The Great Gatsby Project

Select one of the following projects to complete.

1. With some of your classmates (no more than 5), stage a Roaring Twenties Party of the type that Gatsby might have hosted (minus the alcohol). Serve one or two of the dishes described in the book and provide music from the period. Provide entertainment consistent with a twenties party or fad and demonstrate what people would have done at a social gathering. In a written accompaniment, provide the passages from the book that you used as references for your party and include a works cited for your research. Be sure to dress the part.

2. Investigate the lives of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Chart the similarities and differences between the Fitzgeralds’ relationship and Gatsby & Daisy’s affair. Create a vivid visual presentation and present your findings to the class.

3. Create a short story or a one-act play about incidents from Jay Gatsby’s early life. You could focus on his relationship with his father, Dan Cody, or Meyer Wolfsheim.

4. Create a booklet of original poems or songs that revolve around specific themes or characters in the novel. Give a “reading” of your poetry or performance of your songs to the class.

5. Adapt a scene from the book into a short play or film to be presented to the class. You must be sure to stay true to the text and use the dialogue provided— though you may add some of your own to make it more believable.

6. Create a mural or artistic representation of the most significant events in the novel. Make it beautiful and refer to specific details from the text.

7. You have probably seen critics giving their opinions about movies. Often one critic gives the movie a “thumbs up” while the other rates the same film “thumbs down.” Produce a similar program about The Great Gatsby. The program should have two reviewers. It could be presented live or filmed. Reviewers should know ahead of time what topics will be discussed so they have time to prepare. Each reviewer should have sections of the novel ready to read to support his/her points about each topic. Possible topics include: a. The most interesting characters b. The most exciting (or boring) parts of the book c. Themes (such as greed, right or wrong, the pursuit of s dream, etc.) d. Qualities that make The Great Gatsby worth (or not worth) reading

8. Create a children’s book that follows the ideas & themes found in The Great Gatsby; however, modify the story in order for it to be appropriate for children. In other words, lose the alcohol and the affairs…which makes it a challenge.

9. Develop a concept for a possible movie remake of The Great Gatsby—however, you may choose to change the time period and the age of the characters and turn this movie into a possible teen-age high school film. The synopsis should be a summary of the story. You are to include ideas of current actors who might play the roles. Film a trailer or significant scene from this new movie.

10. Create a board game or video game based on the novel.

11. This entire novel was told from Nick Carraway’s perspective. Take one of the sections from the novel and retell it from a different character’s perspective. (You are not retelling the entire novel, simply a section.)

12. Think of an original concept for a movie. Develop an interesting approach instead of just re-telling the story. Perhaps set the story in a different time or place, or have the characters meet other significant people from history, literature, film or television. Just keep true to the themes of the novel.

13. Take Gatsby’s most pivotal scenes and make them into a pop-up book format, or tell this story in a graphic novel.