The Great Gatsby Project

Select one of the following projects to complete.

1. With some of your classmates (no more than 5), stage a Roaring Twenties Party of the type
that Gatsby might have hosted (minus the alcohol). Serve one or two of the dishes described
in the book and provide music from the period. Provide entertainment consistent with a
twenties party or fad and demonstrate what people would have done at a social gathering. In a
written accompaniment, provide the passages from the book that you used as references for
your party and include a works cited for your research. Be sure to dress the part.

2. Investigate the lives of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Chart the similarities and differences
between the Fitzgeralds’ relationship and Gatsby & Daisy’s affair. Create a vivid visual
presentation and present your findings to the class.

3. Create a short story or a one-act play about incidents from Jay Gatsby’s early life. You could
focus on his relationship with his father, Dan Cody, or Meyer Wolfsheim.

4. Create a booklet of original poems or songs that revolve around specific themes or characters
in the novel. Give a “reading” of your poetry or performance of your songs to the class.

5. Adapt a scene from the book into a short play or film to be presented to the class. You must
be sure to stay true to the text and use the dialogue provided— though you may add some of
your own to make it more believable.

6. Create a mural or artistic representation of the most significant events in the novel. Make it
beautiful and refer to specific details from the text.

7. You have probably seen critics giving their opinions about movies. Often one critic gives the
movie a “thumbs up” while the other rates the same film “thumbs down.” Produce a similar
program about The Great Gatsby. The program should have two reviewers. It could be
presented live or filmed. Reviewers should know ahead of time what topics will be discussed
so they have time to prepare. Each reviewer should have sections of the novel ready to read to
support his/her points about each topic.
Possible topics include:
a. The most interesting characters
b. The most exciting (or boring) parts of the book
c. Themes (such as greed, right or wrong, the pursuit of s dream, etc.)
d. Qualities that make The Great Gatsby worth (or not worth) reading

8. Create a children’s book that follows the ideas & themes found in The Great Gatsby;
however, modify the story in order for it to be appropriate for children. In other words, lose
the alcohol and the affairs…which makes it a challenge.

9. Develop a concept for a possible movie remake of The Great Gatsby—however, you may
choose to change the time period and the age of the characters and turn this movie into a
possible teen-age high school film. The synopsis should be a summary of the story. You are
 to include ideas of current actors who might play the roles. Film a trailer or significant scene
from this new movie.

10. Create a board game or video game based on the novel.

11. This entire novel was told from Nick Carraway’s perspective. Take one of the sections from
the novel and retell it from a different character’s perspective. (You are not retelling the
entire novel, simply a section.)

12. Think of an original concept for a movie. Develop an interesting approach instead of just re-
telling the story. Perhaps set the story in a different time or place, or have the characters meet
other significant people from history, literature, film or television. Just keep true to the
themes of the novel.

13. Take Gatsby’s most pivotal scenes and make them into a pop-up book format, or tell this
story in a graphic novel.