March 31 st , 2014

1. March 31st, 2014 Today: Journal activity; so get out your journals Revising our eulogies for Jay Gatsby To be turned in: Soundtrack Project Any missing work/quizzes (come by before/after school or class to talk about these) Today’s objective is to use your learned writing skills and knowledge of literary devices, and apply them to a piece of non-academic writing (the eulogy). Homework: Finish eulogy for Jay Gatsby. Later this week: • Wednesday-work on character/setting “body charts” • Friday-finish body charts and introduce character/setting analysis essay

2. Journal Entry • Eulogy (noun) – a speech or piece of writing that praises someone highly, typically someone who has just passed away. • Remember a time when you read or heard a eulogy being given at a funeral. The eulogy could be from real life, a movie, or a book. • Challenger explosion - President Ronald Reagn's eulogy • Ask yourself these questions about the eulogy: • How did the eulogy make you feel? Did your feelings make the eulogy more or less successful? • Was the eulogy have any humorous parts, or was it just serious? How sentimental was it? • What was the most impactful part of the eulogy? • What literary devices did it use? Simile, imagery, allusion, irony, rhyme, hyperbole, etc?

3. Why are we doing this, Mr. Clark? • To prepare us for the character/setting analysis essay that’ll be assigned Friday. • Practicing the writing process, particularly rough draft, revising, peer editing, & self-editing. • Analyzing the character Jay Gatsby • Using literary devices in non-academic writing to make your piece more profound and impactful for your audience. • Creating a relationship with the book and its characters.

4. How to Write a Good Eulogy Think about the tone you want for Jay’s eulogy: • Sad, humorous, deep & thoughtful, serious What memories or stories do you have with Jay? (make one up if you want) What would the deceased want to say to his friends and family? Jay Gatsby’s personal qualities/personality: • His successes in life • His favorable characteristics • His hobbies Make your eulogy sound personal, but also relatable to the other funeral attendees.

5. Beginning, Middle, and End • Beginning: welcome people, acknowledge the tragedy of Jay’s death • Middle: the collection of memories and good things to say about the deceased. (This will be the longest section of the eulogy.) • End: sum up Jay’s character and personality, how much he’ll be missed, and thanking those who came to the funeral

6. Eulogy Criteria • Write it as yourself, as if you were a friend of Jay’s • Use at least 2 embedded quotes from The Great Gatsby • Think about Nick’s many descriptions of Gatsby • Use at least 3 different literary devices, like: • Metaphor, simile, hyperbole, understatement, irony, rhyme, allusion, symbolism. • Include simple, compound, and complex sentences. Examples • Make me smile at least once when I’m reading these. (remember a “funny memory” or characteristic of Jay) • But, make me feel sad and sentimental about Jay, and his death. • You may even want to include a line from a poem, song, or a famous quote. • You may also want to mention the weather, who did show up to the funeral, and who didn’t show up. • The eulogy needs to be at least 250 words.

7. A Good Eulogy Does This • In the end, a good eulogy makes the audience feel sad that the person passed away. • But it also makes the audience feel happy that they knew the deceased. • A good eulogy should help the speaker cope with the death, but should also be relatable to the audience so that it helps them cope with the death too. • A bad eulogy does this: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4ezPvzKe5M • Please write as legibly as possible, since we don’t have computers to type these on.