Once encouraged to think critically, pre-medical students taking part in an introduction to the orientation reading project raised their hands enthusiastically in bids to be heard.

On the table this year was F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, a novel of love and loss set in the America of the Jazz Age.

Senior lecturer in English, Peter Fortunato explained that the purpose of the activity was not necessarily to reach a consensus. "You don't even have to like this novel. Our focus is on interpretation, critical thinking and response."

Inspired, the students quickly adopted that approach.

"This is something truly different," commented Dana Anchassi. "Dr. Fortunato is giving us all his energy and knowledge while encouraging us to think for ourselves."

The novel explores - through the enigmatic character of Jay Gatsby - the conventions and restraints relating to the attainment of wealth in an apparently affluent society.

Later, during a panel discussion, second-year pre-meds Sabrina Alam and Hiba Sheikh, along with Mahrukh Rizvi, a first-year medical student, sparked a strong discourse.

Their presentation explored a number of themes: the carelessness of characters in the novel; the deceit employed by them; and 'whether Gatsby was Great.'

Sabrina suggested that Gatsby was the least careless of the characters under consideration: "He had a pure goal in the pursuit of love."

Bringing a contrasting perspective, Hiba responded: "Greatness is lessened when people use ignoble means to pursue a goal."

Mahrukh drew a link between the theme of deceit and the pursuit of integrity in medicine.

"A doctor shouldn't treat a patient as a duty and mere means to wealth but as a true responsibility," she said. "As doctors we need to learn to employ truth and avoid the instability that results from deception."