“The Great Gatsby”
Final Project Option List
All essays must be a minimum of two to three pages, double-spaced, using Times New
Roman font.
1. The Great Gatsby has been filmed several times, most recently in 1974 with
Mia Farrow as Daisy and Robert Redford as Gatsby. View one version of the
movie and write a review of it for the local newspaper in which you compare
and contrast the movie to the novel. How are they the same? How are they
different? Which do you feel is the most effective, and why?
2. Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, the billboard for the Queens oculist, is based on writer
T. S. Eliot; the ashheap is an allusion to Elliot’s famous 1921 poem, The Waste
Land. Read this poem and explain in an essay or speech how it relates to The
Great Gatsby.
3. Must of The Great Gatsby is autobiographical, as with many of Fitzgerald’s
writings. Read a reliable biography of Fitzgerald’s life, then write an essay
pointing out the autobiographical elements in The Great Gatsby. Investigate
the lives of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and be sure to chart the similarities
and differences between the Fitzgeralds’ relationship and Gatsby & Daisy’s
affair.
4. Read one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s other novels such as This Side of Paradise,
Tender is the Night, or The Last Tycoon. Summarize the story and compare
elements such as characters, plot, and them to those of The Great Gatsby.
5. Research the historical background of The Great Gatsby and the Roaring
Twenties. What impact did World War I have on the period? Prohibition,
Woman Suffrage? Gangsters and racketeering? How are these portrayed in
The Great Gatsby? What events brought the Roaring Twenties to an end?
Present the results of your finding in an oral or written report.
6. Investigate the role of women in the 1920s, particularly after women gained
voting rights in 1920. Compare the women of The Great Gatsby to the
“typical” woman of that decade. Create either a written or visual report.
7. Read Nancy Mitford’s biography entitled Zelda, then write a report
comparing and contrasting Zelda with the character of Daisy.
Swansboro High School
English 11 Honors
8. Tom Buchanan quotes ideas about race from a book called A Rising Tide of
Color by Lothrop Stoddard. Locate and read this book or research the history
of black-white relations in the 1920s. Summarize your findings in a written
report and comment on how those relations form part of the historical
backdrop of the novel.
9. You have probably seen critics giving their opinions about movies. Often one
critic gives the movie a “thumps up” while the other rates the same film as
“thumbs down”. Produce a similar program about The Great Gatsby. The
program should have two reviewers. It could be presented live or
videotaped. Reviews should know ahead of time what topics would be
discussed so they have time to prepare. Each reviewer should have sections
of the novle ready to read to support his / her points about each topic.
Possible topics include: the most exciting (or boring) pats of the book,
themes (such as greed, right, or wrong), qualities that make The Great Gatsby
worth (or not worth) reading.
10. Create a children’s book that follows the ideas and themes found in The Great
Gatsby; however, modify the story in order for it to be appropriate for the
children. In other words, lost the alcohol and the affairs (which makes it a
challenge).
11. Create a board game based on the novel.
12. In The Great Gatsby there are many references to illegal activity such as
World Series fixing, bootlegging, and police complicity in crime. Research
criminal activity in the 1920s including the Harding Administration Scandal
and the Teapot Dome Scandal.
Swansboro High School
English 11 Honors