Connotation, character, and color imagery in The Great Gatsby.
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=831
A lesson plan for grades 9–11 English Language Arts
This unit, provided by ReadWriteThink, offers a variety of introductory activities in order to acquaint students with the rhetorical devices of connotation, denotation and color imagery in The Great Gatsby. Lessons provide the teacher with multiple sources for the introduction of difficult concepts and effectively explain how to write a character analysis as a culminating assessment.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 9
- Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.
- Objective 5.01: Read and analyze various literary works by:
- using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
- recognizing and analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction (e.g., myths, legends, short stories, novels), non-fiction (e.g., essays, biographies, autobiographies, historical documents), poetry (e.g., epics, sonnets, lyric poetry, ballads) and drama (e.g., tragedy, comedy).
- interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.
- understanding the importance of tone, mood, diction, and style.
- explaining and interpreting archetypal characters, themes, settings.
- explaining how point of view is developed and its effect on literary texts.
- determining a character's traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
- explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
- making thematic connections among literary texts and media and contemporary issues.
- understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
- producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.
- Objective 5.01: Read and analyze various literary works by:
Grade 10
- Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of selected world literature through interpretation and analysis.
- Objective 5.01: Read and analyze selected works of world literature by:
- using effective strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
- building on prior knowledge of the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and exploring how those characteristics apply to literature of world cultures.
- analyzing literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, situational irony, and imagery and explaining their effect on the work of world literature.
- analyzing the importance of tone and mood.
- analyzing archetypal characters, themes, and settings in world literature.
- making comparisons and connections between historical and contemporary issues.
- understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
- Objective 5.01: Read and analyze selected works of world literature by:
Grade 11
- Goal 4: The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas.
- Objective 4.01: Interpret meaning for an audience by:
- examining the functions and the effects of narrative strategies such as plot, conflict, suspense, point of view, characterization, and dialogue.
- interpreting the effect of figures of speech (e.g., personification, oxymoron) and the effect of devices of sound (e.g., alliteration, onomatopoeia).
- analyzing stylistic features such as word choice and links between sense and sound.
- identifying ambiguity, contradiction, irony, parody, and satire.
- demonstrating how literary works reflect the culture that shaped them.
- Objective 4.01: Interpret meaning for an audience by:


