One of our jobs as English students is to become experienced literary critics. Studying a historical era concurrent with its literature can be enriching and enlightening and assist us in recognizing how literature can reflect its time period.
Life in the 20's
How did 1920's culture influence Fitzgerald? How does Fitzgerald view America in the 1920's? How do things like capitalism and carelessness corrupt the American Dream?
Authors also purposefully make choices to enhance their literature. As readers we should read actively to identify an author's choices and analyze why they are made.
While we read F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, we will be exploring and identifying literary choices specifically related to colour imagery that Fitzgerald has made. To do this we will be tracking colour imagery as we read using a colour journal (for a sample of the colour journal see colour journal sample). It is important to understand the terms connotation and denotation prior to starting your journals. Check out What Does Chicken Mean? to get a real grasp about connotation and denotation. Also, visit Exploring Cultural Connotations of Colour Travelogue to learn more about the specific associations and symbolic meanings of colours.
