Gatsby Fishbowl
AP Language and Composition
Here are the topics for next week's Gatsby Fishbowl.
Take a few notes and familiarize yourself with the topics; they'll be randomly assigned to your
group. Be prepared to discuss how the rhetorical and stylistic features of the text intersect
with/enhance the topics. While Gatsby will be an anchor text throughout the fishbowl, one of your
group’s three questions will be Gatsby-specific. Do not type up elaborate responses with the
hopes of reading them aloud.
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Gender roles
Old money vs new money
True love?
Dangers of materialism
Reliable narrator
Social Mobility (everybody dies that tries)
Criminality vs. Immorality
Gender vs. Class
Moral absolutes?
Proximity to Immorality
American Dream vs. Already have everything
Bigotry: racism, sexism, etc.
Children and women as objects/trophies
Love Daisy vs. Love what she represents*
Tom’s Power and Different -isms (racism, sexism, classism)*
Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle: The intersection of class and gender*
20 total points in the “Tests and Papers” category
Texts From the Unit:
The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Serving in Florida”: Barbara Ehrenreich
“Luxury Shopping From the Other Side of the Register”: Carmen Maria Machado
“The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death”: Jia Tolentino
“The Gospel of Wealth”: Andrew Carnegie