Homework

OPTION A ("CONTRADICTIONS"): Nick Carraway is a thoughtful narrator, one with a Yale education and literary ambitions. He’s also a walking contradiction. Consider some examples. He writes of his “scorn” for Gatsby while also being fascinated by him. He claims not to be judgmental, yet he often makes and changes his judgments in mid-conversation. He insists on his own honesty while befriending, and at times defending, numerous liars. He is often “enchanted and repelled” by what he sees. Please select and carefully explain a few specific examples of Nick’s contradictory ideas or actions, and try to suggest why they are significant.

OPTION B "HOUSES ADN CHARACTERS"): In The Great Gatsby, houses aren’t just places to live in—houses become a very active part of how we come to understand the values and dreams and delusions and failures of the characters who inhabit them. Carefully consider the descriptions of a few houses or rooms from The Great Gatsby. Please make sure to make specific references to specific pages. (You may refer to the movie, using the clips that I gave you. If you do so, do not use page numbers—tell us which minute(s) and seconds you’re referring to.)

Please select ONE of the OPTIONS. Then please post a response of at least 250 words on the Discussion Board by midnight on Monday, April 12th. DO NOT EMAIL THEM.

The assignment is worth 4 points (all-or-nothing-as always).