Harkness Discussion 4

Today, November 27th, in class, we had a harkness discussion in our groups on chapter 4 of the Great Gatsby. My group had Ian, Finn, Sean, Luke, and me in it. We had 3 questions to discuss together. There was the class question, group question, and chapter question. The class question is "What is so American about this novel". The group question is "How does the text show the advantages of wealth and status in the USA? What is Fitzgerald’s tone about that?" . Finally the chapter 4 question was "We learn so much important backstory in this chapter--why do we have to wait 80 pages to find out the truth about the past? What affect does this have on our plot/themes/etc.?". In our groups we discussed for the chapter question that Nick, the Narrator had not mentioned the backstory earlier because he might not have known it. For the group question we discussed how Tom gave Daisy a $350 necklace and how Daisy might have married Tom just because he was rich. The class question we didn't really get to but I said this chapter had a scene which made it American because Gatsby received a Christmas Card from someone he once helped him out. After the group Discussion we chose the 2 most valued players in each group and they had a discussion in front of the class. In the class discussion everyone was able to bring up their opinions of the chapter and ask some very analytical questions. They talked about how Nick is a conceited guy and why he mentions the whole back story late in the book. We can relate to this to real life because this activity is teaching us analytical skills. The more we analyze, the better we are at it. This teaches us to read between the lines and see the hidden meanings or what's going to happen in the future.