“Who Killed Jay Gatsby?” Introducing Fitzgerald’s Classic Novel with a Murder Mystery By Abby Weller-Hall

 “Who Killed Jay Gatsby?” 

Introducing Fitzgerald’s Classic Novel with a Murder Mystery

By Abby Weller-Hall

I’ve been teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby for sixteen years now. I could probably recite the novel cover to cover. For other English teachers, this may feel like a life-sentence being chained to a classic. You might be asking, how do you not lose your mind “beating on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly” to reteach the same novel year after year?

I have taught Gatsby in a number of school settings from suburban and rural brick-and-mortars to statewide cyber schools. I’ve taught Gatsby from the lowest levels to AP Literature and everything in between. Every year I look forward to it because I learned how to make a book about horrible rich people be interesting to teenagers who, given the choice of following the rich, would rather be watching the Kardashians on TikTok.

The introduction to the novel is the key to engagement. If you are also teaching Gatsby this year, ditch that lame anticipation guide and instead host an interactive live-action game of Clue that everyone participates in as either a character-actor or a detective to discover who killed Gatsby. Here’s how to do it: 

First, hype up the event by handing out fancy invitations (made on Canva; example below) to the Gatsby Murder Mystery Party a couple of weeks in advance. Be sure to mention it daily! 

Next, ask for volunteers to be the actors for the following roles: Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan, Meyer Wolfsheim, Henry Gatz, Ewing Klipspringer, a Funeral Director, and a Journalist. A Google Form will help you collect student acting interest. However, assure the actors that they don’t need to memorize any lines, just read them from their character’s clue sheet. 

Each actor gets a brief description of their character and several clues that they can tell if the “detectives” ask. The clues should include some red herrings, of course! 

Note that I create characters not in the novel (i.e. the Funeral Director and the Journalist) to help sell the mystery.  There are also characters I didn’t include, but certainly could be added (i.e Owl Eyes, Michaelis, Myrtle’s sister Catherine, etc.) For extra fun, give the actors props too (Daisy gets a pearl necklace, Meyer gets a couple of fake molars, etc.). Encourage the actors to dress fancy for the day.

On the day of your Gatsby Murder Mystery, have students enter a classroom that is somber (because it’s a funeral for Jay Gatsby). Put up a sign indicating that George and Myrtle Wilson’s funeral is tomorrow. If you really want to sell it, get a prop coffin from a Halloween store.

As students enter the room, give them a “case file” checklist of characters where they can write down how characters respond to the questioning. Students are told they can ask any of your actors to tell them something about any other character (Ex. “Daisy, tell me something you know about Jordan”). Actors will reveal one of their clues when asked. 

Questioning goes round-robin, with all students writing down responses. All students must listen carefully to find a line of questioning that produces fruitful responses. After about forty minutes of questioning, students are asked to write down the three characters they think were either directly or indirectly connected to Gatsby’s murder. Pat yourself on the back for getting those speaking and listening standards met!

The students will expect you to tell them the correct answer at the end, but that’s where you hook them and say they’ll find out by reading the book! This is followed by a collective groan, but believe me, as kids read they will still be trying to figure out the mystery.

Although (spoiler alert) we know George is the killer, the discussion at the end of the novel about who was indirectly responsible for Gatsby’s murder is going to be the best discussion of the year because they have been primed to be looking for that the entire novel. The students will be reading with purpose, and that’s what any English teacher wants!

I’ve been doing the Gatsby Murder Mystery for nine years now and even adapted it for virtual settings. It takes some time to develop the character clues, but just consider what each character knows about the other characters in the novel. Then pick some detail that could be misconstrued. For instance, ask the journalist about Gatsby and he might say, “I heard he was a German spy.” After students finish the novel, I ask them what clues they would have given instead! This will help them analyze the character-plot connections.

Every year students say it was their favorite book and I really believe it’s because the murder mystery party tricked them into analyzing literature much deeper than they had before. The murder mystery can be done year after year without ever getting boring. 

So when someone tells you that you can’t relive this past, tell them “why of course you can, old sport!”

Author Bio: Abby Weller-Hall teaches 11th grade American Literature at PA Leadership Cyber Charter School. She has been teaching since 2006 in both online and brick-and-mortar settings.  When not grading, she’s probably painting, reading, or playing with her kids.  While she has no online social media presence, she can be reached at aweller@palcs.org.