F. Scott Fitzgerald

A little bit about F. Scott…Born in Minnesota; 1896-1940 (age 44)Published 4 novels, 160 short storiesNamed the 1920’s “The Jazz Age” and… “the most expensive orgy in

history”Lived the glam party life with wife

Zelda in Long Island and as an expatriate in France

Fitzgerald Timeline

1896-born in St Paul, Minnesota to upper-class Catholic family

1913-enters Princeton, but drops out and enlists in army

1918: Stationed near Montgomery, Alabama, meets Zelda Sayre, a celebrated dancer, socialite and local beauty

He moves to NY to seek his fortune. :( Zelda won’t marry him…he doesn’t have the $!

Fitzgerald Timeline (cont’d)

1920: Publishes This Side of Paradise-becomes enormously famous and marries Zelda

1920’s - begins drinking heavily. Turbulent marriage to Zelda who is mentally unstable

Publishes two more novels and several short stories

1925 - goes to France and writes The Great Gatsby. The book is well-received, but sales are disappointing.

Fitzeralds are part of partying expatriate crowd in Paris, which includes Ernest Hemingway.

Fitzgerald Timeline (cont’d)

1930’s - Zelda is hospitalized several times with nervous breakdowns

Scott is a drunk and broke; he lives in hotels near Zelda’s hospital.

Writes short stories for Esquire magazine

1940: Writes much of The Love of the Last Tycoon, but dies of a heart attack on December 21, 1940

“An author ought to write for the youth of his generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward.”

-Fitzgerald, 1920

1925-The Great Gatsby publishedThis is a book about people and

relationships during the 1920’s. It shows the effect of wealth on people’s lives and the values they hold most important.

We read this book to help examine the values we hold most important today and in the future. What are some movies or people in the news where core values – hard work & honesty – come in conflict with money, material things?

$$ Old Money vs. New Money $$ Old Money vs. New Money $$$$ Nouveau Riche:

French for “new money” Refers to someone who

acquires wealth in his own generation

The term is often used in a derogatory manner by people with “old money”

Nouveau Riche people are often stereotyped as: Lacking the experience

or finesse as someone with old money

Discussing matters of money (how uncouth!)

Purchasing gaudy and numerous items to “show off” their wealth

$$ New Money – Whohoo! $$

"They call me new money, say I have no class, I from the bottom, I came up too fast." - 50 Cent

John D. Rockefeller

Andrew Mellon

Andrew CarnegieJP Morgan

$Old Money$

Narrative point of view & structure

Nick Carraway-narrator

Central figure of the novel: story will be about Gatsby, but it’s a story about Nick as well

Voice of the novel: Nick is 1st person narrator

What do you think Fitzgerald achieves by having Nick Carraway tell Gatsby’s story?

CHAPTER I-ExpositionThe Characters; The Setting

P. 1 Dad’s advice: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Advantages and disadvantages of following this

advice?p.1 Nick:“I’m inclined to reserve all judgements .. …

reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.” What does this mean? Is it true?

How do you expect Nick to react to people he disapproves of?

CHAPTER I (cont’d)The Characters; The Background

p. 2 Nick: “When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever…” What kinds of experiences would make a person want the

world around them to be more “moral?”

P.2 Nick: “Only Gatsby was exempt…Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn…it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.”

How does this passage place Gatsby in a special category, apart from other characters?

“Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs…jut out into the most domesticated body of salt water in the Western Hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound” (9)

Answer the following in your notes with your

partner:

• Buddy One: Identify lines of text which fully describe West Egg

•Buddy Two: Identify lines of text which fully describe East Egg

Together: What is the purpose of

Fitzgerald’s description?