Reading and Literature Studies · Reading Literary TextsNovel Study, Part 3: Themes, Critical Lenses and Evaluating The Great Gatsby and Its Films
1.7 1.8 1.5About 75 minutes
Learning goals- I can explain how the ending of a novel completes its themes.
- I can read a novel through critical lenses (class, gender, race, the American Dream) and identify its perspectives and biases.
- I can evaluate a novel and a film adaptation using clear criteria and evidence.
- I can make meaningful connections between the novel, other texts in this unit and today's world.
Words to know
critical lens
A particular perspective (such as class, gender or race) used to read a text and ask what it reveals or hides.
the American Dream
The belief that anyone in the United States can rise to success and happiness through hard work and determination.
tragic flaw
A trait in a main character that contributes to their downfall.
criteria
The standards used to judge something (singular: criterion).
adaptation
A version of a text in another medium, such as a film of a novel.
fidelity
How closely an adaptation follows its source.
unreliable narrator
A narrator whose account may be biased, limited or misleading.
Hook: the hottest day of the summer
Everyone knows the feeling of a too-hot day when nerves snap and people say what they've been holding back. Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby is that day: the hottest of the summer, five people crammed into a hotel suite in New York, and a secret that can't stay hidden any longer. By the end of Chapter 8, three people are dead. This lesson finishes the novel and asks the biggest questions: What does it mean? Whose perspective does it serve? And how well do the films capture it?
Remember from Grade 10
You evaluated texts using criteria and evidence, and you used critical lenses (power and politics, gender, class) on Macbeth. Grade 11 applies them to a novel and adds evaluating a film adaptation, which the curriculum gives as an example of evaluating a text.
Chapters 7 to 9 in brief
(Content note: this section mentions a fatal car accident, a shooting and a suicide, without detail.)
- Chapter 7: On a blazing hot day, the group drives into New York. At the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy never loved him. Daisy can't say it: I did love him once—but I loved you too. Tom reveals that Gatsby's fortune comes from bootlegging and other crimes. Gatsby's dream collapses as Daisy withdraws. Driving home in Gatsby's car, Daisy hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, and doesn't stop. Gatsby plans to take the blame. Later, Nick sees Tom and Daisy at their kitchen table, talking quietly together.
- Chapter 8: Gatsby tells Nick about his past with Daisy. Leaving, Nick calls across the lawn: They're a rotten crowd. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together. George Wilson, broken by grief, stares at Eckleburg's eyes and says God sees everything. Tom has told him whose car it was. Wilson shoots Gatsby and then himself.
- Chapter 9: Almost no one comes to Gatsby's funeral. Daisy and Tom have left without an address. Gatsby's father arrives with a schedule of self-improvement young James Gatz wrote as a boy. Nick ends things with Jordan, returns to the Midwest, and judges Tom and Daisy: They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness...
The last lines return to the green light: Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. (orgastic here means wildly exciting.) The book ends: So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
How the ending completes the themes
- The past: Gatsby believed you can repeat the past. The final image says the opposite: we row forward but are borne back ceaselessly into the past. The dream depends on recovering something already gone.
- Wealth and carelessness: the rich (Tom and Daisy) retreat into their money. The people who pay are from the valley of ashes (Myrtle, George) and the outsider (Gatsby).
- The American Dream: James Gatz rose from poverty through determination (his boyhood schedule), which is the Dream's promise. But his success came through crime, his goal was a person rather than an achievement, and old money never accepted him. The novel suggests the Dream has been corrupted by money and shut by class.
- Is Gatsby "great"? Nick's answer is complicated: Gatsby was a criminal and a fantasist, but he had an extraordinary gift for hope, which makes him greater than the careless people around him.
Critical lenses: perspectives and bias
Class. The novel criticizes old money (Tom and Daisy's carelessness), but it also sneers at new money's lack of taste (Gatsby's showy pink suit and parties), and gives the valley of ashes characters little inner life. Whose side is it really on?
Gender. Women are seen only through Nick. Daisy is described mostly through her voice (Her voice is full of money, Gatsby says) and through what men want from her. Myrtle is treated as vulgar, and her death is told through others. Jordan is labelled incurably dishonest. Ask: would these women tell the story differently? Daisy's beautiful little fool line suggests she understands her trap better than the men do.
Race. Tom repeats racist theories from a book, and the novel presents him as foolish and dangerous for it. But Nick's own narration also uses racial stereotypes of the 1920s (for example, when describing a car carrying Black passengers on the Queensboro Bridge in Chapter 4). The novel was written in the Jazz Age, named after Black American music, yet no Black character speaks for himself or herself in it. Critical literacy notices whose voices are missing.
Nick as narrator. Nick praises his own honesty, but he helped arrange Gatsby and Daisy's meetings, kept Tom's secrets and dated a woman he called dishonest. His admiration for Gatsby shapes the whole story. Calling him an unreliable narrator may be too strong, but he is certainly a biased one.
