Hey guys, welcome to the amazingness that is my blog. In the lesson we most prominently began reading Chapter 4, but also gained quite a large insight into the elusive Gatsby's character.

Starter- Facebook Status Update for Gatsby: Unfortunately, I haven't added Gatsby on Facebook so I couldn't view his status at the time of posting. The process went something like "Send Friend Request->Friend Request Pending->Friend Request Denied"... When asked why I decided that this was the case, I wrote: "I hear" and "I think", the most prominent phrases regarding Gatsby himself- they reveal that he never wants anyone to get close, and that no-one actually knows who he truly is. With a reputation based on rumours, it may ruin his reputation if he starts accepting facebook Friend Requests..

Insight into Nick's Character

We then watched a video with a person that described various facets of Nick’s character (I say person, he’s more of an authority)- a person who, deliberately, RUINED the end of the book. For all those who it didn’t get ruined for, I’m a sore loser- so I must say that GATSBY DIES. Thanks for that DVD Man.. We were asked to identify and note down the three most important things out of the stuff that he said... these are: 1) The most complex and perhaps difficult character to see- due to his self effasive nature.

2) Two conflicting viewpoints are highlighted in his character, these are:

o Nick is the consciousness of the novel, and thus is tolerant but appropriately judgmental. He learns from his experiences, is reliable- and goes through moral growth. In a sense, he is the hero.

o Nick is an obtuse, self righteous narrator that shows no insight into his own motives. He leaves the novel as clueless as he was from the beginning.

3) Nick is an enigma of opinions, no one point of view can be definitely decided can be decided

Insight into Gatsby’s Character Well, we did one of those circles overlapping diagram thingies, but as I don’t have the capabilities to do so here, I’ll stick to the classical method of subheadings. Yay.

Gossip Killed Someone, Related to Kaiser Wilhelm, Went to Oxford, Was a Spy

Gossip/Fact In the Army

Facts Likes Green Lights, Lives on West Egg, Man likes to party, Likes English people (?)

Afterwards, we began reading Chapter 4, and the unrelenting list of guests to the Great Gatsby’s parties that he feels we have to know. From them, a few choice words can be chosen:

Hand Ran Over, Fight, Suicide, Drowned, Nose Shot Off.

These should reveal something pretty obvious about Gatsby: he is surrounded by violence. When we wonder why Nick tells us these things that perhaps he should have kept in confidence the anwser can be found quite easily: He believes that there is safety in the numbers of names he mentioned, he believes that it gives the annomity. But perhaps moreso- he takes some sort of pride in having met these people, perhaps he wants to be disgusted, but just isn’t.

Impressions of Gatsby

These are my impressions of him so far, if you don't agree, then comment with your disagreement. I will still be the one whose right however. The association with those that have the potential to, and some that have, commited criminal acts shines a somewhat negative light on the elusive Gatsby- he loses some of his hard earned annomity to the "foul dust" that trails him, and try as he might to rise above these unfortuneate acquaintances - they will forever tarnish perception of him and add a nasty bias to the deduction of the motivation behind his actions.

Homework

-Discuss characterisation of gatsby Ch1-4

-Discuss characterisation of Wolfstein- mention "selective detail"

-Why might Jordan narrate part of the story?

-Comment on the timeshift -Read Ch.4 & 5 -COMMENT MY BLOG!

Consolidation

The first task was to draw a mask of the Duke of Ferrara emphasizing certain features of his face to outline certain emotions or characteristics that he reveals within the poem.

Our second task was to choose songs that described or related to certain characters that we have studied from Browning's poems.

The characters are:

Duke of Ferrara

Fra Lippo Lippi

The Bishop

Patriot

Porphyria

Porphyria's lover

After this our next task was to create a script in which the Bishop (from "The Bishop Orders his Tomb") and Fra Lippo Lippi are conversing. The first line of this script had to be "So this is purgatory..." and the conversation should have explored the characters views on religion and other themes such as art and hypocrisy etc.

The last task was to read the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and write a short summary of the poem afterwards.

Homework:

Comment on the blog listing your songs for the characters

Research themes Browning has included in his poetry and possible suggestions for why

HOMEWORK

A(a) How does Browning tell the Bishop's tale in line 1-44?

A(b) "Browning poems reveal a morbid fascination with death" discuss this view

At the beginning of the lesson we described the components of Dramatic Monologue...they were:

• Speaker who's not the poet
• A listener
• An occasion
• Interplay between speaker and listener

Afterwards we read the poem, "The Patriot", describing a mans life once his fame has died out. As the Patriot is a short poem, we then read "The Bishop orders his tomb" discussing the Bishop's choices on creating his tomb to be remembered.

Tuesday 22nd March 2011

What do we know/What have we heard about Gatsby by the start of Chapter3?

Our starter in the lesson was to recap on chapter 3 and answer the following question on what we have read in the chapter but also the first 2 chapters that mentions Gatsby.

