The Great Gatsby Plot Diagram Activity

Activity Overview

Students can create a storyboard capturing the narrative arc in a novel with a six-cell storyboard containing the major parts of the plot diagram that occur within a five act structure. For each cell have students create a scene that follows the novel in sequence using: Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.

The Great Gatsby Plot Diagram Example

Exposition

The narrator, Nick Carraway, has moved east, to New York City, to pursue a career in bonds. When he arrives, he visits his wealthy cousin, Daisy, and her husband, Tom Buchanan, for dinner. At their home in East Egg, he meets Jordan Baker, a famous golfer, and friend of Daisy.

Conflict

The novel’s conflict is framed by Nick’s struggle to retell the events of his life as it relates to the mysterious Jay Gatsby. This is apparent in Chapter One:

This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability that is dignified under the name of the “creative temperament”. — It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No — Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elation of men.

Rising Action

In this storyboard, two cells were used to show the rising action in different groups of characters. In the rising action, it’s revealed that Tom Buchanan is having an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson. She is relatively poor and lives in the Valley of Ashes with her husband, George, a repair station owner. The rising action also reveals the identity and background of Jay Gatsby, Nick’s illustrious neighbor and Daisy’s former lover. Nick later reunites them, and they begin an affair.

Climax

Daisy attempts to leave Tom for Gatsby. After a heated argument, Daisy grows confused, and ultimately changes her mind. Tom bitterly instructs Daisy to go home with Gatsby, despite that she is now scared of him. Meanwhile, Myrtle, who was locked in her room because her husband suspected her of having an affair, escapes. Daisy is driving down the road, but Myrtle thinks it is Tom. She rushes towards the car; it hits her and she is killed.

Falling Action and Resolution

George kills Gatsby and himself, believing Gatsby was having an affair with Myrtle, and was responsible for her death. In the end, Nick is dismayed by the lack of remorse shown by Daisy and Tom, and by the all the people who used Gatsby. This final quote from Chapter Nine reveals Nick’s feelings:

I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom, and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .

Don't forget to check out our parts of a graphic novel article for even more inspiration!