I never truly did until my junior year of high school. I despised writing book reports, procrastinated when it came time to complete my summer reading, and loathed the dialectical journals my teacher would make us do every time we read a book. Though English is my strong suit, I didn’t appreciate the teaching of it. My junior year, I was thrilled when I learned that I would have my friend’s mom as my teacher. Mrs. Dixon was one of the best teachers at my school and was admired for her laid-back and blunt personality. I had already had her as my teacher for my creative writing class the prior semester, and was ecstatic to see how she presented American literature in a regular core class. Eventually, my whole worldview changed when we started F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
When Mrs. Dixon announced that we would be reading one of her favorite books, The Great Gatsby, I felt optimistic yet uncertain. I had never read any of Fitzgerald’s work and was hesitant because I had heard from many that it was difficult to understand his novels because of his large use of diction and allusions. I had already become familiar with the plot as I had seen the Baz Luhrmann movie rendition starring the forever gorgeous Leonardo Dicaprio. I fell in love with the movie and it was why I was so optimistic and excited to read the novel and compare the movie to the book. When I started the book, Mrs. Dixon asked us to keep dialectical journals for every chapter we read. Here is where the irritation kicked in. It wasn’t the idea of the journal that upset me, but the extra focus I would have to apply to completing it. I was taken away from the actual text and so fixated on trying to complete the journals, which she also happened to take for a daily grade, that I wasn’t fully connected to the text and couldn’t invest in it.
Soon after, I went to Mrs. Dixon for help on how to overcome this obstacle. She explained that, “Instead of trying to focus on completing it, whenever you read something that sparks your interest or a question, respond to it”. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it like that until that moment and continued my reading with that in mind. From that point on, the reading and journaling became easier and I finally started to understand and connect to Fitzgerald’s novel. I began to participate in discussions more, filled the pages with my trusty highlighters, and even completed an extra credit assignment for the book; which I had never done before for any of my past English classes. Once we had finished the book, Mrs. Dixon informed the class that we would be watching both the 1974 and 2013 movie renditions. I had enjoyed the glitz and glamour of the 2013 movie but was sadly let down by the 1974 version. It was missing the razzle-dazzle and edge the newer movie offered and of course the dreamy face of Leo.
