Everyone should have downloaded the free iBook – Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby Journal yesterday in class.  If you did not, do so now as you will need to refer to the iBook today and next week.

Remember as you use your class time today to continue reviewing the making of the 2013 movie using Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby Journal, you must select a specific issue which you want to write your compare contrast essay over. You will NOT receive any credit for simply comparing the over all novel to the movie. Your essay will need to focus on a very specific aspect of something from the novel and how it was handled similarly or differently in the 2013 movie production.

Ideas for comparison:

How did modernization result in isolation and disillusionment in the early American twentieth century and how was that issue addressed differently in the novel and the movie?

Articulate your understanding of how Fitzgerald’s novel and the historical context of Gatsby inform the contemporary texts of the movie or the sound track for the movie.

How did the novel compare to the movie concerning the juxtaposition of the heavily commercialized and commoditized 21st century world and that of the 1920s?

Using the paintings of the scene when Daisy hits Myrtle from Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby Journal, how is the character of Daisy developed differently in the novel verses the movie?

These are simply ideas to help you understand the level of comparison that we are looking for in the essay you will be writing during class next week. You do not have to use one of these specific topics, you just have to compare and contrast one of the themes, characters, symbolism, or other specific issue.

Review the weekly lesson plans for next week once you have finished with the blog today. There are still opportunities to improve your grade and the deadlines are all listed on the lesson plans.

Compare and Contrast Essay

Introduction

The first paragraph in your essay. It begins creatively in order to catch your reader’s interest, provides essential background about the literary work, and prepares the reader for your major thesis. The introduction must include the author and title of the work (Both the novel and the movie) as well as an explanation of the issue to be discussed. Other essential background may include setting, an introduction of main characters, etc. The major thesis goes in this paragraph usually at the end. Because the major thesis sometimes sounds tacked on, make special attempts to link it to the sentence that precedes it by building on a key word or idea.

1. A) Creative Opening/Hook: the beginning sentences of the introduction that catch the reader’s intere Ways of beginning creatively include the following

 

1) A startling fact or bit of information

ü Example: Nearly two hundred citizens were arrested as witches during the Salem witch scare of 1692. Eventually nineteen were hanged, and another was pressed to death (Marks 65).

2) A snatch of dialogue between two characters

ü Example: “It is another thing. You [Frederic Henry] cannot know about it unless you have it.”

“ Well,” I said. “If I ever get it I will tell you [priest].” (Hemingway 72).

With these words, the priest in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms sends the hero, Frederic, in search of the ambiguous “it” in his life.

3) A meaningful quotation (from the book you are analyzing or another source)

ü Example: “To be, or not to be, that is the question” {3.1.57}. This familiar statement expresses the young prince’s moral dilemma in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

4) A universal idea

ü Example: The terrifying scenes a soldier experiences on the front probably follow him throughout his life—if he manages to survive the war.

5) A rich, vivid description of the setting

ü Example: Sleepy Maycomb, like other Southern towns, suffers considerably during the Great Depression. Poverty reaches from the privileged families, like the Finches, to the Negroes and “white trash” Ewells, who live on the outskirts of town. Harper Lee paints a vivid picture of life in this humid Alabama town where tempers and bigotry explode into conflict.

1. B) Thesis: a statement that provides the subject and overall opinion of your essay. For a literary analysis your major thesis must

(1) relate to the issue of the comparison and or contrast and

(2) suggest how this issue is revealed by the author. A good thesis may also suggest the organization of the paper.

ü Example: Through Paul’s experience behind the lines, at a Russian prisoner of war camp, and especially under bombardment in the trenches, Erich Maria Remarque realistically shows how war dehumanizes a man.

Sometimes a thesis becomes too cumbersome to fit into one sentence. In such cases, you may express the major thesis as two sentences.

Body /Compare and Contrast Paragraphs

In the compare and contrast body paragraphs of your essay, you write about the similarities and differences between the subject you have selected as it is represented in the novel and as it is represented in the movie.

The following words can help you to write a good compare and contrast paragraph:

Similarities / Comparisons	Differences / Contrasts
is similar to	on the other hand
both	however
also	but
too	In contrast
as well as	differs from
similarly	while
not only…but also	unlike
like

Comparing your issue (topic) in Two Paragraphs

When using the block format for a two paragraph comparison, discuss one subject (how your issue is depicted in the novel) in the first paragraph and the other (how your issue is depicted in the movie), in the second.

Body Paragraph 1: Opening sentence names the two subjects and states that they are very similar, very different or have many important (or interesting) similarities and differences.
The remainder of the paragraph describes features of the first subject without referring to the second subject.