We still dont know much about Gatsby as he still remains a mysterious figure throughout the first 3 chapters we read. As a class we came up with many personas of Gatsby and the rumors that has been spreading about him. We had to come up with quotes from the book to back up our ideas.

• We have been told "that he was a German spy during the war".
• Gatsby has been rumored that he "killed a man".
• Hes a scary person "id hate to have him get anyhting on me"
• Seen as a powerful figure as Nick interprets that "theres something gorgous about him.
• Hes seen as a romantic figure and a well known man
• Rich/Wealthy
• Isolated/lonely/Mysterious
• "Hes was an Oxford man"
• Rumored that hes related to Euopean royalty

We had to put in order on what were the four most importanat factors upon Gatspy this was my order.

1. Isolation
2. Nicks impression on Gatsby
3. Romantic figure
4. The Gatsby rumors that "he once killed a man"

Our next task we had to think about AO2 which is language structure and form and what conventions that goes into writing in the AO2 especially for The Great Gatsby

Imagery

• Gustory- taste
• Tactile- touch
• Olfactory-smell
• Kineatic-movement
• Auditory-sound
• Visual-sight

Narrative structure

• Romantic/Modern style
• Symbolizm
• Similies/Metaphors
• Colour
• sentence Structure

Realating to A02 we did a table and on the Key quotation on Chapter 3, What the image dose and What impression dose it give of Gatsby.

This is an example of what we had to do in the lesson

Key Quotation Chapter 3 What this image dose Whats the impression of Gatsby

"In his blue gardens men and girls came" Blue at the time reprseneted This shows Gatspy as being

richness, mystreious. isolated

"aquaplaness over contracts foam" movemnt, romantism and Gatsby is seen as really wealthy

modern combined. since many people at the time

couldnt afford it.

"The air is alive with Chatter and laughter" Personifaction making non Gatsby lives freely especially links

living things come to life to the jazz age everyone living

happly, no deprseeion.

"The light grows brighter as the We get a colour impression, Gatsby hospitality shows

earth lurches away from the sun" kineastic imagery, phatic phallecy that the none living world are

mood of the party is really cheerful appreciating it.

that even the non living world are

experiencing it. Romantism and

realism combined scientificly.

HOMEWORK

• Go through the rest of the chapter and add 5 more quotes to the list that we done in lesson
• Complete the sheets that we were given and PLEASE DO THE FOLLOWING!!!

Nick as a character

• What he says/dosent say/how he says things
• What others think of him
• Wat he dose

Nick as a Narrator

• The way he presents himself and other characters
• His telling of Gatspy story
• Anything that might be missing or inaccurate

ROSIE YAGIEN

Exploring setting In the Great gatsby 15.03.11

Contents:

1 – Homework
2 - Symbolism
3 – Chapter 2
4 – Symbolism from chapter 2
5 - Appendix

1 – Homework (Due 22nd Tuesday):

(This is a technological homework today e.g. record your voice, make a video etc)

Discuss the settings of Ch1 and 2:
Valley of Ashes
Myrtle’s apartment
East Egg (Chapter 1)

Discuss:
Quotations
Repeated images (Motifs)
Mood & atmosphere (Nick)
Contrasts with East Egg & Tom and Daisy’s house
Explain what you think these shows. (Make links to the rest of the novel)

You can use this to record your voice (kindly found by sir just click on record)
http://www.vocaroo.com/

Send to:
a.sadgrove@londonacademy.org.uk

Aa) Question: On Mariana (30 minutes):

Focusing on Narrative
(Note: Your cherished sheets will help you):

How does Tennyson tell the story in Mariana?

Self asses with Mark scheme (If you don't have this Go to sir)

2 – Symbolism (Represents another idea):

What do you think these words symbolise within The Great Gatsby here are some examples the class came up with:

Green Light:

· New start
· Active/ activity
· Eerie
· Mystery
· Movement
· Jealousy / Envy

Eyes:

· Seeing/ soul
· Vanity (See only through this)
· Beauty
· Seeing isn’t always believing
· Observation
· Intellect/ reason
· Identity

Egg:

· Identity
· Birth (Nick new start)
· Fragility
· Feminine
· Innocence
· Innocent
· Protection
· Youth

Ashes:

· Death/ rebirth
· Hope?
· Desolate
· Black/ grey

Cars:

· Movement of time
· Wealth/ status
· Modernism/ industry
· Materialism
· Mobility


3 – Chapter 2:

Brief summary:
Tom and Nick go to meet Tom’s mistress (Myrtle Wilson) meeting George Wilson owner of Cars bought and sold. Myrtle slips out with Tom and Nick to go to New York her apartment inviting friends round which are filled with lies, furthermore arguments break out, Nick wishes to escape Tom breaks her nose.

