The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
► Born
in St. Paul, Minnesota
► Named after Francis Scott Key, composer of
“The Star-Spangled Banner”
► Gave the 1920s the name “Jazz Age”
► Married Zelda Sayre, whom he met while
stationed at Camp Sheridan in AL during
WWI
► Zelda’s hometown – Montgomery, AL
► First novel – This Side of Paradise, 1920
F. Scott Fitzgerald, cont.
► Moved
to France for a couple of years,
where he became friends with Hemingway
► Published The Great Gatsby in 1925
► Zelda suffered a mental breakdown in 1930,
spending the remainder of her life in and
out of asylums
► Spent money faster than he could make it;
he “struggled with mounting debts, failing
health, drinking, and depression.”
► Died of heart failure in 1940 – age 44
F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda
► The
Fitzgeralds
became the
“darlings of the
Jazz Age
► They
had one child
“Scottie” born in
1921.
► Fitzgerald died in
1940; Zelda died in
1948.
Characteristics of the 20s
► Americans
made and spent money.
► Little concern for social welfare or global
cooperation
► Corruption accepted by most people
► Prejudice against Jews, Catholics, Blacks, and
foreigners rose.
► Nation’s wealth grew, but was unevenly distributed
► Technology grew: automobiles, radios, movies
Key Facts
►
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genre · Modernist novel, Jazz Age novel, novel of
manners
narrator · Nick Carraway; Carraway not only narrates the
story but implies that he is the book’s author
point of view · Nick Carraway narrates in both first and
third person, presenting only what he himself observes.
Nick alternates sections where he presents events
objectively, as they appeared to him at the time, with
sections where he gives his own interpretations of the
story’s meaning and of the motivations of the other
characters.
tone · Nick’s attitudes toward Gatsby and Gatsby’s story
are ambivalent and contradictory. At times he seems to
disapprove of Gatsby’s excesses and breaches of manners
and ethics, but he also romanticizes and admires Gatsby,
describing the events of the novel in a nostalgic and
elegiac tone.
► tense
· Past
► setting (time) · Summer 1922
► settings (place) · Long Island and New
York City
► protagonist · Gatsby and/or Nick
► major conflict · Gatsby has amassed a
vast fortune in order to win the affections of
the upper-class Daisy Buchanan, but his
mysterious past stands in the way of his
being accepted by her.
Place Setting
► Two
wealthy fictional suburbs on the
eastern tip of Long Island
 East Egg – home of the “old money”
 West Egg – across the bay and province of the
newly rich
 Valley of the ashes – an industrial wasteland
located nearly
 New York City and Manhattan – pinnacle of
materialism
EAST EGG
WEST EGG
VALLEY OF ASHES
►
George Wilson’s garage
The valley of ashes is a very
grotesque area where all you
can see is dust in the air. It is
located half way between
West Egg and New York City.
It has rundown houses and
polluted water. It is a
desolate wasteland. It is a
very poor area.
PLOT
Gatsby’s lavish parties, Gatsby’s
arrangement of a meeting with
Daisy at Nick’s
Gatsby has amassed a vast fortune in order to
win the affections of the upper-class Daisy
Buchanan, but his mysterious past stands in
the way of his being accepted by her.
There are two possible climaxes:
Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy in
Chapters V–VI; the confrontation
between Gatsby and Tom in the
Plaza Hotel in Chapter VII.
Daisy’s rejection
of Gatsby,
Myrtle’s death,
Gatsby’s murder
Gatsby’s
Gatsby’s funeral;
Nick returns to
Midwest (more
Mature)
Putting It All Together
1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
Beginning of
Story
Middle of Story
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution
End of Story
Symmetrical Plot
►2
love affairs trigger 3 violent
deaths (an accident, a murder,
and a suicide) among 5
characters under the watchful
th
gaze of a 6 character who is
the narrator
THEMES
► The
decline of the American dream,
► the spirit of the 1920s,
► the difference between social classes,
► the role of symbols in the human conception
of meaning,
► the role of the past in dreams of the future
► The wasteland and moral emptiness
► The ideal
MOTIFS
The connection between events and
weather,
► the connection between geographical
location and social values,
► images of time,
► extravagant parties,
► the quest for wealth
►
SYMBOLS
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►
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►
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The green light on Daisy’s
dock,
the eyes of Doctor T. J.
