Gatsby personal reflection paper and Fitzgerald biography

IMPORTANT!!! The Gatsby paper is 1 1/2 to 2 pages single spaced!!! Sorry about the typo in the assignment!!!

HAPPINESS

I ASKED the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell
     me what is happiness.
And I went to famous executives who boss the work of
     thousands of men.
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though
     I was trying to fool with them
And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along
     the Des Plaines river
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with
     their women and children and a keg of beer and an
     accordion.                        

-Carl Sandburg

First Draft of Gatsby Personal Reflection Paper due

Self-edit...

What makes this paper different from other papers?

What do I need to focus on tonight?

Typed draft due tomorrow... visual check for 5 points (you can have someone in the class or outside of class do your peer review, but have somebody do one for you tomorrow afternoon or evening - show them the examples first!)
Thursday - Nearly final draft
Friday - Final draft due

Fitzgerald Documentary

Great Gatsby Personal Reflection Paper

Points: 150

Final Due Date: February 24, 2017

(1^st  draft due February 21, 2017; 2^nd draft due Feb 23)

NOTE about peer reviews: Due to the personal nature of these papers, you might not feel comfortable sharing your paper with a classmate. You may choose your own peer reviewer, and they do not have to be a fellow classmate) 

Pages: 1 ½ to 2 pages, single-spaced, 12 Times New Roman font

Description: This paper is a creative insight paper, a first person paper in which you examine an issue from The Great Gatsby which is meaningful for you and is written from your personal perspective.  Explain how the issue is important, thought provoking, or in some way meaningful for you while also providing evidence and knowledge of how this topic is treated in the novel.

Your essay, while containing personal insights and connections, should also reveal a thoughtful understanding and analysis of Fitzgerald’s treatment of that topic in The Great Gatsby - complete with textual quotes that are explained and honored and integrated nicely into your own well crafted sentences.

Your job is to be contemplative in nature, to discuss how Fitzgerald presents this issue in all its complexity. To show the complexity of the issue, you are to focus on one issue and track it, trace it, build it, apply it to yourself, to the world you live in. The issue should be complex enough to allow for a thorough exploration.

For example, the issue of betrayal is a significant issue in the text and exists from the beginning of the play to the end of the play. There are so many moments where characters feel they have been betrayed, where they feel their trust has been abused, where they feel used and hurt by those who professed to love and honor them. Your job would be to think about betrayal then. Define it. Try to break open this topic and see how many directions you might take it. Gather up as many citations as you can on the subject. Think about what the subject means to you. Think about how the issue of betrayal exists in your life, in your family, in your friend’s lives, in your community, in your school, in our country, in our world? Contemplate. Write about it. Any songs on the subject? Any poems on the subject? Have you seen any films on the subject? Historical events? Bring some of these references in. Make some allusions. Is one kind of betrayal worse than another kind? What does Fitzgerald present about the issue? What do you think about the issue through his language? How can you think more deeply about the subject by considering some of his lines/passages and some of the events from the novel? How do things work out? Any lessons learned? Any wisdom gained?

Create paragraphs as you would for any paper….around key angles/sub-points of your issue. Include several citations from the play in each paragraph.

Demonstrate your own style as a writer: Attempt to use several literary/rhetorical Devices to bring texture and variety to your paper.

Metaphors

Allusions

Repetition

Rhetorical Questions

Simile

Anecdote

Personification

Alliteration

Knowledge of the novel: Citations should not be just dropped into your paper but should be explained and discussed, shared and integrated into your sentences. You need to demonstrate your knowledge of the novel….you should reference what happens and you should make reference to characters and their feelings/beliefs/behaviors. You should have at 3-4 citations from the novel in your paper.  Be sure that their relevance to your point is clear.

Connections outside of the novel:  This is a personal reflection containing your unique personal insights or connections.  Your text should reflect that.  Include a total of combination of touches that make this a paper that only you would write.  Use at least two of the following techniques: personal anecdotes; quotes from conversations/communications with friends, families, acquaintances; allusions/references to literature, music, film; allusions to current events/news.