Project by: Jillian Walker (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Anna Gonzales
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Sandra Ramirez
Description of the Project: In this project, I will be reading and analyzing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, and comparing the different narratives of the American Dream told in this story vs. The Great Gatsby. I will use my knowledge of these two books, and work to understand different perspectives of what The American Dream look like. When we read The Great Gatsby last trimester, I became obsessed with the idea of the “American Dream” and the Great American novel, so I was wondering if there was a project where I could compare different versions of the same story, and understand different stories based around the same lie. By comparing these two novels, I can question if there is an American Dream at all, using my final thesis from The Great Gatsby. I hope to strengthen my critical thinking skills, and give myself an introduction into the field of comparative literature. I also hope to gain an understanding of what America and “The American Dream” is like for rich white men (such as in Gatsby), versus in an immigrant family).
Final Product & Final Reflection on Learning:
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant): While weeks 1-3 were mostly spent procrastinating and scrambling to raise my physics grade, I started listening to an audiobook of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to get familiar with the material. Once I was comfortable with the author, Junot Díaz’s, writing style I moved onto reading and annotating a physical copy of the book. I used color coded post-its, yellow to write big ideas and questions connecting Diaz’s work to Fitzgerald’s and a smaller, orange paper to mark quotes and important moments that could be used in analytical writing later on. Though it pains me to write in books, I found that helpful so when I go back in weeks 7-9, I could see exactly what I was thinking, and how my thought progress changed as I got further and further into the book.
Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant): At this point, I realized I’ve been swamped with homework as the school year comes to an end, so I made the decision to think of a bigger question to help me with my final piece (if I know exactly what I’m looking for, then it feels less like I’m reading aimlessly, mindlessly looking at pages and pages of words with no idea what they mean in relation to this project). I decided my big question would be: Does Oscar meet his American Dream? Though it seem broad, I planned to expand on several topics that relate to that question (e.g. Gender, Class, Family Dynamics, Love, Success, etc). Here is a link to some of my annotations with post its to show a general direction of my thinking (I didn’t plan of sharing these when I was writing them, so this is a warning for messy handwriting and very improper grammar).
Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant): Oh, weeks 7-9. Everyone is rushing to get retakes done, slowly crumbling, and meeting with teachers before a long summer break. Unfortunately, I am no exception to this end-of-school year burnout. After a strapping attempt at an analytical paper for this project, I’d realized that I could fuel this energy into something equally analytical but more creative. I looked into a differ-net essay format called a graphic essay, and decided to do something similar. My final result are a collection of annotated Venn Diagrams, a visual way of comparing these drastically different authors’ take on the American Dream. I spent these weeks answering my big question and writing theme statements, definitely not leaving any work for the day this final update is due (what am I, a rich white man living in Long Island who’s spent the last five years pursing a the idea of a girl which literally leads me to my death?).
