Anticipation Guide: Exploring Themes

Anticipation Guide: Exploring Themes

Before reading the assigned text, read each statement below. Mark 'True' if you agree with the statement or 'False' if you disagree. Be prepared to discuss your reasoning.

1. Individuals are solely responsible for their own success or failure.

2. Society often places unfair expectations on young people.

3. The pursuit of wealth inevitably leads to corruption.

4. Love and loyalty are always stronger than ambition.

Choose one statement from above that you feel strongly about. Explain your initial thoughts and why you agree or disagree.

Excerpt from 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” He didn’t say any more, but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. It was a habit of mind then, and I’ve had to consciously stop myself from forming a judgment upon people, for it is often the case that those who are judged most harshly are those who have had the least advantages. This is a story of the West, after all, and the West was still a wild place, full of new money and new ways of doing things. Here, a man could make himself. He could become anything he wanted to be. But what if he lost himself in the process?

After reading the excerpt, revisit the anticipation statements. Did your perspective on any of them change? Explain why, referencing specific details from the text.