The Big Read Event at Lakewood Memorial Library- The Great Gatsby: An Exploration of the American Dream

At 5:00 p.m. on April 23rd, we (Scott Gertner and Zach Coffey) hosted a discussion about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby at the Lakewood Memorial library in Lakewood, New York. Working with library director Mary Miller and board of trustees member Benjamin Blood, we were able to facilitate an active discussion centered around the idea of the American Dream and how it is represented within The Great Gatsby.

We kicked off the event by handing out a short creative writing assignment that asked the author to describe their ideal American Dream and share it with the rest of the group. The general consensus was having enough money to live comfortably and support one’s family without having to worry too much about the future. We used this as a jumping-off point to discuss the American Dream of the 1920’s and how it was much loftier in nature.

Scott discussing Fitzgerald's other works of fiction

Scott and Zach kicking off the discussion with Fitzgerald's biographical information

Our plan was to lead a discussion on the the way that Fitzgerald portrayed the 1920’s-era vision of the American Dream and, thankfully, everyone who joined us was very much interested in participating. We began by priming everyone with a quick bio on Fitzgerald and summaries of his other works to give everyone some perspective on what messages he may have been trying to relay. This turned into a detailed discussion on the similarities between the life of Gatsby and the life of Fitzgerald, as we had hoped. We spoke about rejection, love, the past, and the utter shallowness of Gatsby’s American Dream. This conversation segued perfectly into our next planned topic, which was a detailed character breakdown under the context of Fitzgerald’s American Dream. Almost every person in attendance had a unique take on each character which was fantastic for both sides of the discussion and even presented us with new ways to look at each character that we had not thought of prior. This topic carried us throughout the rest of our time as it took many twists and turns into sub-topics like racial issues and feminism, but left us around ten minutes to talk about our final planned topic: a movie and novel comparison. It was interesting to hear the general consensus of disliking the movie, but those who had enjoyed it made several good points as to why. Overall, with some much appreciated help from our peers, there was never a lull in conversation and it was as intellectual as it was fun for all involved.

To help us facilitate this conversation, we made three different poster boards to use as visual aids. Each poster focused upon one specific aspect of our discussion, including a character breakdown, biographical information on F. Scott Fitzgerald, and some 1920’s advertisements that exemplify a culture preoccupied with consumerism. Below are two examples of these posters:

Our poster of primary sources (advertisements from the 1920's)

Our poster detailing Fitzgerald's life and work

The poster not pictured was simply a visual representation of the main characters from The Great Gatsby, including Daisy, Tom, Jordan, Nick, and Jay Gatsby himself.

           We very much enjoyed our event and how low-key and informal it was. Organizing this Big Read event has been an enriching experience in so many ways and we are honored to have been a part of the National Endowment of the Art's mission to engage with timeless literary works outside of the academic world. Hopefully, this is the first step in a lifetime of sharing our love for classic literature with the communities we find ourselves in.