Worked exampleLet's apply a critical lens
Use the gender lens to analyse how Daisy is represented. Identify the perspective and a possible bias.
- Perspective: we only see Daisy through Nick (her cousin, who comes to judge her) and through Gatsby's dream of her. She never narrates and rarely explains herself.
- Evidence: she is described by her voice (full of money), her white dresses and her charm, more than by her thoughts. Gatsby wants her to erase the past (tell him you never loved him).
- Complication: her beautiful little fool line shows she understands the limits placed on women: a woman who understands her world is less happy in it. At the Plaza she says the honest thing (I loved you too), and both men reject it.
- Possible bias: the novel tends to treat Daisy as a prize or a symbol (the green light, the golden girl), and then blames her for not living up to the dream. Her choices are judged without her full perspective.
- Conclusion: the gender lens shows that Daisy is less a fully drawn person than a mirror for male desire, which may be the novel's point, or its blind spot.
Seen only through men's eyes, Daisy is represented as a symbol of wealth and desire. The novel hints at her intelligence and entrapment, but its perspective rarely lets her speak for herself.
Evaluating the novel and its films
To evaluate, choose criteria, gather evidence and make a balanced judgment. Two well-known film adaptations:
- 1974, directed by Jack Clayton, starring Robert Redford as Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy: a slow, elegant, very faithful version.
- 2013, directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire as Nick: fast, glittering and loud, with a modern soundtrack that includes hip-hop. It adds a frame: Nick tells the story while being treated in a sanatorium, writing it down as therapy.
Possible criteria for judging an adaptation:
- Does it keep the themes (the past, wealth and carelessness, the corrupted dream)?
- How does it handle the narrator? Film can't easily show Nick's thoughts.
- How does it make the symbols work on screen (the green light, Eckleburg's eyes)?
- Does it adapt the style in a way that suits film, even if it changes details?
Worked exampleLet's evaluate an adaptation with criteria
Evaluate Luhrmann's choice to use a modern soundtrack, including hip-hop, in a film set in 1922.
- Criterion: does the choice capture the effect of the novel for today's audience, even if it changes the details?
- Argument for: in 1922, jazz was the new, exciting, Black-created music that shocked older listeners. A modern hip-hop soundtrack can recreate that feeling of newness for a 2013 audience in a way period jazz no longer does.
- Argument against: it removes the film from its historical moment, and the glamour of the soundtrack may make the parties seem simply fun, weakening the novel's criticism of excess.
- Evidence to use: specific party scenes; comparison with the novel's description of the orchestra and the guests' behaviour.
- Balanced judgment: the choice is effective at conveying the energy and novelty of the Jazz Age, but it risks glamorizing what the novel critiques. Judged by the criterion of keeping themes, it is partly successful.
A strong evaluation states the criterion, gives evidence for and against, and reaches a qualified judgment: effective for energy and novelty, less effective at preserving the critique of excess.
| Connection | What it reveals |
|---|
| Ozymandias (Lesson 1) | Both show monuments to pride (a statue, a mansion) emptied by time; Gatsby's empty house after the funeral echoes Nothing beside remains. |
| The Necklace (Lesson 3) | Both centre on a character who builds a life around appearing wealthy, and pays everything for it. |
| Today's world | Social media self-presentation, and debates about whether hard work alone can overcome inequality, keep Gatsby's questions current. |
Just for funRiddle: What do you call an eye doctor's billboard that ends up as a symbol for God, judgment and the emptiness of the modern world?
A vision statement. (Doctor T. J. Eckleburg never treated a single patient in the novel, but he's been examined by readers for a hundred years.)
Hands-on activityFilm night with a scoring sheet
You need: access to one Gatsby film (check your public library's free streaming or DVD collection, and check the film's rating with a parent first), popcorn optional, and a notebook.
- Before watching, write four criteria (themes, narrator, symbols, style) and a score out of 5 for each.
- While watching, note one piece of evidence per criterion (a scene, a line, a camera shot).
- Afterwards, write a one-paragraph evaluation with a qualified judgment: The film succeeds at... but...
- Discuss with a family member who watched with you: did they score it differently? Why?
What to look for: criteria stated before watching; specific evidence; a judgment that is balanced, not just it was good.
Your turn
1Who was driving the car that killed Myrtle?
2Why does Myrtle run toward the yellow car?
She had seen Tom driving it that afternoon, so she thinks it is Tom's car and that he is in it.
3Explain the final image, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
We keep striving forward, but are pushed back: no one can escape the past or recapture it. It answers Gatsby's belief that you can repeat the past.
4What does Nick mean by calling Tom and Daisy careless people?
They damage things and people and then retreat into their money, never facing the consequences; others pay instead.
