SOPH GREEN extra credit Gatsby 2010

Most be posted before Tuesday, May 4.

"So one of the greatest American novels ever written is about the rich and wanna-be rich and famous of the 1920s?" asks the Unknown Student.

Yup, answers your English teacher.

"It's so outdated, isn't it? I mean, these characters and what they want in their lives. They're from another time period. They couldn't possibly teach me anything, anything that's relevant today, anyway, " the Unknown Student again remarks.

That's where you're mistaken. Gatsby still speaks to the modern American about important themes like honesty and greed and working hard to achieve your dreams, the English teacher explains.

"How so?" the Unknown Student retorts.

Let's end this conversation now, of course, with an assignment, that might support your English teacher's opinion and answer the Unknown Student.

Choose one of these prompts, and respond HERE at Schoolsville in a minimum of 25 blog lines or 200 words for 3 pts. EXTRA CREDIT.

1. Write about a modern athlete who was accused of "cheating" at his or her sport and who, like Jordan Baker, was able to escape the law or punishment of any type.

2. Write about a modern tycoon or gambler, someone was caught and accused of a crime (like Meyer Wolfsheim), but who was able to escape the law or punishment of any type.

3. Tell me about some modern Honest John (it's an old expression for a "real" honest person) who was deceived and destroyed by someone who was dishonest. You know, someone who is like a modern George Wilson.

4. Wanna get personal? Tell me a personal story in which you found out that something you dreamed about, had high hopes about, really wanted to see or experience, wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. In other words, the reality didn't match the dream. Daisy became Gatsby's dream. He spent five years trying to get enough money in order to get her. Then he found out that she wasn't in love with him as much as he was in love with her. She wasn't "all that...."

5. Come up with an updated version, 2010 style, of The Great Gatsby. It can't be set in the 1920s with the exact same characters. Who are the new characters? Where is the story set? Change the plot a little bit to give it a 20th century flare. Have some fun. IF she could act, wouldn't Paris Hilton make a great Daisy?

SOPHS BLUE Extra Credit--Gatsby 2010

Most be posted before Tuesday, May 4.

"So one of the greatest American novels ever written is about the rich and wanna-be rich and famous of the 1920s?" asks the Unknown Student.

Yup, answers your English teacher.

"It's so outdated, isn't it? I mean, these characters and what they want in their lives. They're from another time period. They couldn't possibly teach me anything, anything that's relevant today, anyway, " the Unknown Student again remarks.

That's where you're mistaken. Gatsby still speaks to the modern American about important themes like honesty and greed and working hard to achieve your dreams, the English teacher explains.

"How so?" the Unknown Student retorts.

Let's end this conversation now, of course, with an assignment, that might support your English teacher's opinion and answer the Unknown Student.

Choose one of these prompts, and respond HERE at Schoolsville in a minimum of 25 blog lines or 200 words for 3 pts. EXTRA CREDIT.

1. Write about a modern athlete who was accused of "cheating" at his or her sport and who, like Jordan Baker, was able to escape the law or punishment of any type.

2. Write about a modern tycoon or gambler, someone who was caught and accused of a crime (like Meyer Wolfsheim), but who was able to escape the law or punishment of any type.

3. Tell me about some modern Honest John (it's an old expression for a "real" honest person) who was deceived and destroyed by someone who was dishonest. You know, someone who is like a modern George Wilson.

4. Wanna get personal? Tell me a personal story in which you found out that something you dreamed about, had high hopes about, really wanted to see or experience, wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. In other words, the reality didn't match the dream. Daisy became Gatsby's dream. He spent five years trying to get enough money in order to get her. Then he found out that she wasn't in love with him as much as he was in love with her. She wasn't "all that...."

5. Come up with an updated version, 2010 style, of The Great Gatsby. It can't be set in the 1920s with the exact same characters. Who are the new characters? Where is the story set? Change the plot a little bit to give it a 20th century flare. Have some fun. Wouldn't Leonardo DiCaprio make a "great" Gatsby?

I, Too, Dislike It (for the Class of 2010)

I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this ---fiddle. -Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in -it after all, a place for the genuine. (from a poem called Poetry, 1921)

These are lines from Marianne Moore's poem entitled, Poetry, that might express your own sentiments about the genre (especially the first line). Moore, however, was specifically expressing her disdain for the poetry of her time that had become overly esoteric.

On the other hand, I don't see any evidence of displeasure coming from the cows that are listening to the poetry reading in this old Far Side cartoon. I think that they hear the poet's message loud and clear: "Don't fence me in."