The Great Gatsby

Analysis of the ‘Great American Novel’

Who was F Scott Fitzgerald?Copy the important points, in note form, in your book.• Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 –

December 21, 1940) was an American writer of novels and short stories is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

• He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender Is the Night, and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously.

• Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that discuss themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.

Questions:

• How old was F Scott Fitzgerald when he died?• Apart from five novels, what else did he write?• Would you describe Fitzgerald as a success?

Justify your answer.

Which of the following makes the most significant contribution to Fitzgerald's life? (points over 2 slides,)

Choose two points• He grew up in an upper middle class Irish Catholic

family.• He was named after his deceased sister, Louise Scott.• When he was 16, he was expelled from school for

neglecting his studies.• Fitzgerald left Princeton to enlist in the US Army

during World War I; however, the war ended shortly after Fitzgerald's enlistment.

Continued…• Fitzgerald met the love of his life Zelda at a country club. He

described her as “the golden girl of society.”• Fitzgerald made several excursions to Paris, and became

friends with many members of the American expatriate community in Paris, notably Hemmingway.

• Although Fitzgerald's passion lay in writing novels, only his first novel sold well enough to support his opulent lifestyle.

• Because of this lifestyle, as well as the bills from Zelda's medical care when they came, Fitzgerald was constantly in financial trouble.

• Zelda suffered from schizophrenia.• Fitzgerald had been an alcoholic since his college days.

Answer the following in a paragraph..

• In the film Midnight in Paris, Gil Penders (Owen Wilson) travels back in time and meets Fitzgerald. If you and Fitzgerald were to meet, would you like one another? Justify your answer in six sentences.

• Good phrases to use; in all probability, (un) sympathetic views, significant connection or unparalleled worlds.

They say never to judge a book by it’s cover. Which of the following covers would most encourage you to pick

up this book? Justify your answer. (You might like to use the phrase aesthetic appeal).

Note: The original cover (first pictured) of The Great Gatsby is among the most celebrated pieces of jacket art in American literature.

Which of the following holds the most merit in your opinion?

The Great Gatsby:•Fitzgerald began planning the novel in 1911 and finished the final draft in 1925.•The novel did not enjoy the commercial success of Fitzgerald's previous two novels.•The novel has been made into a computer game.•In April 2010, the folk duo Reg & Phil released a song entitled "Daisy Buchanan".

• The novel has been filmed five times and is being filmed for the sixth time.

• Gatsby included his own life in the novel. Like the character Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything Fitzgerald wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised.

• The Great Gatsby is considered to be the great American novel.

Chapter One:Copy the important points, in note form, in your book.• The narrator of The Great Gatsby is a young man from Minnesota named Nick

Carraway.• In the summer of 1922, Nick has just arrived in New York, where he moved to

work in the bond business.• Unlike the conservative, aristocratic East Egg, West Egg is home to the “new

rich,”. West Egg is characterized by lavish displays of wealth and garish poor taste.

• Nick’s comparatively modest West Egg house is next door to Gatsby’s mansion, a sprawling Gothic monstrosity

• One night, Nick drives out to East Egg to have dinner with his cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan, a former member of Nick’s social club at Yale

• When Nick arrives home, he sees Gatsby for the first time, a handsome young man standing on the lawn with his arms reaching out toward the dark water.

Question:

• The relationship between geography and social values is an important theme in The Great Gatsby. Given the choice, would you prefer to live in the West egg (new money) or East egg (old money)? Explain your choice in six lines.

Chapter Two:Copy the important points, in note form, in your book.• Halfway between West Egg and New York City sprawls a desolate plain, a gray valley

where New York’s ashes are dumped.• One day, as Nick and Tom are riding the train into the city, Tom forces Nick to follow

him out of the train at one of these stops. • Tom leads Nick to George Wilson’s garage, which sits on the edge of the valley of

ashes. Tom’s lover Myrtle is Wilson’s wife. • Tom taunts Wilson and then orders Myrtle to follow him to the train. Tom takes Nick

and Myrtle to New York City, to the Morningside Heights apartment he keeps for his affair.

• Here they have an impromptu party with Myrtle’s sister, Catherine, and the group proceeds to drink excessively.

• Myrtle grows louder and more obnoxious the more she drinks, and shortly after Tom gives her a new puppy as a gift, she begins to talk about Daisy.

• Tom responds by breaking her nose, bringing the party to an abrupt halt.

Question:

The sequence of events leading up to and occurring at the party define and contrast the various characters in The Great Gatsby. In your life, which character is the most different from you? Compare yourself and this person with the two characters from The Great Gatsby.

• Thank you for your good work.