Introduction
A literary device is extremely important in understanding literature and being able to discuss it in class and with other people. Just like you gossip about other people's lives you can discuss these devices in a similar way. "I think Kristy is mean because she has no friends." is the same kind of observation I am asking you to make in your choice of film or novel. "I think Pippi was mean to that girl because she lost her father but the girl was looking for hers so Pippi was jealous the girl had a father."
Watch these videos to get an idea of what I am looking for:
Task
You will learn about literary devices and will be able to identify them in films and novels. You will be able to explain how literary devices impact the story and how they can change the experience of a work. You will demonstrate this in an essay by using either a film or novel from a list I have provided.
List:
Films
Children of Men
The Crying Game
Baby Driver
Bohemian Rhapsody
La La Land
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
The Usual Suspects
Inside Out
Novels
The Great Gatsby
Of Mice and Men
Ethan Frome
Frankenstein
The Swallows of Kabul
The Grapes of Wrath
Pippi Longstocking
Peter and Wendy
Example of an Essay you will do:
Mandi Bryan
Marlene Emmons
EGL 111-01
Oct. 5, 2017
Money Making Monsters
Most people would like to say that money does not buy happiness. Unfortunately, however, it does. Abraham Maslow is a psychologist who came up with a model of needs that humans have. It is a pyramid divided into five tiers (see figure 1). The concept of this model is that a person cannot climb the pyramid without first meeting each need on the tiers. Essentially, one has to have met the need corresponding to that tier before they can move forward to the goal of “self-actualization.” “Self-actualization” is a term that Maslow uses to describe the idea of “achieving one’s full potential.” The first tier on the pyramid is basic physiological needs such as food and water. The next tier is safety needs, such as shelter, and the third tier is relationship needs. The first three tiers can only happen by the use of money. It takes money to buy food. It takes money to buy a home. And it takes money to make friends. Most people make friends while they are at school, or they meet someone at a general gathering place. These examples all take money to achieve. School costs money, and driving to a place, the mall for example, takes gas, which takes money, the same as riding the bus. The first three tiers of Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” require money. A person cannot move on to the fourth tier which is esteem needs, without the use of money. Only when the fourth tier is met can the person move on to reaching their full potential. “Self-actualized” people are the people who are truly happy according to
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Maslow. These people cannot be happy, cannot be self-actualized, without the use of money to get them there.
The need of money to be happy is the reason why people like Tom, in the novel The Great Gatsby, work so hard to stay at the top. Tom even manipulated George to kill someone who was in his way. Tom was threatened by Gatsby because he too had an unimaginable amount of money and needed to get rid of him. Once Gatsby is dead, Tom is once again at the top. Instead of being honest and earning more money, or being with a woman whom he actually loves, Tom manipulates the system to get himself, and keep himself at the top. This is similar to extortion that happens today. Lobbyists use their wealth as power to persuade politicians into creating more laws that will make the lobbyists even richer. Tom is similar to lobbyists today because they only want to keep getting richer, and remain at the top. F. Scott Fitzgerald foreshadowed this problem in government today. He knew that people like Tom, who have no regard for people lower than him, are always a problem.
Gatsby is no angel either. He owned hundreds of drug stores, which, in the mid to late twenties, meant he illegally sold alcohol. He was also involved with Meyer Wolfsheim, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series. Gatsby, like everyone else, wants money. He wants what Tom has. His means of achieving that were unconventional, but he persevered. Another person who used unconventional means to achieve money is Joaquín Guzmán, better known as “El Chapo.” He sold drugs to make his fortune and became one of the most powerful people in the world. Gatsby sold alcohol, which at the time was illegal, and the drugs that El Chapo sold are illegal. They both had goals and they involved money and status. Fitzgerald knew that when there was
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such a glamorous life at the top, people will do anything to get that life. He knew that people will always do crazy, sometimes immoral and illegal things to get into the life of the top 1%.
