Banned Book Project: The Great GatsbyThe Banned Book Project is a project where each student chooses a book to read that was banned or challenged. Each student then writes five journals over the course of reading the entire book, once finished makes a video based on their own opinion of the book being banned. This allows students to be able to "control" what they read. Banning a book just because one person or group of people think it is not up to their standards is not okay. To exhaust the first amendment students decide to read a book that was banned in any place or by any person. To see the products of my banned book project look below.
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The Great Gatsby Reading Journals:
Reading Response/Dialectical Journal
The Great Gatsby
9/6/17
Pages: 1-23
Quote:
Maddi Perales
The Great Gatsby
9/11/17
Pages: 23-61
Quote:
Question:
The Great Gatsby
9/18/17
Pages: 61-97
Got It:
The Great Gatsby
9/22/17
Pages: 97-147
Quote:
The Great Gatsby
9/26/17
Pages: 147 - 180 (End)
Quote:
The Great Gatsby
9/6/17
Pages: 1-23
Quote:
- “She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.’”
- Once I read this quote, I realized how different the 1920’s were in comparison to our society. I find it crazy that Daisy was devastated to find out her baby was a girl due to the social norms of women. Based on the quote I assume that Daisy is not happy with the position of women. If I was in her shoes I know I would definitely be against the treatment and standards of women in the 1920’s experienced. It is difficult to be an intelligent woman trapped in the 1920’s man dominated world. Today women are still not being treated fairly. For instance, women are still being paid less than a man. I can’t imagine how these women felt and lived knowing that they were being treated and seen as less than. Being seen as less than takes away your thoughts, your opinions, and your voice. I personally like to share my opinions and like to listen to others, but by being silenced I would feel as if I never had the right to my opinions and my voice in the first place. In the 1920’s women were just starting to get the right to vote. If the problem of women’s rights was just starting to be addressed I can't imagine how people of color were being treated and how their rights were being denied. The 1920’s were so different from how things our today in our society. Just by reading the first chapter of The Great Gatsby I have realized how truly different the past was from our present day society.
Maddi Perales
- “Preach” - Maddi
- Maddi agreed with my stance on the topic of human rights in the 1920’s and feels disappointed in the fact that women were being treated in such a way and still are being treated unequally.
- “Ignorance is Bliss” - Sophia Morrison
- Sophia gave me a new perspective: Daisy didn’t want to bring another girl into this world because she would not be able to accomplish anything or become educated. “Better to be ignorant than to live in a world of pain.”
The Great Gatsby
9/11/17
Pages: 23-61
Quote:
- “Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”
- When I first read this sentence it grabbed my attention. I read the sentence multiple times, then started to analyze it. Nick’s thoughts lead me to assume that Nick was one of the only people who told the truth out of the people he was constantly surrounded by, seeing this virtue as one of his good traits. I started to consider the fact of selfish vs selfless and started to ask myself question. For instance, what drives people to lie? Fear? Self interest? What drives people to tell the truth? Good nature? Kindness? All these questions were stumbling through my brain, but then I read the sentence again and came across two words, cardinal virtues. What are cardinal virtues? I researched cardinal virtues and discovered four categories:
- Prudence: “also described as wisdom, the ability to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time”
- Courage: “strength, endurance, and the ability to confront fear”
- Temperance: “also known as restraint, the practice of self-control”
- Justice: “also considered as fairness, the most extensive and most important virtue”
Question:
- “Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues” Does Nick suggest that cardinal values are taken as a right/entitlement?
The Great Gatsby
9/18/17
Pages: 61-97
Got It:
- One thing I understood while reading the Great Gatsby was that Gatsby is in love with or extremely close to Daisy. “‘Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.’” Gatsby has planned reuniting with Daisy for along time. Gatsby threw parties hoping that she will stumble into them, collects news article that mention her name, and I believe became acquainted with Jordan Baker and Nick due to the fact they were both in contact with Daisy. The fact that Gatsby is in love with or extremely close to Daisy is apparent through his feelings and actions in the book.
- One thing I did not quite understand while reading the Great Gatsby was Gatsby's and Daisy’s past relations. This has been keep a mystery to the reader, so when a glimpse of the past was revealed I was a little confused. There were three incidents described. In the first incident Jordan Baker is called to Daisy’s car while Gatsby, at this time enrolled in the military, sat in the passenger seat. The second incident Daisy was in a drunken state, falling apart due to a letter that was sent to her, which she eventually dissolved in water. Finally, the third incident, Daisy was going to run away for a short period of time to bid farewell to a soldier who was going overseas, but was prevented by her family. I was a little confused by these incidents due to the fact that they were so suddenly brought forth while Daisy and Gatsby were “reuniting.” Questions and Wonderings below.
- Was Gatsby the reason for why Daisy went into a drunken, frantic state? Did he send the letter?
- Was Gatsby the soldier that Daisy was running away to see?
- Who is Gatsby?
