Chloe Lawrence

Expository Writing
Ms. Johnson
May 5, 2017

The Great Gatsby Essay Self-Assessment

Literary Analysis Research Paper

1. Write a brief summary describing the main point of your essay.

Not to use my EXACT THESIS but my essay is about how Fitzgerald uses his characters and
their surroundings to create a satire criticizing the 1920s society. In my first two body paragraphs
I discuss the prejudice of people during the time period; specifically, Tom Buchanans racism
and the segregation between the social classes. The third paragraph talks about the excess use of
alcohol in the 20s. Lastly, the fourth paragraph discusses the wealthy people of The Great
Gatsbys shallowness and superficiality.

2. Is your thesis strong? Why or why not?

Yes, I think that my thesis is strong. There is still a great deal I feel like I could write about it,
but I think it was also focused enough that I was able to cover it sufficiently. Its also pretty
interesting, if I do say so myself.

3. What is the most well-developed part of your essay? Explain why its so fantastic.
I think that my first paragraph about the racism of the 20s is the most well-developed part of my
essay because 1) there wasnt a great deal of racism in The Great Gatsby, so I was able to cover
the topic more fully. 2) This point has grown quite a bit since I first started the essay. It used to
be a subtopic under the paragraph of prejudice, but I did more research and developed it so that it
was strong enough stand alone.

4. How do you transition and tie your ideas together?

To transition, I have clear concluding sentences at the end of an idea/paragraph, followed by a
clear introductory sentence to begin the next idea/paragraph. I also used transition words like
then, however, for this reason, and in fact. My ideas are tied together because they all
relate to my thesis on satire criticizing 1920s society.

5. Why should the reader believe what you have to say? What makes you reliable?
The reader should believe what I have to say because I read The Great Gatsby, and I have taken
an entire quarter of Ms. Johnsons class.
6. How does your conclusion tie up your main ideas? How does it leave the reader thinking?
My conclusion ties up my main ideas by summarizing them. It also relates to the present society
by comparing the topics of my essay to current world.