 

• Gatsby 
• Daisy 
• Tom Buchanan 
• Jordan 
• Myrtle 
• Tom Wilson 

You may include Nick in this activity. His role is that of Narrator, the outsider observing the events of the story, though becoming involved. Students should find definitions for these concepts and discuss the roles they think their character plays in the novel: 

• Protagonist 
• Antagonist 
• Foil 

NB: it is possible to have more than one protagonist, antagonist and foil. 

Using the four headings suggested, each group will then present their findings to the rest of the class. 

The story of The Great Gatsby unfolds against a backdrop of contrasting settings, conveying a sense of the different strands of society at that time and place. From the extravagant mansions of East and West Egg, to Nick’s more modest cottage, the rented flat in Manhattan, and the extreme poverty of the Valley of the Ashes, and back in time to the Midwest. 

Working in four or five small groups, students should focus on one passage of description of their chosen setting. Identify the significant details and present to the whole class with comments on the meanings conveyed. 

Semantic concepts will be useful for this activity. Look for semantic fields (words related in meaning) and consider the connotations or symbolic meanings of such words. There is an example provided for you. 

The events of one summer in 1921 are narrated in chronological order, from the perspective of Nick but several years later. There are 9 chapters and most of them feature a party. Nick also gradually reveals some of the backstory for Gatsby, the Buchanans and Jordan, as well as his own. 

Chart where these revelations/flashbacks occur in the novel structure. Working in small groups, discuss how this disruption of chronological time creates suspense. 

The students should be familiar with these terms and will explore the concepts in this activity. 

Perhaps the clearest example of a symbol in The Great Gatsby is the green light that Gatsby gazes at across the bay that separates his mansion from Daisy’s. Students can discuss what they feel the light represents. As this green light recurs – in at least five chapters in the novel (Chapters 1, 4, 5, 7, 9) – it is a motif, as well as a symbol. 

Motifs can be abstract ideas, rather like themes, for example the ideas of wealth and glamour that permeate the novel. Gatsby’s vast collection of shirts and of books in his library, are symbols of the sort of ‘wealth’ he craves. 

Individually, students should choose one symbol, or motif, that strikes them in The Great Gatsby, and trace Fitzgerald’s use of it throughout the novel. 

Some suggestions follow, but students may think of others: 

• Water – boats, bay 
• Marble swimming pool 
• Eyes of Dr T. J. Eckleburg 
• Daisy’s voice 
• Automobiles 
• Parties 
• Telephone calls 

This activity focuses on genres of prose fiction. Students should be familiar with the concept of genre conventions. Working in four groups, they should work on one of these questions. 

In what sense is The Great Gatsby: 

• A mystery 
• A romance 
• A tragedy 
• A fable? 

Each group should produce a poster display for a short presentation. This will include an outline of the conventional features of the genre. An example is given, but they should add further points. 

Each group will find evidence from the novel to support their chosen genre (an example is given) and make a short presentation of their findings to the class.

The Great Gatsby is often called a novel of ‘The Jazz Age’, a phrase which was coined by Fitzgerald himself in his collection of short stories ‘Tales of The Jazz Age’. A review of Baz Luhrmann’s film called The Great Gatsby the ‘decadent downside of the American Dream’ (Sarah Churchill, The Guardian 3rd May 2013). 

Working in groups, find out more about the period of American history in which this novel is set and report back to the class: 

• 1st World War 
• The Great Depression 
• Prohibition 
• Equal rights for women 
• Civil rights 
• Automobiles 
• The American Dream 
• The Jazz Age 

Which aspects of the social historical context can you find in Fitzgerald’s novel?

A character’s speech can be represented in a range of ways. Students should be familiar with these concepts: 

• Free direct speech (or thoughts) 
• Direct speech 
• Indirect speech 
• Free indirect speech 
• Summary of speech 

Direct speech is the most common form of representation in this novel, using inverted commas to indicate the actual words spoken, with a quotative phrase, indicating who spoke. This may be a simple ‘he/she said’, but it is important to notice if the writer adds some interpretation in their choice of verb (insisted) or use of adverbials (incredulously). These words and phrases may suggest the character’s thoughts and feelings. The narrator may make this explicit (I guessed at his unutterable depression). 

Working in groups of three or four, two people should read aloud the Free direct version (similar to a playscript) of Nick and Gatsby’s conversation. Others in the group take the role of director and give stage directions. Note these on the script. How should they speak the lines? When should they pause? Discuss each character’s motivations and feelings – what are they thinking? Each group, read out your interpretation to the class. 

Finally read Fitzgerald’s representation of their conversation in the novel. How has the writer conveyed tone of voice and interior thoughts? Was it similar to your interpretation? 

Working individually, perhaps under timed exam conditions, comment on how Fitzgerald conveys the character of the narrator, Nick Carraway.