The average person however, does have some set of ethics or morals that he or she follows. Myrtle has the same dream as Gatsby. She wants to be rich, and be known, and live a glamorous life with that top 1%. No worries or responsibilities, just her and her luxury. She does not have the means as Gatsby because when the novel took place, women could not work the way Gatsby did, they either had to be born into it, or marry into it. Then Tom came along and gave her a glimmer of hope into living that life. She was now able to buy the beautiful clothes, and live in a place that matched the clothes. During the party in her apartment, she put on a lavish, beautiful gown but only said: “It’s just a crazy old thing. I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like.” This is exactly what people do today. They downplay the stuff they have to make it seem like “no big deal.” However they are not actually downplaying it. Myrtle knew exactly what she was doing. She was showing off what she had but downplaying it to make people think that luxuries are a normal thing for her. People today want a Rolls Royce, BMW, Tesla, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati, etc. People today long for Christian Louboutin, Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Hermes, etc. All these luxury brands sell more than ridiculously priced products, they sell an image. This image is what these people are chasing after, the image of someone who can afford these things. Myrtle is exactly like people today, she pretends the best she can by only showing the luxury items that she owns. People will post pictures of themselves in their name brand outfits, by their luxurious cars, trying to give the world their best face, showing off that they have money. Fitzgerald knew that when you have
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people living lives that everyone one wants, there will always be people doing to best they can with what they have to mimic that.
Money does buy happiness. Because of this, it is what everyone is chasing after. Whether it be an image, or a lifestyle, money provides these things for people’s dreams to come true. Fitzgerald foreshadows what happens in the world today with his novel The Great Gatsby because so many people are still chasing after the dreams that Gatsby and Myrtle had. The dream to have the money and the status. He shows that money is a timeless necessity and that people will always be trying to come up with ways to be the Toms and Daisys of the world, but, what he foreshadowed in the novel is, there will always be the people who have it, and the people who want it.
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Figure 1
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Works Cited
“Abraham Maslow.” Pursuit of Happiness, 10 Sept. 2016. Accessed 4 Oct. 2017.
Engel, Pamela. “The Astonishing Rise of the World's Most Notorious Drug Lord.” Business
Insider, Business Insider, 18 July 2015. Accessed 4 Oct. 2017.
Estevez, Dolia. “Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Guzmán Out Of Most Powerful People Ranks.”
Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Nov. 2014. Accessed 4 Oct. 2017.
McLeod, Saul. “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.” Simply Psychology, 16 Sept. 2016. Accessed 4
Oct. 2017.
Process
1. You will research at least 3 literary devices to make sure you know what you are talking about.
2. You will need to pick either a film or novel to analyze and further investigate your devices.
3. You will write an essay describing how these devices impacted the film or novel of your choosing.
4. You will reference the work you have chosen and use at least three quotes to support your claims.
Evaluation
|
Did not: 0-1 |
Did to some extent: 1-2 |
Did: 3-4 |
Surpassed doing: 5 |
Score: |
|
|
Uses at least 3 devices |
Student used no devices |
Student used 1 device |
Student used 3 devices |
Student used more than three devices |
|
|
Shows knowledge of devices |
Student showed no knowledge of devices |
Student showed little knowledge of devices |
Student showed a decent amount of knowledge of devices |
Student showed deep thoughts and a large amount of knowledge on devices |
|
|
Appropriately uses devices in terms of the film or novel |
Did not use devices appropriately |
Somewhat used devices appropriately |
Mostly used devices appropriately |
Used devices appropriately |
|
|
Uses at least 3 quotes |
Uses no quotes |
Uses 1 quote |
Uses at most 2 quotes |
Uses 3 quotes |
|
|
Has good Grammar |
Has very poor grammar |
Has okay grammar |
Has decent grammar |
Has an excellent understanding of grammar |
Conclusion
Congratulations on your new ability to discuss literary work in an intelligent and insightful way using knowledge and support from the work itself!
Soon you'll be able to make observations like this:
Credits
Thank you to my previous professors who have given me the passion I have today and holding me accountable for mediocre work and pushing my limits to create a better essay and thought process. Thank you Jackie Blemler, Marlene Emmons, and Greg Murray.
Video Credit:
Youtube
Cinemawins
ScreenRant
Permissions
We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is granted for others to use and modify this WebQuest for educational, non-commercial purposes as long as the original authorship is credited. The modified WebQuest may be shared only under the same conditions. See the Creative Commons Attribution • Non-Commercial• Share-Alike license for details.
Teacher Page
The goal of this webquest is to better inform students about an essay and to show them the ways in which they can use their new knowledge of the subject and how entertaining and enlightening it can be.
Teacher Information:
One thing I fell in love with during my education is analyzing literature. I never used to like or even watch horror movies but my film professor taught me how to analyze them and it takes away the scary aspect for me. I can see that underneath all the gore and jump scares there is an actual story being told and deep meanings to everything that happens. These deep meanings are in most films and can really change the viewing or reading experience and creates a new layer to literature aside from just the initial viewing or reading.