The Great Gatsby

Character and Theme Essay

After finishing The Great Gatsby, you are now ready to look at theme and characterization as a whole. Character choices include: Daisy, Tom, Gatsby, Nick, Jordan, or Myrtle. You will be finding a theme song for ONE character and cite the lyrics as well as primary textual support. Your thesis is persuading your audience (Miss Kohler) that the song fits your character. The requirements are as follows:

1.  Choose ONE character to analyze. Using your pre-writing notes (quotes with page numbers) to describe the character’s personality and value system. You must have THREE quotes with page numbers from The Great Gatsby.

2.  Find a song that fits the personality, mentality, and/or value system of your chosen character.

3.  Select THREE QUOTES from the lyrics that support your thesis. THIS IS A TOTAL OF SIX QUOTES FOR YOUR PAPER!

4.  Write a persuasive two page essay on how the song reflects the character.

5.  The essay must be typed, double-spaced, 12 point font complete with works cited page and is due Sunday, May 8th by midnight.

In-text citations

In your paper, you must use in-text citations. You will have two separate sources. One source will be the novel The Great Gatsby and your second source will be the song of your choice. When using textual evidence (quotation from the novel) or a song lyric, follow these examples for your in-text citations.

Novel: “It was a romantic readiness…” (Fitzgerald, 2).

Lyric: “I don’t wanna be anything other than me” (DeGraw, I Don’t Wanna Be)

MLA Citation (Works Cited Page)

Begin with the composer’s name. Put the quotation marks around the title of the song. Make sure the title of the album is in italics. Indicate the city of the record company/label, then the actual name of the record company/label followed by year it was recorded.

1.  Novel:

Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. New York, New York. Charles’ Scribner’s Sons. 1925. Print.

2.  Song Lyrics

Artist's Last name, First name. "Song Title." Album Title. Production Company, Year. CD.

Example:

DeGraw, Gavin. “I Don’t Wanna Be.” Chariot. J Records, 2003. CD.