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husband and a former classmate from their years together at Yale University. Analyze the
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effect of the diction Fitzgerald uses in this scene, being sure to pay particular attention to
DIFFERENTIATION the connotations of the words he chooses. How do those choices set the scene? What do
they reveal about the characters?
Scaffolding
Ask students to deconstruct the demands Analyzing Short Fiction
of the Analyzing Diction activity, beginning from The Great Gatsby
on p. 27. Ask them to highlight specific F. Scott Fitzgerald
words or phrases — especially the action
verbs — that will help them successfully And so it happened that on a warm windy liked — and there were men at New Haven who
respond to the prompt. evening I drove over to East Egg to see two had hated his guts.
old friends whom I scarcely knew at all. Their “Now, don’t think my opinion on these
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house was even more elaborate than I expected, matters is final,” he seemed to say, “just because
TRM Annotation Handout a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial I’m stronger and more of a man than you are.”
A student handout for annotating this text mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started We were in the same senior society, and
can be found in the Teacher’s Resource at the beach and ran toward the front door for a while we were never intimate I always had the
Materials. quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and impression that he approved of me and wanted
brick walks and burning gardens — finally me to like him with some harsh, defiant wist-
when it reached the house drifting up the side fulness of his own.
in bright vines as though from the momentum We talked for a few minutes on the sunny 5
DIFFERENTIATION of its run. The front was broken by a line of porch.
Collaborative Learning French windows, glowing now with reflected “I’ve got a nice place here,” he said, his eyes
gold and wide open to the warm windy flashing about restlessly.
Ask students to create a two-column afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes Turning me around by one arm, he moved a
chart in small groups. They may create was standing with his legs apart on the front broad flat hand along the front vista, including
the chart in Padlet, Jamboard, on large porch. in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre
poster boards, or use the TRM document He had changed since his New Haven years. of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed
ovided. Ask them to track all of the wor
ds
pr
provided. Ask them to track all of the words Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore.
that are associated with sun, lightness, with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious “It belonged to Demaine, the oil man.” He
brightness, etc. in the order they appear. manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had esta - turned me around again, politely and abruptly.
The word itself (and the definition of the blished dominance over his face and gave him “We’ll go inside.”
word) will go into column 1. In column 2, the appearance of always leaning aggressively We walked through a high hallway into a
ask students to discuss the positive or
negative connotations of the specific forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his bright rosy-colored space, fragilely bound into
words. Then, ask them to consider how the riding clothes could hide the enormous power the house by French windows at either end. The
choices set the scene, and create a line of of that body — he seemed to fill those glistening windows were ajar and gleaming white against
reasoning that reveals characterization. boots until he strained the top lacing, and you the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little
could see a great pack of muscle shifting when way into the house. A breeze blew through the
TRM Graphic Organizer his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a room, blew curtains in at one end and out the
A graphic organizer for this activity can be body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel other like pale flags, twisting them up toward
found in the Teacher’s Resource Materials. body. the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and
His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making
added to the impression of fractiousness he a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.
conveyed. There was a touch of paternal The only completely stationary object in the 10
contempt in it, even toward people he room was an enormous couch on which two
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28 chapter 1 / Analyzing Short Fiction

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