I believe B. Specific to a certain subject and C. requires knowledge of denotative meaning. Hope this helps
This is a subjective question, so there are certainly no "right" answers. Here are some close-examination strategies:
- Read the text through quickly, and then re-read more slowly until you feel that you understand what the text's purpose is and how each sentence contributes to a greater understanding.
- Highlight key words or phrases that show what the text's theme/topic/focus is.
- Examine the way information is presented. Is it scholarly, humorous, uncertain, etc?
- Is the text part of a larger work? If so, why is this excerpt significant? If not, then why is it meaningful standing alone?
- Research the author/person who created the text. Find out what drove them to write it or what they were trying to do.
- Is there a specific audience that the text is intended for? This relates to prior questions, but you could go deeper as well and look at how the text makes you feel, or whether you have learned a new way of thinking about something.
You can learn a lot by examining a text from different perspectives, including the typical characteristics of-- who, what, when, where, why, how?
Simply put, the American Dream is the widespread notion that any American citizen can achieve happiness and fulfillment by simply working as hard as possible. Fitzgerald deconstructs this idea by showing that, though Gatsby works hard and acquires a vast store of riches, he does not ever achieve true happiness or fulfillment. For Gatsby, true happiness involves earning the lasting love of Daisy. However, though Daisy loves him in her own way, she is not able to love him as fully as he would prefer, and in the end Daisy abandons Gatsby. Thus, no matter how hard Gatsby works to gain material wealth, he ultimately dies alone, and so much of the novel's major purpose is to ultimately critique the mythology of the American Dream.
