April 22*

JOURNAL TOPIC:
[Today this is HW-- after you finish tonight's essay, please reflect on the experience in your journal.  How did you do?  What will you have to do in order to improve before the end of the semester?]

AGENDA:
1. Gatsby final exam

HW:
1. Please publish your answer to the Gatsby essay prompt below on your course blog
2. Journal


GATSBY ESSAY (adapted from CollegeBoard)

In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much “the reader’s friend as the protagonist’s.” However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well.

What are the various ways Nick Carraway functions in The Great Gatsby?  How does he help give us the tour through Gatsby's world?  How does he help us get to know Jay Gatsby?  How does his presence change the course of the plot, the interactions between other characters, and/or the reader's understanding of the tone and theme of the novel?  What else (if anything) do you think Carraway's character accomplishes?  How would the book be different if the narration was provided by an anonymous, omniscient voice?