Unit 1 Exploring Aspects of Narrative: The Great Gatsby, The Kite Runner and poems by Browning and Frost
Aspect of
Narrative
The Great Gatsby
Scenes and
Places
Ideas to get you started:
1. ‘That’s my Middle West… the street lamps and sleigh bells in
the frosty dark … I see now this has been a story of the West,
after all … perhaps we possessed some deficiency in
common which made us subtly inadaptable to Eastern life.’
How do the settings of West and East Egg develop the
themes of wealth and dreams in the novel?
2. How does the setting of Gatsby’s house portray the newly
rich millionaires in the 1920s?
3. What does the setting of the Buchanans’ house reveal about
1920s aristocracy?
4. What does the Valley of the Ashes reveal about the social
decay of America?
5. How does the weather illustrate the demise of Gatsby?
6. Comment on how the Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg billboard
overlooking the wasteland develops the theme of
judgement in the narrative.
7. Discuss the connection between the Valley of the Ashes and
George Wilson.
8. Comment on how and when the weather enhances the
development of the plot.
Aspect of
Narrative
The Great Gatsby
Time and
Sequence
Ideas to get you started:
1. The action in the novel takes place over a mere few months,
during the summer of 1922. How does the constricted time
period enhance the narrative?
2. The novel is written in the past tense. What effect does this
have on the rising and falling action and climax of the novel?
3. What does the constant flow of music from Gatsby’s parties
have to do with the time in which the novel is set?
4. Why does the action become more compressed in the
middle of chapter 7, in comparison to its more generalised
opening?
5. How does ‘The Great Gatsby’ follow the sequence of
narrative structure? (Exposition – Rising Action – Climax –
Falling Action – Resolution/Denouement)
The Great Gatsby
Aspect of
Narrative
Characters
Ideas to get you started:
1. Nick Carraway plays both the role of the narrator and the
protagonist; in effect he is a character witness. How does
this character suspend the novel between the real and the
imaginary?
2. Discuss the title of the novel in relation to the main
protagonist, Gatsby.
3. How does Nick’s character affect his narrative style?
4. To what extent do you consider the characters of Nick and
Gatsby to be influenced by Fitzgerald, based on what you
know about his life?
5. Discuss the ways in which the character of Gatsby is used to
explore the American Dream in the novel.
6. Choose two characters and explore the language used to
create and develop them.
Aspect of
Narrative
The Great Gatsby
Voices in
the story
Ideas to get you started:
1. The reader experiences the characters through the eyes of
Nick Carraway. Explore how our impressions of the
characters would change if Gatsby or Daisy Buchanan were
the narrator. How would this change your interpretation of
the novel?
2. Nick’s attitude towards Gatsby and Gatsby’s story are
ambivalent and contradictory. How do his contractions
affect our view of Gatsby as the protagonist?
3. Does the narrative voice romanticise or condemn the
excesses of the ‘Roaring 20s’? Discuss.
4. Explore how the speech of Daisy Buchanan creates an
elegiac tone in the novel.
5. ‘Gatsby’s thoughts and dreams are of possessing Daisy
because his heart demands a dream.’ To what extent do you
agree with this view of the novel? Explore Gatsby’s thoughts
in the novel.
(speech and
thoughts of
characters)
Aspect of
Narrative
The Great Gatsby
Point of
View
Ideas to get you started:
1. Nick Carraway narrates in both the first and third persons.
What effect does this have on the novel?
2. Which events are narrated from an objective point of view?
What do you think are the reasons for this?
3. How do Nick’s family ties with Daisy influence his portrayal
of her character?
4. Does seeing things through Nick Carraway’s eyes enhance or
limit our experience of the story?
5. Is there another character which you would choose to
narrate the story? How would their point of view alter the
narrative?
Aspect of
Narrative
The Great Gatsby
Destination
Ideas to get you started:
1. Discuss the title of the novel in relation to the dominant
theme of wealth in the novel.
2. In what ways do the themes of dreams, wealth and time
relate to each other in the novel’s exploration of America?
3. Do you consider ‘The Great Gatsby’ to be an
autobiographical novel? Explain.
4. ‘I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in
this world, a beautiful, little fool’ (Daisy, ch. 1). What do you
feel this novel has to say about the role of women in the
20s?
5. Choose two characters and discuss how they appear at the
beginning and end of the novel.
6. ‘The ending of the novel is filled with downfall and
desolation in a world without a moral centre.’ How far
would you agree with this statement?