Eckleburg,
the valley of ashes,
Gatsby’s parties,
East Egg,
West Egg
►
"I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked
out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock....his
dream must have seemed so close that he could
hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was
already behind him." -F. Scott Fitzgerald
FORESHADOWING
► The
car wreck after Gatsby’s party in
Chapter III,
► Owl Eyes’s comments about the theatricality
of Gatsby’s life,
► the mysterious telephone calls Gatsby
receives from Chicago and Philadelphia
Nick
► First
person narrator who tells the story as a
flashback
► Age 29-30
► educated at Yale and fought in World War I,
went to New York City to learn the bond
business.
► Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve
judgment
► Daisy Buchanan’s cousin
► Nick quickly befriends his next-door
neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby
Nick Carraway
► Conservative,
upper-
middle-class
background
► Has a casual affair
withy Jordan Baker,
but finds her shallow
► Appalled by the moral
emptiness of the
Buchanans’ society
JAY GATSBY
► protagonist
of the novel, Gatsby is a
fabulously wealthy young man living in a
Gothic mansion in West Egg – AGE 32
► He is famous for the lavish parties he
throws every Saturday night, but no one
knows where he comes from, what he does,
or how he made his fortune.
► Acquired wealth through bootlegging and
racketeering (illegal bond deals)
► Idolizes Daisy, the romantic embodiment of
the American dream
Jay Gatsby cont.
► Turns
materialism into
a religious ideal
► Uses money to create
a new identity for
himself
► He is romantic and
goodhearted
► Tragic, pathetic victim
of his own illusion
TOM BUCHANAN
►
►
►
►
►
►
Wealthy
married to Daisy
Age 30
Former football player at
Yale
Plays polo
Strong, arrogant,
physically brutal,
intellectually and morally
weak, prejudiced
TOM BUCHANAN
► Believes
he is entitled
to whatever he wants
► Restless, no moral
qualms about his own
extramarital affair
with Myrtle, selfish
► Materialistic by using
and consuming
people
DAISY BUCHANAN
► MARRIED
TO TOM;
AGE 23
► CHARMING, BUT
SHALLOW
► FORMER BELLE OF
LOUISVILLE
► SEDUCTIVE VOICE
► GUIDING PRINCIPLE
IS MONEY
► OBJECT OF GATSBY’S
FANTASIES, BUT FALLS
SHORT OF HIS DIVINE
IMAGE OF HER
JORDAN BAKER
► FRIEND
OF DAISY
SINCE CHILDHOOD IN
LOUISVILLE
► AGE 21
► CHAMPION GOLFER
► CHEATED IN A
TOURNAMENT TO
AVIOD LOSING
JORDAN BAKER CONT.
► BORED,
ARROGANT
► PHONY MANNERISMS
► ROOTLESS, USES
PEOPLE
► SPIRITUALLY EMPTY
► INCAPABLE OF
HAPPINESS
► Jordan represents one
of the “new women” of
the 1920s—cynical,
boyish, and selfcentered.
MYRTLE WILSON
► GEORGE
WILSON’S
WIFE
► TOM’S MISTRESS
► MID 30s
► SLIGHTLY
OVERWEIGHT
► SENSUOUS, FLESHY
WOMAN
► NOT BEAUTIFUL
MYRTLE WILSON
► PURSUES
THE
AMERICAN DREAM
► possesses a fierce
vitality and desperately
looks for a way to
improve her situation
► SHE SEEKS WEALTH
AND GLAMOUR IN AN
AFFAIR WITH TOM
► SHE IS KILLED
SYMBOLS
VALLEY OF ASHES
HEARSE
GATSBY’S SILK SHIRTS
THE MIDWEST
THE JAZZ AGE PARTIES