Body Paragraph 2: Opening sentence must contain a transition showing you are comparing the second (movie) subject to the first (novel). (e.g. “Unlike (or similar to) [subject #1], [ subject #2]…
Discuss all the features of subject #2 in relation to subject #1 using compare/contrast cue words words such as like, similar to, also, unlike, on the other hand for each comparison.

Conclusion

The last paragraph in your essay. This paragraph should begin by echoing your major thesis without repeating the words exactly. Then, the conclusion should broaden from the thesis statements to answer the “so what?” question your reader may have after reading your essay. The conclusion should do one or more of the following:

1) Reflect on how your essay topic relates to the book or movie as a whole

2) Evaluate how successful the author is in achieving his or her goal or message

3) Give a personal statement about the topic

4) Make predictions

5) Connect back to your creative opening

6) Give your opinion of the novel or movie’s value or significance

Works Cited

MLA Citations

• Examples are not double-spaced, but your Works Cited list should be double-spaced
• Examples do not show indented lines after the first line, but yours should be indented
• Examples are not listed in alphabetical order, but your Works Cited entries must be in alphabetical order

For this essay, you will be citing at least three sources:

1. The Novel – Fitzgerald, F Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York City: Scribner, 2004. Print.
2. The iBook – Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby Journal. Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc, 2013.  Web. 3 March 2016.
3. The Movie – Luhrmann, Baz and Craig Pearce (Screenwriters). The Great Gatsby. Bazmark Film III Pty Ltd., Burbank, CA : Warner Home Video. DVD.

Remember that you must use textual evidence to support your ideas in the essay. All information used from the texts (novel, iBook, or movie) must be cited properly using parenthetical or in-text citations. PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION: a brief parenthetical reference placed where a pause would naturally occur to avoid disrupting the flow of your writing (usually at the end of a sentence, before the period). Most often you will use the author’s last name and page number clearly referring to a source listed on the “Works Cited” page:

ü Example: (Fitzgerald 36).   /   (Baz 22).   /   (Luhrmann).

If you cite the author in the text of your paper, give only the page number in parentheses:

ü Example: According to Francis Guerin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn reflects “those same nightmarish shadows that even in our own time threaten to obscure the American Dream” (49).

If two works by the same author appear in your “Works Cited,” add the title or a shortened version of it to distinguish your sources:

ü Example: “He wouldn’t rest until he had run a mile or more” (Dickens, A Tale 78).

BLOCK QUOTATION: quotations that are set off from the rest of the paper. Indent one-inch from the left margin only and double space. Do not use quotation marks unless they appear in the original.

1) For a prose quotation of more than 4 typed lines, start the quotation after a colon and indent each line of the quotation 10 spaces, placing the citation after the end punctuation.

ü Example:

Based on rumors and gossip, the children of Maycomb speculate about

Boo Radley’s appearance:

Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging form his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time. (Lee 13)

2) For any prose dialogue involving 2 or more speakers, start the quotation (dialogue) after a colon and have each line of dialogue as its own paragraph (a 10-space indentation), placing the citation information after the end punctuation.

ü Example:

During the trial scene, Bob Ewell immediately shows his disrespect for both the court and his family:

“Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?” was the next question.

“Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now, her ma’s dead,” was the answer. (Lee 172)

Evaluation Rubric For this Compare/Contrast Essay

Focus

The text clearly focuses on a compelling topic that informs the reader with ideas, concepts, information, etc. Thesis states topics and the main idea that compares or contrasts a significant issue and how it is developed in the novel and the movie.

Development

The text provides significant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations that fully develop and explain the topic or thesis. The conclusion provides insight to the implications, explains the significance of the topic, and projects to the future, etc. Features or subjects are discussed in the same order. Order in which features are discussed is logical. Specific examples are used to support ideas.

Audience

The text consistently addresses the audience’s knowledge level and concerns about the topic. The text addresses the specific needs of the audience.

Cohesion

The text strategically uses words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of text. The text explains the relationships between the topic and the examples and/or facts. Introductory paragraph includes the titles and authors of both the novel and the movie.

Lang. & Style

The text presents an engaging, formal, and objective tone and uses sophisticated language and topic-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic. Opening catches reader’s interest. Wording and ideas are fresh and interesting. Compare/contrast clue words are used.

Conventions

The text intentionally uses standard English conventions of usage and mechanics along with discipline-specific MLA requirements. Format / Header / Parenthetical Citations / Work Cited Page / Grammar / Spelling / Capitalization