All journal entries should be answered using the RAID technique.  

RAID

R= Restate the Question

A = Answer the question asked

I = Incorporate evidence into your answer (quote from the text or SPECIFIC example we can see)

D = Define your conclusion (make your point)

C h a p t e r 1

1.  Nick, the narrator of the novel, characterizes himself as open minded, “inclined to reserve all judgments’” about people. As a result, he explains, people tend to trust him and share their secrets with him. This is how he got to know Gatsby, “the man who gives his name to this book.”

Tell about a time a person has opened up to you and shared secrets of his or her life.  How did it make you feel?  What did you do with the information?

C h a p t e r 2

2.  If you could give advice to one character, who would it be? Write the lecture you would give this person.

3. ANSWER ON MESSAGE BOARD.  Critics of American society often claim Americans are too materialistic. In our society, people are often judged by their clothing. In this novel, for instance, Myrtle thought George was a gentleman until she found out he had borrowed the suit that he got married in. Then, she decided “ ‘he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.’ ” What first impresses her about Tom is “ ‘had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.’ ” Write a short commentary on your viewpoint about American materialism and concern for the way a person dresses. Do clothes make the man?

C h a p t e r 3

4.  All three chapters have involved a social event or gathering. What connections stand out to you among the chapters in terms of the behavior, attitudes, values, and intentions of the characters?

C h a p t e r 4

5.  What is your view of love? Specifically, is Gatsby a romantic person or an obsessive fool? Is his devotion what it should be? Do you believe this type of devotion is possible or even advisable?

C h a p t e r 6

6.  Nick explains Gatsby’s name change by saying, “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people–his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” To what degree do you accept or not accept your parents? What do you appreciate or what would like to revise about the lifestyle and background that your parents have given you?

C h a p t e r 7

7.  What in this chapter disturbs you most and why?

C h a p t e r 8

8.  At the beginning of Chapter 8, Nick explains Gatsby’s love for Daisy. He says Gatsby “found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail.” What associations do you make with the idea of “following a grail”?

9.  What evidence do you see of people attaching great significance to the wealthy and the possessing of wealth?

C h a p t e r 9

10.  What do you consider the saddest things about the death and funeral?

11.  ANSWER ON MESSAGE BOARD. In the conclusion of the novel, Fitzgerald seems to be drawing an analogy between Gatsby’s dream of Daisy and the American dream.  One point is that both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream are unachieved.  List five ways you think the American dream should be revised.  What is your idea of what the promise of America is?