Voice of an Era
(the Roaring 20’s)
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
The 1920s: The Jazz Age
“It was an age of
miracles, it was an age
of art, it was an age of
excess, and it was an
age of satire.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
The 1920s: The Jazz Age
• Most serious indictment
of the American Dream
• Aftermath of World War II
– Attitude toward life has
changed
– Confusion between the
spiritual and material
• God is money
The Early Years
• Named after relative, Francis Scott Key
• Born in Minnesota
• Attended prep school in New Jersey, then Princeton in
1913
• So absorbed in the Triangle
(a musical comedy society)
he was “invited” to repeat
his junior year
• Went back to St. Paul, Minnesota,
where he fell in love
with a wealthy socialite . . .
His First “Dream Girl”
It was his birthday [Sept.
24th] when he met and fell
in love with a beautiful rich
girl named Ginevra King.
She got engaged to
somebody else because
Fitzgerald didn’t have many
prospects. He later said,
“She was the first girl I
ever loved … [and] she
ended up by throwing me
over with the most
supreme boredom and
indifference.”
Zelda Sayre: “The top girl”
• Returned to Princeton, still
a mediocre student;
• In 1917 left Princeton to
enlist in WWI
• Went to Camp Sheridan
where he met Zelda Sayre
She loves me . . . She loves me not
• Zelda, daughter of Alabama Supreme
Court justice and “top girl” of youth society
• Became engaged; he went to New York
• She broke off the
engagement because
she was not convinced
he could support her
• This Side of Paradise
was published in 1920; she married him
Fitzgerald:
The incurable romantic
1925 - The Great Gatsby
• The money and fame
enabled him to make
several trips to Europe
• Became friends with
expatriate community
in Paris, especially with
Hemingway
Hemingway “Strikes”
Hemingway’s A Moveable
Feast had some chapters
about Fitzgerald and
Zelda, whom Hemingway
did not like.
He created the legend
that Zelda was Fitzgerald’s
downfall, the ruin of a great
American writer
Scott and Zelda:
An Unhappy ending
• Zelda developed
schizophrenia in 1930
• She was hospitalized
in Maryland
• She wrote her fictional account of their lives
together in Europe (Save Me the Waltz)
• Fitzgerald was able to convince Scribner to
change the content
Taking Care of Zelda . . .
Fitzgerald’s last complete novel,
Tender is the Night, came out
In 1934. It is the story of a man’s
care for a woman at the outset of
mental illness.
The novel received
mixed reviews.
The Last Years:
Doomed to Obscurity
• Fitzgerald felt like he was doing
“hack” work in Hollywood; disliked writing for
movie studios but did for money
• Fitzgerald was living with his lover, a Hollywood
gossip columnist
• A heavy alcoholic since college, he suffered two
heart attacks and died at 44.
• Zelda died in a fire in an Asheville, NC, mental
hospital.
• The year of his death, Fitzgerald’s books sold a
total of 72 copies, for royalties of $13.
A Great Book: The Great Gatsby
Today, The Great
Gatsby sells 300,000
copies a year.
“There’s no such thing . . .
as a flawless novel. But if
there is, this is it.”
from Charles Jackson’s
The Lost Weekend
The Great Gatsby: The Movie
The Characters
• Robert Redford
as Jay Gatsby
• Mia Farrow
as Daisy Buchanan
• Sam Waterston
as Nick Carraway
• Bruce Dern
as Tom Buchanan
What You Need to Know
• Jay Gatsby was a young officer
who falls in love with a beautiful
young socialite, Daisy.
• But while he is away at World
War I, she is wooed and won by
Tom Buchanan. She admits she
did not wait for Jay because he
was not rich.
• His wealth gained, Jay buys a
mansion across the harbor from
Daisy, hoping to recapture the
past.
The Great Gatsby
Celebration of youth, beauty, and
money
A world of illusions
The New American Dream
Illusion versus Reality
Themes in the Novel
• The Corruption of the
American Dream
• Hope
• Paradox
• Self-Discovery
• Illusion versus Reality
• Possessiveness and
Jealousy
The Corruption of the American
Dream
– Early European settlers believed one could
start a new life here, limited only by the limits
of one’s dreams.
– Jay Gatsby personifies the “extraordinary gift
for hope, a romantic readiness” that is the
hallmark of the American dream.
– Gatsby believes the American dream be
bought. The other characters are corrupted
by that same belief to some degree.
– He believes the past can be recaptured.
Important Symbols: The billboard
Dr. T.J. Eckleburg
An optometrist’s
billboard are
“the eyes of God”
Important Symbols:
East Egg Versus West Egg
East Egg Versus West Egg
• East Egg: Where people with “Old
Money” lived
– Considered my legitimate wealth
– What everyone wants; values
– Say they don’t know anyone in West Egg
– Daisy and Tom live
there
Important Symbols
East Egg Versus West Egg
– Considered “trashy”
West Egg: Where
because they got
people with “New
their wealth too
Money” live; Gatsby lives easily and probably
illegally
here.
– Spend money too
freely
– World of illusioncollapse of America
idealism
Important Symbols:
The Valley of Ashes
• Road between East Egg and West Egg
• Compared to a wasteland; vapid, empty
• Home of the poor, working class people
– Home of George and Myrtle Wilson (Tom’s
mistress)
Important Symbols:
The American Automobile
• Symbol of power, money, and success
• Status symbol
Important Symbols:
The Green Light
•Light at the end of Daisy’s pier
•Green=renewal, new life (when he
gets Daisy), hope