Description
Having recently returned from military duty overseas during the Great War, Nick Carraway is restless and tired of his provincial life in the Midwest. He moves East to get into the bond market and soon finds himself living among the idle rich on Long Island. Nick reacquaints himself with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, and through them he meets the "incurably dishonest" Miss Baker, for whom he begins to develop a romantic interest. Nick soon learns of Daisy's deep unhappiness and Tom's affair with Myrtle Wilson, a married woman.
Before long, Nick is drawn inextricably into their lives and to one man who still believes in the American Dream—Jay Gatsby. As Nick and Gatsby are carried along by forces that neither of them fully controls or understands, they will experience the consequences of materialism, deceit, and petty self-interest.
Content Warning: Mature Themes
Progeny Press' The Great Gatsby English/Language Arts curriculum will provide your High School grade student with:
English/Language Arts credit: This is a one-quarter credit high school level Literature curriculum.
Author Biography: Learn about F. Scott Fitzgerald and the fascinating background behind the author and novel.
Vocabulary: Understand words used throughout the novel, utilizing a variety of activities to stimulate retention and growth.
Literary Techniques: Character study, personification, imagery, allusion, symbolism, dramatic irony, tone, grammatical change analysis, paradox, juxtaposition, Gothic imagery, title analysis, plot, tragic flaw, theme.
Moral Lessons and Character Values: Ecclesiastes and the pursuit of pleasure, priorities, adultery, struggle between temptation and doing what is right, drunken foolishness, true friendship, camaraderie, materialism, pursuing dreams, self-worth, naivety, living in the past, death, view of God, life goals, Good Samaritan, comfort in sorrow, Christian hopes vs. worldly hopes.
Activities and Writing Assignments: Research 1920s clothing design and textiles and create designs or posters, research: The Lost Generation, Prohibition, the American Dream, materialism, track relationships, literary technique research, T.S. Eliot analysis, art imagery, biblical marriage study, define success, Kant’s philosophies, essays: eyes of God, use of color, compare and contrast, character growth, personal reactions to characters.
Suggestions for Further Reading: We include an in-depth reading list of more books by the same author(s) and other books that tie in with, or are similar to, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
All of Progeny Press' Language Arts unit lessons are written from a Christian perspective!
Features and Benefits of a Progeny Press ELA study guide
Printed Workbook Format
- Large 8.5x11 format is convenient to read and easy on tired teenage high school student's eyes
- Every question in our novel unit study has plenty of whitespace for high school level student’s answers
- Encourages neat and clean handwriting practice
- Easily transports without the need for a laptop or other expensive equipment
- Provides a permanent record of the student’s work
- Complete, removable answer key included for the teacher to make grading simple!
CD Format
- Provides the study guide in universally compatible PDF format (works on Mac AND Windows)
- No costly software purchases necessary
- Our PDF Study Guide should be opened with the FREE Adobe Reader program. With the interactive feature, students have the capability of entering their answers directly on the computer and saving their work in progress.
Note: Mobile Devices/Tablets may require alternative app that supports and saves fillable form fields. - Or choose to conveniently print what you need, when you need it:
- Print the whole ELA PDF guide at once
- Print single literature lessons or pages as the student completes them
- Print multiple copies of the entire curriculum study guide for classroom sets
- PDF format makes it easy to use with multiple students
- Complete answer key PDF file included for the teacher!
Formatted with your High School grade student in mind, Progeny Press language arts study guides divide the book into writing assignments and lessons that strengthen their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and refines their critical analysis and writing skills. Each Progeny Press novel study accomplishes all of this without busy work that can drain the fun out of reading and literature! Kids have loved using Progeny Press ELA curriculum in homeschool, co-ops, and private schools around the world for over 30 years!
