How to Teach The Great Gatsby: Gatsby's Invented Past

"Through Flint, students engaged with learning on their own terms. As one of my colleagues describes it, Flint allows students to access learning at a higher level than they believe themselves capable of."

Evan Chastain, Upper School English Teacher at The Kinkaid School

Why this matters

A student can define direct and indirect characterization and still take Gatsby at his word. In chapter 4 he tells Nick he comes from a wealthy Middle West family and studied at Oxford, then shows a war medal and a college photo, and even Nick thinks "Then it was all true." A reading quiz shows who remembers the medal, not who noticed that Gatsby's own story doesn't hold together, and the teacher has to wait for the essay to find out.

How to teach The Great Gatsby through Gatsby's invented past

The Great Gatsby turns on a man who made himself up. In chapter 6, Nick reveals that Jay Gatsby was born James Gatz of North Dakota, the son of farm people, and changed his name at seventeen. Everything students learn about Gatsby comes through Nick, so they need to read Nick with care too: at the end of chapter 3 he calls himself "one of the few honest people that I have ever known," and in chapter 4 he doubts Gatsby's Oxford story, then believes it once he holds the medal and sees the Oxford photo.

In this activity, students who have read through chapter 4 talk out loud with Sparky playing Gatsby, who tells the story he tells Nick. A worksheet gives every student the same questions, and Gatsby answers each student's own: when a student takes the medal as proof, he repeats his San Francisco answer and lets the student find the slip, then asks for a line from the novel to back up what the student thinks of him.

Imani's chat: what Gatsby says about himself, and what the novel shows

Imani is a high schooler who watches creators on YouTube and TikTok. She has read through chapter 4 and knows the terms direct and indirect characterization. When a character shows proof, she takes the proof at face value.

The whole class gets the same activity: Sparky plays Jay Gatsby on the afternoon of chapter 4, opens with the same greeting, and tells the same story every time. Each student talks to Gatsby out loud and asks their own questions, so Sparky's next reply depends on what that student just said. The activity tells Sparky to keep Gatsby in chapter 4: when a student who read ahead asks about his real name, Gatsby repeats his story instead.

0:07Imani said this out loudGatsby sends Imani back to his own wordsA right answer gets a harder question

Imani

Interest: Watches creators on YouTube and TikTokStarting point: Takes the medal and the Oxford photo as proof

Sparky

Good afternoon, old sport. I understand you've read about the day I drove Nick into the city. I don't want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear, so ask me anything about my life. I'll tell you God's truth. But first, what do you spend your free time on?

ImaniSpoken,0:05

I mostly watch creators on YouTube and TikTok. So where did you grow up?

Sparky

Ah, YouTube and TikTok. Thank you for that, old sport. I grew up in the Middle West. My family were wealthy people, all dead now. I was educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition. What would you like to know?

ImaniSpoken,0:04

Nick said you showed him a medal and a picture. What were those?

Sparky

The medal is from Montenegro. "Orderi di Danilo," it reads. "Major Jay Gatsby, For Valour Extraordinary." And the photograph is from Trinity Quad at Oxford, with a cricket bat in my hand. I didn't want Nick to think I was just some nobody, old sport. Do you believe me?

ImaniSpoken,0:07

Yeah. You have a medal from Montenegro and a picture from Oxford. That proves it, so I believe you.

Sparky

I'm glad to hear it, old sport. Though I will say, Nick asked me what part of the Middle West I was from. I said San Francisco. Is there something the matter with that?

ImaniSpoken,0:07

Wait. San Francisco isn't in the Middle West. It's in California. So your story doesn't match.

Understanding check

You've a sharp eye, old sport. I'll give you that. People show the life they want seen, you know, rather like those creators you watch on YouTube and TikTok. Suppose I did dress the story up. Why would a man like me need to?

ImaniSpoken,0:08

Maybe you don't want people to know where you really came from. You want to look like you were born rich, like you belong with them.

Sparky

A fine thought, old sport. Now, which line or action in the novel shows that, rather than you simply telling me so?

ImaniSpoken,0:09

You literally told Nick, "I didn't want you to think I was just some nobody." And Nick says you kind of choked on the words "educated at Oxford."

Sparky

Well said, old sport. Now, look here, what's your opinion of me, anyhow? Answer in two sentences: one thing I say about myself, and what the novel shows about me instead.

ImaniSpoken,0:11

You say you're from a rich family in the Middle West and went to Oxford. But the book shows you making the story up so nobody finds out where you really come from, because you're scared of being a nobody.

Caught the San Francisco slip, then said what Gatsby's invented past shows about him, with two lines from the novel

Imani believed the medal and the photo, as Nick does for a moment in chapter 4. Sparky didn't tell her she was wrong. Gatsby repeated his own San Francisco answer and asked if anything was the matter with it, and Imani found the slip herself. Once she caught it, Gatsby used her interest in creators to ask why he would dress his story up, then asked her for a line from the novel to back up her answer.

The student speaks every message into the microphone, and Sparky reads each of Gatsby's replies aloud. Sparky works from a transcript of what the student said, so it answers the words, not the tone of voice.

Imani is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.

What Flint did for Imani

Sparky played Gatsby in a spoken conversation, so Imani questioned the character instead of reading about him.
When Imani took the medal as proof, Sparky had Gatsby repeat his San Francisco answer instead of pointing out the mistake.
Once she caught it, Sparky asked a harder question about why Gatsby would need to invent himself, built on the creators she watches.
Sparky asked for a line from the novel before it accepted her answer, and Imani gave two.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students, and Sparky does it in every student's chat.

Who still believes Gatsby's story

When a student gives three wrong answers or stops trying, Sparky flags them for the teacher under Needs attention while the class is still talking. Each spoken answer shows on the activity page as text, with a Listen button to hear the recording.

Flint's activity page for an activity called Talk With Gatsby: Catch What Doesn't Add Up. Needs attention shows a live alert that one student has said three times that Gatsby's medal and Oxford photo prove his story. Activity analytics lists what the class did well, an area of improvement where 8 students named a trait without a line from the novel, and a follow-up to compare each student's trait with what Nick learns in chapter 6. The Sessions table shows two submitted students and one still in progress. — Example activity page
After an American literature class talks with Gatsby
The school and students are made up for this page. When students finish, Sparky grades each conversation against the activity's rubric and sums up the class, and you can change any grade.

Set up the activity for free

The Gatsby activity is in Flint's public library, with Sparky's role as Gatsby, the chapter 4 limits, the greeting and a rubric already set up. Students' communication is set to Speaking only, so students answer with the microphone, and Sparky's replies play aloud. Open the activity, select Try this activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and move it to a class. In the activity settings, select Try session myself to test it as a student before you assign it.

For more English activities, see Flint for English language arts.

Start the activity for free