5Name two critical lenses and the question each asks.
Class: who has power and who pays? Gender: how are women seen and heard? (Also race: whose voices are missing? American Dream: is the dream possible or corrupt?)
6Give two criteria for evaluating a film adaptation.
Any two: keeps the themes; handles the narrator; makes the symbols work; adapts the style suitably for film.
7How does Gatsby's boyhood schedule (Chapter 9) connect to the American Dream?
It shows the young James Gatz's discipline and ambition to improve himself, the Dream's promise, which makes his corrupt, tragic end more painful.
More practice: warm-up
1Where does the confrontation in Chapter 7 take place?
At the Plaza Hotel in New York.
2What does Tom reveal about the source of Gatsby's money?
It comes from bootlegging and other crimes.
4Who directed the 2013 film adaptation?
5Where does Nick go at the end of the novel?
Back to the Midwest (the West).
More practice: on your own
1Why is it significant that almost no one comes to Gatsby's funeral?
It exposes how empty his crowded parties were: the guests used him, and the rich world he tried to join abandons him. It shows the shallowness of the society.
2How does Tom bear responsibility for Gatsby's death?
He told Wilson the yellow car belonged to Gatsby, steering Wilson's grief toward Gatsby and away from himself and Daisy.
3Use the class lens on the novel's treatment of George and Myrtle Wilson.
They are poor, from the valley of ashes, and suffer the worst consequences of the rich characters' actions; yet the novel gives them little inner life and treats Myrtle as vulgar, which suggests a bias even in its criticism of the rich.
4Is Nick reliable? Give one reason he is and one reason he is not.
Reliable: he reports others' words carefully and admits some faults. Not fully: he admires Gatsby and dislikes Tom and Daisy, praises his own honesty, and he was complicit in the affair and kept secrets.
5Make a meaningful connection between The Great Gatsby and Ozymandias.
Both show monuments to pride emptied by time: Ozymandias's statue in the sand and Gatsby's mansion after the funeral. Both suggest that wealth and power cannot protect a dream from time.
Challenge
1Write a thesis statement and two supporting points for an essay on whether The Great Gatsby criticizes the American Dream or mourns it.
Sample thesis: The Great Gatsby both criticizes and mourns the American Dream: it exposes how money and class corrupt the dream, while honouring the 'extraordinary gift for hope' that drives it. Point 1 (criticism): Gatsby's wealth comes from crime, and old money (Tom, Daisy) shuts him out and escapes consequences. Point 2 (mourning): Nick's lyrical tribute to Gatsby's hope and the final image of boats against the current present the dream as noble even though it is impossible.
2The novel criticizes Tom's racism but its narrator also uses racial stereotypes. How should a reader today handle this?
A strong answer names both: the novel presents Tom's beliefs as foolish and dangerous, but Nick's narration shares other prejudices of its time and gives no Black character a voice. Reading critically means recognizing the novel's achievements while noting its blind spots, and seeking out writers of the Harlem Renaissance (like Langston Hughes, Lesson 6) who represented that era from the inside.
3Evaluate whether adding a frame story (Nick in a sanatorium) helps or harms the 2013 film, using the novel's narration as your criterion.
Helps: it gives film a way to keep Nick's retrospective voice and suggests the story has damaged him, as the novel implies. Harms: it adds something not in the novel and makes Nick's breakdown explicit, possibly reducing ambiguity about his reliability. A strong answer states the criterion and reaches a qualified judgment.
Quiz
2. They were careless people refers to...
3. The final line, borne back ceaselessly into the past, suggests that...
5. Which is the best example of an evaluation criterion for a film adaptation?
6. Seen through the race lens, a key observation is that...
7. The 1974 film adaptation starred...
What this lesson teaches: ENG3U Reading 1.7 (evaluating texts with criteria and evidence, including a film adaptation, the curriculum's own example), 1.8 (critical literacy: perspectives and biases related to class, gender and race) and 1.5 (connections to other texts and the world), completing the novel study of The Great Gatsby.
How to help at home:
- Watch one film adaptation together and score it with the four criteria. Both films include heavy drinking and violence; check the rating and preview if unsure.
- Ask: Who was really responsible for Gatsby's death? There's no single answer.
Content note: the final chapters include a fatal hit-and-run, a murder and a suicide (not described graphically), and the novel contains racist views (Tom's) and racial stereotypes in the narration, which the lesson discusses critically.
Common difficulties:
- Evaluation without criteria (the movie was better). Ask: Better at what?
- Treating a lens as an accusation. A lens is a question, not a verdict; it can reveal strengths as well as blind spots.
Facts used: the 1974 film was directed by Jack Clayton (Robert Redford, Mia Farrow); the 2013 film by Baz Luhrmann (Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire). Quotations follow the 1925 text.