Page 315 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

READING

Abby’s Interview

Abby is enjoying most of her classes this semester, except for her literature class. The instructor and many
of her classmates really seemed to understand and get into the short stories and novels they were reading—
but Abby didn’t. She decided to talk to her instructor about the novel they were reading, The Great Gatsby,
by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel was written in 1925, and Abby wondered why they were reading such an
old book anyway. Abby came up with the following questions:

1. Why did the instructor like reading literature?
2. Why should college students read literature if they weren’t going to be English majors?
3. Why did the instructor think it was important to read such an old novel?
4. What could Abby learn about writing from this class?
5. How could reading this novel connect with Abby’s possible career of law?
6. What tips did her instructor have for reading literature?

These are the notes Abby took:

1. Lit. a way to meet new people and see different cultures, teacher said. Also to see inside others’
minds and lives. Chance to see how she felt about other ideas, too—and connect to how writers
saw their worlds. Loved to sit and read for hours—as a kid and even now. Remembered characters
for years.

2. Seeing the world through other eyes—good for all students, whatever field, teacher thinks. Lets
student “hear” other “voices”—makes for good conversations about many things: psychology,
values, the economy and politics of different times, even gender roles. Lit. helps student think
about almost everything.

3. Teacher feels good literature is always relevant to now. Gatsby is about the American dream—
what it is, who has it, who doesn’t, what people will do to get that dream. Lots of money in
the 1920s—like now, but also a lack of values about what’s really important, Big parties, pretty
clothes, lots of pleasure seeking, lots of greed and cynicism. (Yeah, that does sound like now!)

4. Teacher feels Abby can learn two main things: how to analyze and how to write. Reading lit
makes you look at details and how they add up to a main point: ex. How does Gatsby define the
American dream? Does he have it? Why or why not? And: reading good writing helps us “hear”
language and shows us ways to express ourselves.

5. Look at all the illegal things that go on and don’t get punished in the book. Why is that? What
does money have to do with justice? Most important though is that all writers are “making a
case”…observe how they do that and how they persuade you to follow a story, like a character,
etc.

Chapter 11 — Writing in College 309