The Great Gatsby Project Due Date___11/18/2014___
As part of your study of The Great Gatsby you are required to complete one of the following projects. There are several projects from which to choose, so select one that you find enjoyable. You must get approval to work with a partner.
Your grade will be determined based upon the amount of evident detail, effort, and time you put into your work.
NOTE: Each project must contain a written component of at least one or two paragraphs explaining your work (except project #1) and a works cited list. You will also need to be prepared to briefly share your work with the class.
1. Research the Chicago Black Sox Scandal in 1919. Prepare a two to three page report including a works cited list and parenthetical citations.
2. Create a detailed timeline comparing the events in the 1920’s and 1930’s to Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s lives. Parallel any events from The Great Gatsby that appear to be similar to the lives of the Fitzgerald’s.
3. Create two color advertisements for a new product (poster size 14” x 21” minimum). Your work should be of extremely high quality and mimic the advertising from the period. To accomplish this requirement, you will need to research advertising from the period and create a marketable product. Provide a works cited list.
4. Research the clothing styles of the 1920’s. Design costumes for five major characters in the novel. Indicate which scene you have designed the clothing for, and include quotes from the text that supports your choices. You may make sketches, collages using fabric, or build actual clothes for dolls (Barbies and Kens work great).
5. Create an illustrated front elevation and floor plan of Gatsby’s mansion. Include the surrounding grounds in the illustration, and provide quotes from the text to support your choices.
6. Fitzgerald leaves several important scenes in The Great Gatsby to our imagination. Choose one of the scenes below, and supply the dialogue that you imagine actually occurs between the characters. Try to imitate the way each character speaks in the novel.
· Daisy and Gatsby’s reunion in Nick’s bungalow after Nick has left them alone (Chapter 5).
· The unheard conversation between Daisy and Tom at their kitchen table after the automobile accident (Chapter 7).
7. Choose any scene from The Great Gatsby and rewrite it from a point of view of a character other than Nick Caraway. Try to use language that suits your narrator and do not limit yourself to the options listed below:
· You might write the party scene in Chapter 2 from Tom or Myrtle’s point of view.
· Write the swimming pool scene from Wilson’s perspective.
8. Make a Jazz Age photograph album of The Great Gatsby. Collect copies of old photographs of the 1920’s: sports, fashions, cars, and buildings. Find photographs that you think represent people, events, and places in the novel. Write your own captions for the photographs, and include quotes from the book that you think are relevant to your pictures. (25 photograph minimum).
9. Make a sound track for the novel. Choose songs from the period that you feel would appropriately convey the emotions and feelings of certain scenes. Write an explanation and provide background about the music you have chosen. (7 song minimum)
10. Read and collect five newspaper articles and/or magazine articles dated before 9/11/01 and five dated after 9/11/01 (10 total) that illustrate some facet of the American Dream of the present. For each article, write an explanation describing how the attitudes in the articles toward the American Dream have stayed the same and/or changed due to the effects of 9/11/01 or other current political issues. You must include copies of the articles you use for this project.