The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Wrote novel
• Married Zelda Sayre (who was later
  institutionalized)
• Died at an early age
• Named the Jazz Age

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The Jazz Age

• Began soon after the end
• of WWI
• Attitudes about life changed after the war to
  end all wars
• The brutality and carnage (gatling gun, gas
  warfare) inspired a lost generation
• Large demographic change and industrial revolution

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Prohibition

• 18th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting
  the sale, transportation,
• and manufacturing of alcohol.
• Enacted in 1919 and quickly gave rise to
  organized crime in the U.S.
• Bootleggers became wealthy celebrities

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Infamous Criminals during Prohibition

• Al Scarface Capone
• Arnold Rothstein, was the inspiration for Meyer
  Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby

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Main Characters

• Nick Carraway - Narrator of the story. He tells
  the story from a first person perspective but
  withholds judgment on the characters. Young bond
  salesman recently graduated from New Haven who
  lives next door to Jay Gatsby.

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Jay Gatsby

• Wealthy Long Island party giver. Owns a
  magnificent estate in the newly rich West Egg
  (Great Neck).
• Rumors abound about his background, but most
  people only know that he throws amazing parties.

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The Buchanans

• Tom and Daisy have a privileged old money
  lifestyle but a troubled marriage.
• Daisy is a cousin of Nick Carraway and a distant
  associate of Jay Gatsby.
• Tom went to Yale with Nick but had a reputation
  as a cruel person.
• They live in East Egg (old money)

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The Wilsons

• Myrtle and George live in the Valley of Ashes
• Myrtle is having an affair with Tom Buchanan and
  sees Tom as a way out of the lower middle class

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Use of Setting

• author establishes decline of dream through
  setting for novel
• division of East and West Egg
• symbolism of Valley of Ashes
• set at time of prohibition where fortunes made
  quickly by illegal means

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Themes

• Decline of the American Dream in the 20th Century
• Importance of Dreams

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Motifs

• Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or
  literary devices that can help to develop and
  inform the texts major themes.
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Geography

• In Chapters 3 and 4 the old money feeling of East
  Egg and the new jazzy money of West Egg, as
  epitomized by Gatsby's party, are brought to the
  forefront.  Fitzgerald's descriptions of Gatsby's
  party guests gives us a better idea of how the
  old and the new rich are divided.  Notice how the
  gentler and more romantic parts of the novel take
  place on Long Island (both the Eggs), while the
  most serious conflicts often take place in New
  York City.
• In Chapter 4 Gatsby is pulled over for speeding
  in the Valley of Ashes.  Gatsby simply waves a
  card at the policeman and the officer lets Gatsby
  go apparently the chief of police owes him a
  favor.  The advantages of being rich are
  reinforced by the location of this incident it
  occurs in the valley of ashes, where the poor
  live their unprivileged lives.  This contrast
  intensifies our image of Gatsby's charmed
  existence and all that money can buy.

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Weather

• We are in mid-summer, everything is sunny and
  happy.  Or is it?  After summer always comes
  winter.

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Narrative Style

• Fitzgerald uses narrator as objective viewpoint
• Nick is an outsider ( from west)
• Reliable , honest , slow to pass judgment
• Told in first person to allow his thoughts

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Paradox of Gatsby

• Nicks contrasting views given at start of novel
• Fitzgeralds build up of Gatsby before his entry
• Various rumors
• Extreme wealth but doesnt appear at parties
• very low key entry

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Society Built Upon Status

• Tom and Daisy have money and status
• George Wilson has neither
• Gatsby has money but little status
• Nick has status through birth but little money
• Lack of morality in rich accepted yet Gatsby
  condemned

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Gatsbys Dreams 1

• Introduced through symbolism of
• green light
• contrast between intensity of Gatsbys dream and
  shallowness of Tom and Daisy
• contrast shown in depiction of characters

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Gatsbys Dreams 2

• idyllic quality of past (cloak of uniform)
• need to obtain money to win Daisy
• irony that she isnt worth the effort
• climactic scene in hotel
• contrast between Gatsbys tragic death and Tom /
  Daisys selfish reaction

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Final Verdict

• Fitzgeralds approval of Gatsby shown by
• Nicks assessment of Gatsby / Tom and Daisy
• Romantic tone of last few paragraphs linking
  Gatsbys dreams with those of original settlers

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Long Island and Manhattan
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The End