Nahedeh IB1 English HL 2005-10-04
Jay Gatsby’s character encompasses a lot of characteristics at once, making him one of the most diverse characters in the book. As we move deeper and deeper into the novel, we discover that we can narrow down Gatsby’s characteristics down to a few adjectives. One of the main adjectives that can be written onto Jay Gatsby is ambitious. We can say to a very large extent that Gatsby’s character is very ambitious.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The Quality of Written Communication is low, but only because there is very little confidence shown in writing. There are small sentences and a clear understanding of how to use simple punctuation, but further use of it could improve the answer.
Level of analysis
Without quotes, the analysis is dubious. What the candidate does say they, is entirely indicative of someone who can achieve a sound B grade. There is an appreciation of often overlooked thematic elements such as Jay Gatsby's new name and what it says about himself; an illustrious, mysterious name with greater resonance than James Gatz. Also a promising analysis, is the commentary on Gatsby's parties and his obsessions with Daisy Buchanan. To achieve higher marks, the candidate could've made more explicit the connection with Gatsby's ambition of Daisy. They comment very well on how he becomes obsessed with her, indulging in illegal acts in order to throw lavish parties to impress her, but the real blind ambition is in Gatsby's hopes that Daisy is still the woman she was when they were last together. However, that was five years ago, and it should be realised that Gatsby's ambition for Daisy is futile as she is no longer the woman she once was, and could never satisfy the image he has held in his mind and heart for five years.
Response to question
This question asks candidates how F. Scott Fitzgerald's character of Jay Gatsby can be said to be ambitious. This candidate does very well to address some obvious and often overlooked aspects of the character of Jay Gatsby, originally James Gatz, in order to address the question. However, this candidate is not able to achieve any higher than a middle C grade because of the negligence with quotations and evidence from the source text they're analysing. Without these quotes, candidates' answers are stunted and regardless of the quality of the response to the question, they cannot expect to achieve a high grade, as everything the candidate says must be backed up with quotes from the source text to be considered an effective analysis.
