The Great The Great GatsbyGatsby

Multigenre Project

Nicole Cafarelli

The Great GatsbyThe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is considered one of the greatest American novels. Written

by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the novel is a picture of 1920’s lifestyles and culture: the post-war, prohibition, Jazz era. Complete with dynamic characters and introspective foresight into the world of the wealthy, and the changing times, The Great Gatsby captures Americanism and the pursuit of the American Dream. Narrated by Nick Caraway, the humorless bystander in a world of power and corruption, the story follows the tragic rise and fall of Jay Gatsby and his own pursuit of the American Dream (displaced into his quest for Daisy Buchanan). The novel also mirrors the writer’s own life and troubled relationship with Zelda Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby both satirizes and immortalizes 1920s pop culture.

I chose the novel because of my own personal interest. I fell for its intriguing characters and depictions, as well as its flair for crossing the generation gap. It is as equally light-hearted and dark as its characters and is not only an informative teaching piece, but an entertaining tale of love, loss, and betrayal as well. I’ve read the novel as both a student and a teacher and have found that the opportunities for historical relevance and research are boundless.

“The Great Gatsby”

                                 

1. Francis Cugat’s jacket for The Great Gatsby. New York:Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925. First Edition Facsimile

published by Collectors Reprints, Inc., New York, 1988.

Artifact 1: The title and cover artWhile F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing The Great Gatsby there was much speculation over the infamous title and cover art. Francis Cugat was paid 100 dollars by Scribner’s Library to design the cover, but little is known if the art was designed before or after seeing the manuscript. Some speculate that Fitzgerald even adapted the manuscript to fit with elements of the final cover art. What is known, through transcripts of conversations between Fitzgerald and his editor Maxwell Perkins, is that both the title and the cover art went through a number of changes before ultimately molding together to become one of the most notorious prints of fiction in American Literature. Despite his love for the cover art (“thought the new jacket was great”), however, Fitzgerald was quoted as not actually approving of the choice of adjective in the final title selection.

“The Great Gatsby is weak because there’s no emphasis even ironically on his greatness or lack of it. However, let it pass.”

September 10th: “There is certainly not the slightest risk of our

giving that jacket to anyone in the world but you. I wish the

manuscript of the book would come, and I don’t doubt it is

something very like the best American novel.” Maxwell Perkins

“Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires”

“Trimalchio in West Egg”

“Trimalchio”

“On the Road to West Egg”

“Gold-hatted Gatsby”

“The High-bouncing Lover”

“Gatsby”

Rejected Proposed Titles:

Your own cover for the book and why you drew it the way

you did.

Artifact 2: Long Island Then and NowOne of the major themes in the novel revolves around the conflicting differences between Eastern and Western values as represented in Fitzgerald’s “East Egg and West Egg.” The novel takes place on Long Island during the 1920’s, which is geographically designed to conceptualize the bitter divide between “old world” and “new world” culture, class, and money, with the vast “wasteland” in between.

The parallel railroad and roadway in the novel also represent the changing times. Running through the dying “valley of ashes,” where its desolation is further emphasized with the acquisition of “new” money (West Egg, home of Gatsby) and perseverance of “old wealth” (East Egg, home of the Buchanan's) through devious and uncivilized means that leave “hard working men and women” disposable- enter Jay Gatsby (whose “new money” is only hinted as being acquired through bootlegging liquor) and Tom Buchanan (whose affair with the humble Myrtle, demeaning “friendship” with her unsuspecting husband George Wilson, racial commentary, and abusive tendencies emphasize his single-minded quest of self-preservation and ignorance).

