Practice Essay 2
- Describe at least one important object or symbol in the written text(s).
Explain why this object or symbol helped you to understand at least one character.
Note: A symbol could be a place, person, or thing that represents something more than itself.Symbol Character Example Green Light Gatsby ‘He stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way… Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.’ ‘Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy, it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.’
Flowers Daisy ‘that was the inexhaustible charm the rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals song of it.’ ‘What grotesque thing a rose is.’
Eyes Nick ‘Their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire.’ ‘Gatsby looked with vacant eyes.’
‘ “I used to laugh sometimes” – but there was no laughter in his eyes.’
‘Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage she had had, were definitely gone.’
‘He was looking at the eyes of Doctor T . J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night.’
Throughout the novel Fitzgerald talks about the green light and he also tells us that it is related to Gatsby. He doesn’t tell us how but it always comes back to Gatsby and his hope for a life with daisy.
Nick narrates the first time he sees Gatsby in this way, ‘He stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way… Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.’
A very well laid out plan- it is good to see all of your evidence.
I want you to finish the first paragraph for me so I can give you some solid feedback before Thursday.
My first piece of advice is to think about the SExexey structure- have a clear statement and explanation before you launch into your example.