Evidence Log for The Great Gatsby Literary Analysis Essay

Now that you have developed a thesis for your literary analysis essay, you need to prepare to prove your thesis using evidence from the book and your analysis of that evidence. This activity will help you gather the evidence. Click here to view a copy of the full book to record your quotes and page numbers.

Thesis Statement

Copy your thesis statement from the previous assignment here. Ensure it has the author, title, main claim, and preview of the main points. (5 points)

Although wealth and success enhance a person’s quality of life, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates that they do not guarantee absolute happiness because they lead to self-destruction, social comparison, and a sense of familiarity that hinders the ability to attain happiness.

Evidence Log

In the table below, record five quotations from the novel that relate to your thesis. Then, in the second column, explain how each quote relates to your thesis. Finally, record the page number in the third column. (1 point for each quote, 5 points for each analysis, 1 point for each page/percent)

Direct Quotation Copied directly from the book	Analysis Explanation of how this relates to your thesis	Page Number
“bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.”	Jay Gatsby engaged in the illegal drug business to amass the wealth and riches he believed would buy him happiness, his love for Daisy. He believed that wealth and success would lure Daisy into loving him again and eventually give him happiness. Unfortunately, Daisy confesses her love for Tom, leaving Gatsby unhappy. Gatsby’s blind love also leads to his death.	Pg. 103
“I loved you too.”	Despite attempts to buy Daisy’s love, his happiness, Gatsby ends up lonely and destitute. Daisy confesses his love towards Tom, who has more wealth and material possessions than Gatsby	Pg. 100
“moved with a fast crowd, all of them young and rich and wild.”	Tom and Daisy associate with the young and rich people to maintain the status quo. Failure to live within the status quo leads to dissatisfaction. Daisy wants to maintain a high social status by having a loveless entanglement with Tom. While she seemingly holds a genuine love towards Gatsby, Daisy claims she does not love him arguably because Gatsby is not rich like Tom. Daisy’s happiness lies in material possessions. She is continuously looking to have everything she desires and ends up unhappy. She never gets satisfied with what she already has.	Pg. 77
“obstinate about being peasantry.”	Most Americans dream of fighting poverty through wealth accumulation and success. Gatsby was raised in a poor background and fought poverty, by all means, to succeed and be happy. Once he moved out of poverty, he developed familiarity with a rich lifestyle and forgot about his past.	Pg. 68
“so that Daisy would be just across the bay.”	Gatsby bought a mansion so that his happiness would be close to him. Although he was determined to win Daisy’s love, Gatsby’s indoctrination to wealth blinded him from realizing his happiness. He was so fixated on what the wealth would bring him that he forgot to cultivate his happiness by other means.	Pg. 59

You may not use all five of these quotes in your final essay—or you may use more! The goal is to use direct quotes as evidence while still leaving plenty of room for your analysis. A general rule of thumb is to have 20% of the paper be quotations, with 80% of the paper being your own wording. Think of it like a chocolate chip cookie. Quotations are the chips sprinkled in.