Your own poem about Long Island

Or, a poem you liked about Long Island

Artifact 4: New York Times Book Review, The Great Gatsby

April 19, 1925

Scott Fitzgerald Looks Into Middle Age By EDWIN CLARK

Of the many new writers that sprang into notice with the advent of the post-war period, Scott Fitzgerald has remained the steadiest performer and the most entertaining. Short stories, novels and a play have followed with consistent regularity since he became the philosopher of the flapper with "This Side of Paradise." With shrewd observation and humor he reflected the Jazz Age. Now he has said farewell to his flappers-perhaps because they have grown up-and is writing of the older sisters that have married. But marriage has not changed their world, only the locale of their parties. To use a phrase of Burton Rascoe's-his hurt romantics are still seeking that other side of paradise. And it might almost be said that "The Great Gatsby" is the last stage of illusion in this absurd chase. For middle age is certainly creeping up on Mr. Fitzgerald's flappers. In all great arid spots nature provides an oasis. So when the Atlantic seaboard was hermetically sealed by law, nature provided an outlet, or inlet rather, in Long Island. A place of innate natural charm, it became lush and luxurious under the stress of this excessive attention, a seat of festive activities. It expresses one phase of the great grotesque spectacle of our American scene. It is humor, irony, ribaldry, pathos and loveliness. Out of this grotesque fusion of incongruities has slowly become conscious a new humor-a strictly American product. It is not sensibility, as witness the writings of Don Marquis, Robert Benchley and Ring Lardner. It is the spirit of "Processional" and Donald Douglas's "The Grand Inquisitor": a conflict of spirituality set against the web of our commercial life. Both boisterous and tragic, it animates this new novel by Mr. Fitzgerald with whimsical magic and simple pathos that is realized with economy and restraint. The story of Jay Gatsby of West Egg is told by Nick Caraway, who is one of the legion from the Middle West who have moved on to New York to win from its restless indifference-well, the aspiration that arises in the Middle West-and finds in Long Island a fascinating but dangerous playground. In the method of telling, "The Great Gatsby" is reminiscent of Henry James's "Turn of the Screw." You will recall that the evil of that mysterious tale which so endangered the two children was never exactly stated beyond suggested generalization. Gatsby's fortune, business, even his connection with underworld figures, remain vague generalizations. He is wealthy, powerful, a man who knows how to get things done. He has no friends, only business associates, and the throngs who come to his Saturday night parties. Of his uncompromising love-his love for Daisy Buchanan-his effort to recapture the past romance-we are explicitly informed. This patient romantic hopefulness against existing conditions symbolizes Gatsby. And like the "Turn of the Screw," "The Great Gatsby" is more a long short story than a novel. Nick Caraway had known Tom Buchanan at New Haven. Daisy, his wife, was a distant cousin. When he came East Nick was asked to call at their place at East Egg. The post-war reactions were at their height-every one was restless-every one was looking for a substitute for the excitement of the war years. Buchanan had acquired another woman. Daisy was bored, broken in spirit and neglected. Gatsby, his parties and his mysterious wealth were the gossip of the hour. At the Buchanan's Nick met Jordan Baker; through them both Daisy again meets Gatsby, to whom she had been engaged before she married Buchanan. The inevitable consequence that follows, in which violence takes its toll, is almost incidental, for in the overtones-and this is a book of potent overtones-the decay of souls is more tragic. With sensitive insight and keen psychological observation, Fitzgerald discloses in these people a meanness of spirit, carelessness and absence of loyalties. He cannot hate them, for they are dumb in their insensate selfishness, and only to be pitied. The philosopher of the flapper has escaped the mordant, but he has turned grave. A curious book, a mystical, glamorous story of today. It takes a deeper cut at life than hitherto has been enjoyed by Mr. Fitzgerald. He writes well-he always has-for he writes naturally, and his sense of form is becoming perfected.

The New York Times review of The Great Gatsby both captures the essence of the novel and its writer. It establishes Fitzgerald’s growth in writing and evolution from the “Philosopher of the Flapper” to one of those entering middle age, entering marriage, and desperately still seeking “the other side of paradise.” Critiquing the heart of the matter in the novel, The Great Gatsby" is the last stage of illusion in this absurd chase. For middle age is certainly creeping up on Mr. Fitzgerald's flappers.” One of the central components of the novel is this sense of “neverland” the characters live in, stuck between reality and fantasy, both bored and ambitious. The style of Fitzgerald’s writing also parallels his story and characters, mimicking its one-dimensionality. All of this, of course, is meant to reflect the true nature of Fitzgerald’s post-war age- a transition period where no one has yet established themselves as concrete members of society because they’re either holding on to the past or an as of yet unaccepted future.

Your own book review of The Great Gatsby.

Artifact 5: Cartoon mocking “underwhelming” narrator, Nick Caraway and the Gatsby’s other key players

The novel contains other key characters besides the elusive Mr. Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald criticizes “old world” ideals by depicting selfish and shallow secondary players. The narrator, Nick Caraway, seems to be devoid of his own identity and personality when retelling the story. He serves as more of a witness to the circumstances than anyone with a strong central viewpoint. Tom, the most obvious critical character, is one-dimensional with his repulsive, wealth-centered, superficial personality. Daisy, whose light-hearted nature parallels a manipulative quest for status and wealth, serves as a difficult heroine to sympathize. Finally, Jordan, whom Daisy hopes to “set up” with her cousin, Nick, is as vain and shallow as the rest. Meant to offset the eccentric nature of Gatsby, the sharp contrast in personalities only further emphasizes the difference between Gatsby’s world and theirs, and the inability to transcend either.

Drawings of how you pictured characters in the book and why.

