The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940)

1920s Background Info

• World War I ends – 1918– America is a stronger, more powerful

nation• After the war – people are full of energy• People had been repressed because of a

bad economy– $$ saved for possible hard times because of the

war

• Protest & Violence followed the end of the war

Prohibition (1919-1933)

• Restricted sale & Use of liquor• Originally to abolish saloons– Thought to be immoral & dangerous to

society

• Bootleggers– People who made & sold liquor

illegally–Often ran drugstores & other

“front” businesses in order to sell liquor

The Roaring Twenties

• Carefree time of wild parties, illegal drinking & extravagant lifestyles– Young people of America embraced

• Time of change in fashion & music– “The Jazz Age”– Flappers

Flappers• Described young girls in the US & Britain who were

ideally “lovely, expensive & about 19”• Defined as “giddy, attractive and slightly

unconventional…inclined to revolt against the precepts (rules)…of her elders”

• Nearly a generation of men died in WWI– Women were not willing to waste away their youth

waiting for spinsterhood– Decided to enjoy life

• New Trends– No corsets– Waists @hipline– Bobbed hair– Makeup

1920s Literature

• Showed a mood of rebellion with alarming topics

• More freedom of language & descriptions

• New & freer attitudes toward the representation of sex

F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Born (1896) in St. Paul, Minnesota• Studied for 4 years @Princeton– Wanted to play football but didn’t make the

team– Developed a drinking problem - flunked out– A girl did not like him because he was poor

(huge influence)

• Did not graduate – joined the Army– Met & married Zelda Sayre - rich, Southern

Belle– Zelda - Fitzgerald’s muse

Fitzgerald’s Outlook

• Father was fired and a failure in business– Caused obsession with success/money

• Used his talent for writing to produce plays for school so he could cast people he wanted as friends

Fitzgerald’s Writing

• This Side of Paradise (1920) - describes life @Princeton among the glittering, bored and disillusioned– Novel was an overnight success– Fitzgerald known as King of the Jazz Age

The Great Gatsby

• Published in 1925• Critical success• Sales were disappointing

Gatsby Characters

• Tom: dictator/bully• Daisy: clinging vine• Myrtle: clinging vine/weakling• Gatsby: calculator• Nick: nice guy/protector• George: nice guy/protector• Jordan: calculator

Theme(s)

• Corruption of the American Dream– Defined as the idea that in America one

might hope to satisfy every material desire & thereby achieve happiness

– Fitzgerald believed this to be deceptive• How can the goal of all you desire be

something you can attain?• desire = material possessions =

dissatisfaction

– One can end up with great wealth & “stuff” and be quite empty

More Theme(s)

• Old $$ v. New $$• Prosperity, Material Excess,

Bootleggingv.

• Discovery, Individualism, “Pursuit of Happiness”

Even More Theme(s)

• Sight/Insight–Many images of blindness– No one seems to really know what’s

going on

• Meaning of the Past– Gatsby & Nick hold on to a simpler,

nobler time when family & church meant something

• Illusion v. Reality

Color Symbol(s)

• Gray - death, lifelessness (people & land)

• Green - money (light at end of Daisy’s peer), Gatsby’s goal

• Blue: dream (eyes of Dr. Eckleburg-rep’s. sightlessness)

• White: corruption is underneath-wedding cake, Daisy’s and Jordon’s clothes(airiness and fairylike)

More Color Symbol(s)

• Darks & Lights: Gatsby’s world is deceptive

• Gold or Yellow: wealth, materialism• Red: violence/violent death• Pink: violence underneath

Other Symbols

• Valley of Ashes: The Wasteland T.S. Eliot– Explores the “hollowness @the heart of

things”– Purgatory–Moral & Social Wasteland

• Daisy: wealth, position, status, “golden girl”

• Dr. Eckleburg’s Eyes (billboard): capitalistic profit (He is the “god” of the Wasteland)

Even More Other Symbols

• Ashes: gray, lifeless, wasteland, death, True Reality

• Apartment: on outside, a beautiful wedding cake; inside, corruption, greed & selfishness

• Gatsby’s house (white), Garden (blue), Chauffer’s uniform (blue)

• The Green Light (Buchanan’s Dock)– Positive & Negative aspects of the color

• Opportunity v. Greed

Still More Other Symbols

• Buchanan’s house: red & white/carpet crimson

• Nick’s boats: red & gold (dream stained by violence)

• Myrtle: wears brown in Valley of Ashes, changes to Ecru/Cream dresses: becomes unreal & someone else

• Sunday: day of worship except @Gatsby’s where people party (un-God-like)

The Eggs

• West Egg– Modeled after Long Island– Known for affluence & high quality of life– Represents old wealth– Those who HAVE

• East Egg– Less fashionable than the West Egg– New wealth– Wealth most likely acquired by ruthless

(read: illegal) means– Those who HAVE NOT