The Great Gatsby
9/22/17
Pages: 97-147
Quote:
- “It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.”
- Everyone has a different, personal perspective, but perspectives can change with time and reasoning. The quote above is what Nick thinks while looking at his world, West Egg, through Daisy’s eyes. This quote really struck me because it shows how people’s perspectives truly differ and how influence of what is socially normal can affect one’s perspective. For example, when apartheid was still implemented in our society it was “normal” to discriminate and segregate people of color. This social standard influenced people’s perspectives to think that this was the right thing to do, even though it wasn’t. Reading this quote made me connect its message to my own life. I started to look at things that I do in my day to day life that are seen as normal in our society. For instance, taking a twenty minute shower. Even a simple act like taking a shower connects to this quote. Enjoying a hot shower while slowly taking your time can be looked upon as a ritual needed to perform in life or just plain ridiculous. There are people all over the world who don’t have running water, have to walk 10 miles to the nearest water source, and even die due to dehydration. In one twenty minute shower you can use up to fifty gallons of fresh, filtered water. One average person needs half a gallon of water a day, at minimum, to survive. Fifty gallons of water can last one person twenty-five days. Most people only see taking a shower as a way to clean yourself, people don’t see the other perspective of water being a luxury. This is just one example of how perspectives can be totally opposite depending on whose eyes you are looking through.
The Great Gatsby
9/26/17
Pages: 147 - 180 (End)
Quote:
- “I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made….”
- When I read this passage I realized how true this situation is in today’s society. People hide in their money because they are to careless to even notice the affects of their behavior and actions.
- This passage stood out. Even after I finished the book I still thought about this passage and how it can relate to multiple situation in past and present time.
- While reading this passage I thought about how people use anything they can, not just money, to hide from things that could possibly affect them while pushing people out of their way to “security.”
- Gatsby:
- Nick:
- Tom & Daisy:
My Banned Book Video:
Reflection:
How challenging was this project for you? Be specific.
- This project was not to much of a challenge in my opinion. Yes, there was challenging parts of the project, like creating an engaging video within the time I had left over after school volleyball. But overall I feel like this project was in the medium level of challenging.
- The easiest part of the project was reading the book. The Great Gatsby was quite an interesting book so I was engaged while reading. Yes, there were some confusing parts of the book, like trying to understand Gatsby at some points, but overall I feel that the reading portion of the banned book project came naturally to me due to my love of reading.
- While making my film I was really comfortable. Even though I did not get to add a visual theme to my video I felt comfortable speaking while being recorded. I feel by being comfortable speaking in front of a camera it engages the audience giving them a sense of interest. I tried to include hand gestures and facial reactions to visually show my opinions while verbally sharing my thoughts.
- When we did a feedback session for the first reading journal my partners and I more of focused on new perspectives than literal critique. My partners were Maddison Perales and Sophia Morrison. Maddi agreed with my stance on the topic of human rights in the 1920’s and feels disappointed in the fact that women were being treated in such a way and still are being treated unequally. While Sophia gave me a new perspective, Daisy didn’t want to bring another girl into this world because she would not be able to accomplish anything or become educated. “Better to be ignorant than to live in a world of pain.” Getting to share, relate, and hear each others perspective was a great experience that allowed me to open my eyes to a new point of view.
- When we did a feedback session for the first reading journal I critiqued and discussed with Maddison Perales and Sophia Morrison. I feel I provide kind, specific, and helpful feedback plus gave a new perspective. For example, when sharing with Sophia I thought it was interesting how there was a connection between Holden and his brother (characters in Catcher in the Rye) through writing. As well as how writing was the one thing Holden was able to keep from his brother after he died.
- Yes, I actually read the book I chose cover to cover. The Great Gatsby was a really good book and I would recommend it to others. When I first started the project I had no clue what book I wanted to read. Then I asked some of my friends and The Great Gatsby came up. I looked into the reasons it was banned, read the introduction, and decided that this was the banned book I was going to read.
- I feel I deserve an A+. I believe I deserve this grade because I read the entire book, brought in food themed from my book to the potluck (pretzels to resemble cigarettes), included detail and personal thoughts/perspectives/opinions in my reading journals, and tried to make my video personalized and as engaging as possible. Throughout the entire banned book project I constantly put a lot of effort into each activity. Overall I feel I deserve an A+.
- If I could change something about my banned book project I would change my video. Due to after school volleyball games I was unable to video in the place I preferred due to time and lighting. My original idea was to make a 1920’s background and dress up in 1920’s women’s wealthy outfit. I feel this would of made my video stand out and relate to my book visually and verbally. My second idea was to film in my garden to resemble Gatsby’s garden, but in the end, I ended up having a plain white background. I was also unable to film and add B-roll to make my video to make it more interesting and interactive. If I had more time I would use these ideas and edit my video. My final video I am proud of and feel I engage the audience by sharing my opinion in a passionate speech. I feel I could make my video even better, but I am proud of the video I created.