Artifact 6: Love Letter from Zelda to F. Scott FitzgeraldLetterSpring 1919

Sweetheart,    Please, please don't be so depressed--We'll be married soon, and then these lonesome nights will be over forever--and until we are, I am loving, loving every tiny minute of the day and night--Maybe you won't understand this, but sometimes when I miss you most, it's hardest to write--and you always know when I make myself--Just the ache of it all--and I can't tell you. If we were together, you'd feel how strong it is--you're so sweet when you're melancholy. I love your sad tenderness--when I've hurt you--That's one of the reasons I could never be sorry for our quarrels--and they bothered you so--Those dear, dear little fusses, when I always tried so hard to make you kiss and forget--    Scott--there's nothing in all the world I want but you--and your precious love--All the materials things are nothing. I'd just hate to live a sordid, colorless existence-because you'd soon love me less--and less--and I'd do anything--anything--to keep your heart for my own--I don't want to live--I want to love first, and live incidentally...Don't--don't ever think of the things you can't give me--You've trusted me with the dearest heart of all--and it's so damn much more than anybody else in all the world has ever had--    How can you think deliberately of life without me--If you should die--O Darling--darling Scott--It'd be like going blind...I'd have no purpose in life--just a pretty--decoration. Don't you think I was made for you? I feel like you had me ordered--and I was delivered to you--to be worn--I want you to wear me, like a watch--charm or a button hole bouquet--to the world. And then, when we're alone, I want to help--to know that you can't do anything without me...    All my heart--    I love you

Fitzgerald’s relationship with his wife was often tumultuous and littered with affairs and psychological problems. Like his characters Gatsby and Daisy, their love was as strong as it was dangerous. The love affair was never meant to end happily. They had issues with stability and finances, “Scott and Zelda did spend money faster than he earned it” making it so poignant and ironic that “the author who wrote so eloquently about the effects of money on character was unable to manage his own finances.” (Bruccoli, 1) Zelda herself was “strikingly beautiful but wild, intelligent but unevenly educated” (1) a lot like the character Daisy, whose own beauty made her dangerous and frivolous, and her intelligence was also apparent but unevenly dispersed. Also like Gatsby and Daisy, the pair came from very separate worlds, with Fitzgerald pursuing both Zelda and wealth with the same veracity. Finally, as the letter states, the pair would ultimately quarrel in the same love/hate manner as his key characters.

You pretend you were the one receiving the letter. You write

your own letter in your own voice.

Artifact 7: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ObituaryPrinceton University Library

F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896 - 1940F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist, short story writer and scenarist, died at his Hollywood home Dec. 21, 1940. His age was 44. Mr. Fitzgerald in his life and writings epitomized "all the sad young men" of the post-war generation. With the skill of a reporter and ability of an artist he captured the essence of a period when flappers and gin and "the beautiful and the damned" were the symbols of the carefree madness of an age. Roughly, his own career began and ended with the Nineteen Twenties. "This Side of Paradise," his first book, was published in the first year of that decade of skyscrapers and short skirts. Only six others came between it and his last, which, not without irony, he called "Taps at Reveille." That was published in 1935. Since then a few short stories, the script of a moving picture or two, were all that came from his typewriter. The promise of his brilliant career was never fulfilled.

Many suggest that most of Fitzgerald’s writing is (at least partially) autobiographical. Characters based on himself, his wife, Zelda, and his lover, Rosaline. He lived a similarly destructive lifestyle filled with alcoholism, emotional disturbances, and rocky relationships. Perhaps best summing up his life and the novel, “his writing epitomized ‘all the sad young men’ of the post-war generation.” Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald had a love affair with the 1920s, and when the generation fizzled so did the “promise of his brilliant career.” Also like his main character, Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald never lived a happily ever after and was forever tormented by his inner demons, ultimately culminating in an untimely end to an unfulfilled life.

Long ago, when he was young, cocksure, drunk with sudden success, F Scott Fitzgerald told a newspaper man that no one should live beyond 30. (Mok, 1)

Click to view other published obituaries for the writer!

Maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life reminds you of someone else’s.

You decide to include his/her obituary. You explain why you

have included it.

Artifact 8: The Great Gatsby goes HollywoodSince its publication, The Great Gatsby has been turned into three different motion pictures, multiple television versions, plays, and even operas. The story of the tragic hero desperately searching for the American Dream resonates with audiences across generations.

A list of books that you have read that have been made into movies. You also include your

thoughts on what characteristics a book needs to make for a

good movie.

Your Works Cited page showing where you got your artifacts.

Works Cited

"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund.

Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New

York Times. New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.

Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New

York Times, 22 May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.

Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis

Guggenheim. Rogerebert.com. Sun-Times News Group, 2 June 2006. Web.

24 May 2009.

GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.