Opening Paragraph (First impressions):

· Isolation
· Poverty
· Depression
· Desolation
· Nothing being possible
· Industrialized areas
· Soulless
· Opposite of the “Jazz age”
· Boring/ dull
· Disillusion “Death of American dream”

Take note of the difference between this chapter and the first chapter Fitz has a cinematic writing style. As in chapter one you’re left off with not knowing what happened after when chapter one ends and find yourself in a new scene.

How Characters are portrayed:

Tom: forceful, imperative speech, physical presence, energetic, strong, and aggressive, corrupt, reference to epigraph in front

Nick: Not used to poverty, naive, judgemental,

George Wilson: Dominated by wife, Frail, lost “light in eyes”, “his wife moved straight through him like a ghost,”

Myrtle Wilson: Dominant, classy, vitality, “blocks out light” cause for trouble, tries to fit in, materialistic,

Gatsby: Images of him through enigmas, brief encounters/ glimpses (Chapter 1)

Important Quote to take note:

What do you think this means?

“I was within and without simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” – Page 42 (green book) & Page 24 (Blue books) The Great Gatsby

Within: A character within the novel
Without: the narrator of the novel

4 - Symbolism from Chapter 2:

The billboard, mentioned in pg 29

“But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic – their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under the sun and rain, brood over the solemn dumping ground.”

Suggests as a godlike figure looking down from the heavens, God is being commercialised.

5 - Appendix

The Jazz Age:

http://academyenglish12.blogspot.com/2011/03/great-gatsby-contextbackground.html


End of Blog

Enjoy and please tell me how to improve them

Thank you

Chris.张

Fra Lippo Lippi lesson

H/WDo Self assessment for Porphyria’s Lover Essays.

Do Fra Lippo Lippi’s questions.

2 (a) Write about the ways Browning tells the story in lines 1-39 of “Fra Lippo Lippi” (21 marks)

(b) “Fra Lippo Lippi is about the significance of art in a civilized society”. How do you respond to this view of the poem? (21 marks)

Research “risorgimento”.

SUMMARY OF THE POEM

“Fra Lippo Lippi,” another of Browning’s dramatic monologues, appeared in the 1855 collection Men and Women. Fra (Brother) Lippo Lippi was an actual Florentine monk who lived in the fifteenth century. He was a painter of some renown, and Browning most probably gained familiarity with his works during the time he spent in Italy. “Fra Lippo Lippi” introduces us to the monk as he is being interrogated by some Medici watchmen, who have caught him out at night. Because Lippo’s patron is Cosimo de Medici, he has little to fear from the guards, but he has been out partying and is clearly in a mood to talk. He shares with the men the hardships of monastic life: he is forced to carry on his relationships with women in secret, and his superiors are always defeating his good spirits. But Lippo’s most important statements concern the basis of art: should art be realistic and true-to-life, or should it be idealistic and didactic? Should Lippo’s paintings of saints look like the Prior’s mistress and the men of the neighborhood, or should they evoke an otherworldly surreality? Which kind of art best serves religious purposes? Should art even serve religion at all? Lippo’s rambling speech touches on all of these issues.

SUMMARY OF THE LESSON

We spent the lesson reading through and analysing the poem discussing themes. Some people argued that the main theme of the poem was the hypocrisy of religion and it was a reflection of the period of time when browning questioned his religious beliefs. However others said that the main theme was art and its value to society, whereas the liberal members of our classroom maintained the idea that the poem addressed both themes at once

How a point of view affects a novel.

We entered the classroom to find four names on the board. Nick, Tom, Daisy and Gatsby. We were then asked to identify the odd one out. The majority of people decided that Gatsby was the odd one out due to the fact that he seemed to represent Romanticism with an element of mystery that the other characters did not have; however some people decided that Daisy was the odd one out as she did not seem to fit either modernism or Romanticism and seemed to be a character that was trapped and lost her voice.

We then did an exercise that allowed Mr Sadgrove to see if we had read the chapters which he had asked us to do by making us write two newspaper headlines, one for chapter one and another for chapter two.
After this we were shown a quote by David Lodge from his "The art of Fiction":
"The choice of the point of view from the story is told... fundamentally affects the way readers will respond, emotionally and morally, to the fictional characters and their actions.

In order to put this concept into use, we were asked to take the classic nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" and change the narrative to first person. An example of this would be similar to what I wrote:
I was just chilling on a wall,
Thinking, why do I have arms?
Anyway, this hen comes up to me and says
"You belong to me"
So, basically, I thought screw this and took a leap of faith off the wall.
Obviously, my faith was misplaced and I died.
But it's all good because they turned me into an omelet.

Finally, we made a table to show the advantages and disadvantages of using a first person narrator.
Such as an advantage being that we can experience what the narrator is feeling and a disadvantage is that there will be gaps and missing information due to an unreliable narrator.

Homework:
Comment on Blog.
Revised Aa question on Godiva focusing on narrative notes.
Self asses the Aa question using the sheet.
Read Chapter three again.

Roman A.

PS. Sorry for late blog but don't use this as an excuse to not do the homework you still have all day today!