Anticipation Guide: The Great Gatsby

Read each aphorism listed below. Explain briefly what the aphorism means and list what values it reveals about our society. Then check the Agree or Disagree box to indicate your opinion about each statement.

Aphorism What does it mean? What value does it reveal? Agree? Disagree?“Clothes make the man.”

“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“Money can’t buy happiness”

“It’s better to have second-hand diamonds than none

at all.” ~Mark Twain, remember him?

“Where there’s marriage without love, there’ll be love without marriage.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

“Love is an ideal thing, marriage is a real thing; a confusion of the real with

the ideal never goes unpunished.”

~Goethe

“It is not possible to step twice into the same river.”

~Heraclitus

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the

past.”~Fitzgerald

“Everything that shines ain’t always gonna be gold” ~Kid

Cudi (horrible grammar)

Extended Response

Respond thoughtfully and in complete sentences to each of the following questions. Rushed answers will not be accepted and will make Ms. Clark exceptionally cranky. There are no right or wrong answers; this is purely your opinion. Think of this as a mega-journal. Please answer these questions on your own notebook paper so that you have plenty of room to respond.

1. How might people who are born into wealth compare or contrast to those who are nouveau riche or acquired their wealth overnight?

2. Would you date or marry someone just for their money? What would be the advantages or disadvantages of doing this?

3. What defines a person’s “social class” today? (Make a list of criteria.)4. Would you ever date or marry someone below your own social class? What would your parents’ reaction be?

How would your parents react if you dated or married someone above your social status?5. What dreams and hopes do you have for the future?6. What goals do you have for your life in the next five years? Ten years? 20 years? Your lifetime?7. Can money buy happiness?8. Is the love of money the root of all evil? (I Timothy 6:10—“The love of money is the root of all evil”)