The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald &
Jake Reinvented Gordon Korman
Jen Salvail
Callie Verderosa
Characters in Gatsby
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Jay Gatsby: Jay is the protagonist of the novel. He lives in West Egg and
throws incredible parties, but is mysterious to Nick until Nick learns
about Gatsby’s life and how he is driven by wealth and social status to
win back Daisy, after he left her for WWI.
Nick Carraway: Nick is the Narrator of the novel. He explains that he
is understanding of morals, values, and does not judge others based
off of his own views. Nick is Daisy’s cousin, which allows him to be
involved in the parties and meet Gatsby.
Daisy Buchanan: Daisy is Nick Carraway’s cousin, and the love of Jay
Gatsby’s life. Gatsby went off to war, and Daisy, although promising to
wait for him, married Tom Buchanan. Daisy is caught up in luxury and
wealth, and is concerned with social status instead of people. This is
proved in the end by her actions, she lets Gatsby take the blame of
Myrtle’s death, and doesn’t attend Gatsby’s funeral.
Other notable characters
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Tom Buchanan: Daisy’s husband. Extremely wealthy and
concerned with social status like Daisy. He is a hypocrite, and
inconsiderate as a character. He has an affair with Myrtle,
whom he treats horribly.
Myrtle Wilson: Tom’s lover, married to George Wilson.
George Wilson: Owns a car/auto shop in the Valley of Ashes.
Married to Myrtle, and although he is considered “lifeless” by
Myrtle, he is a dreamer.
Meyer Wolfsheim: Gatsby’s friend whom bootlegs illegal alcohol,
with Gatsby to make money.
Jordan Baker: Nick’s love interest, Daisy’s friend. Nick
considers her a “new woman” of the 1920’s, but she also has
character flaws
Gatsby plot overview
The novel is set in 1922. Nick Carraway acquires a job in New
York City, but lives in Long Island in the West Egg. His neighbor
is Jay Gatsby who lives in a mansion much larger than his small
house and Gatsby throws huge parties every Saturday night.
Daisy Buchanan is Nick’s distant cousin and also Tom Buchanan’s
wife and lives with Tom in the more wealthy part of Long Islandthe East Egg. In addition, Tom Buchanan attended Yale University
with Nick. At dinner one night, Daisy and Tom bring Jordan
Baker to meet Nick, and they start a relationship, even though
Jordan lives a much more luxurious lifestyle than Nick. Tom
takes Nick to New York City one day to meet his mistress,
Myrtle Wilson for a small get together. Eventually, Gatsby invites
Nick to one of his parties and Gatsby explains to Jordan that he
knew Daisy previously and loved her and he had been hosting
all these parties to get her attention.
Gatsby convinces Nick to invite Daisy over for tea without
Daisy knowing that Gatsby would be there. After a surprise
run in, they fall back in love with one another, but Tom
Buchanan soon realizes Gatsby’s infatuation with his wife and
confronts Gatsby even though Tom has a mistress. Tom
explains to Daisy that Gatsby is a criminal, and therefore Tom
is better, but he sends the two of them back to East Egg on
their own. On the way, Gatsby’s car hits Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s
mistress, but it was Daisy who was driving the car. Even though
Gatsby ends up taking the blame, Tom proceeds to tell Myrtle’s
wife that Gatsby killed Myrtle so Myrtle’s husband finds Gatsby
and kills him. Nick holds a funeral for Gatsby and ends up
moving back to the Midwest.
Context of the time in Gatsby
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Fitzgerald wrote Gatsby in 1923-24 and it was published in
1925 as a novel
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Set during the Summer of 1922
1920’s: Jazz Age,
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“Roaring 20’s”
Prohibition
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Evident through characters like Wolfsheim
Plot overview of Jake Reinvented
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Jake Garrett is new to town and new to F. Scott Fitzgerald
High School. His way of becoming popular is by scoring himself
the position of long-snapper on the football team and
throwing huge parties every Friday night for the kids at his
new high school. His plan all along is to impress his long-lost
lover, Didi who is now the girlfriend of quarterback Todd
Buckley who is undoubtedly the most popular kid in school.
Didi is secretly spending time with Jake, but still manages to
maintain her reputation and appears as Todd’s flawless
girlfriend in public. Jake’s past of being a math nerd who played
chess at his old school comes out at his final party, which is
the biggest one yet. The damage that is done to Jake’s
teammate, Nelson, and his dad’s house lands Jake in court and
causes him to move to Texas with his mom.
Central Conflicts and Themes of Jake
Reinvented
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Central Conflicts:
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Truth vs. Falsehood
Identity vs. Anonymity
Main Themes:
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Maintaining a reputation
Finding love vs. faking love
Hiding one’s past
Creating meaningful relationships
Starting fresh
Finding one’s identity
Notes on Gordon Korman, author of Jake
Reinvented
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Gordon Korman was born in Canada and now lives in
Long Island, New York with his wife and three children.
He currently has 70 books out. His first book was created
out of an English assignment when he was in 7th grade and
came out in 1978. Korman enjoys writing books for
children where he is able to incorporate sports. He
writes books that appear in a series as well as books that
stand alone like Jake, Reinvented.
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http://www.gordonkorman.com/
Criticism for Gatsby
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“Gatsby has been adapted once as a play, twice as a
television production, and three times as a feature film.
Though some reviewers and moviegoers despised the
1974 release, it was, like the others, a reasonable good
stab at a work that resists adaptation”
“Gatsby 1974, 1949, and 1926 were, for ardent fans of the
novel, failures. Fair minded readers know that a good
adaptation will always interpret a novel, not slavishly
reproduce it. Fitzgerald himself knew that.
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“My only fear is that you have been too loyal”- Fitzgerald
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Leff, Leonard. "The Elusive Gatsby." Opera News 64.6 (1999): 50.
MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.
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“In one way or another they all represent an assault upon
nature, and as the tale unfolds the idea of nature insulted
and abased is raised to the level of a general metaphor”
“The people in Gatsby have not consciously renounced
nature. They have only ceased to perceive its limits. They
think continually in terms of fertility, but the forms of it
that they wish upon the world either altogether specious,
or else “forced.”
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Westbrook, J.S. "Nature And Optics In The Great Gatsby." American
Literature 32.1 (1960): 78. Humanities International Complete. Web. 25
Mar. 2013.
Other Adaptations of Gatsby
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Book Adaptations:
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The Double Bind (2008) Chris Bohjalian (Later years of Tom and
Daisy)
Daisy Buchanan’s Daughter (2011) Tom Carson
The Late Gatsby (2012) S.A. Klipspringer- Vampire adaptation
Film Adaptations:
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1926, silent film (…one of the only “faithful” adaptations)
1949, 1974, 2000, and 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaBVLhcHcc0
Other Adaptations of Gatsby
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Theatre Adaptations:
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The Great Gatsby Musical (2012) London- Joe Evans and Linnie
Reedman
Other adaptations include computer games, television episodes, opera,
radio broadcasts, songs, and bands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby