The Roaring 20s and F. Scott Fitzgerald

1
The Roaring 20s and F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Background Notes

2

• What do you already know about the 20s?
• Prohibition
• Flappers
• Organized Crime
• Jazz
• Post WWI
• Post Industrialism
• Others?

3
F. Scott Fitzgerald
4
General Information

• BORN IN ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (1896) AND DIED OF
  HEART FAILURE IN 1940.
• NAMED FOR HIS RELATIVE, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY,
  COMPOSER OF "THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER".

5
The Early Years

• DID POORLY IN SCHOOL AND ATHLETICS. EXCELLED AT
  WRITING AND WAS A DAYDREAMER.
• IN 1916, HE ENROLLED IN OFFICER'S TRAINING
  SCHOOL, IN HOPES TO JOIN WWI. HE WAS NEVER SENT
  OVERSEAS.

6
Love and Marriage

• PUBLISHED HIS FIRST NOVEL THIS SIDE OF PARADISE
  IN 1919. HE ALSO MARRIED HIS WIFE, ZELDA.
• HE AND ZELDA WERE CELEBRITIES AND IT TOOK A TOLL
  ON THEIR MARRIAGE.

7
The Great Gatsby

• THE GREAT GATSBY WAS PUBLISHED IN 1925.
• GATSBY SPEAKS ABOUT WEALTH- "THAT IT IS A
  DEHUMANIZING FORCE THAT CAN DESTROY THE HEART.
  - F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

8
More Gatsby

• THE NARRATION IS ENGAGED, YET OBJECTIVE.
• CHARACTERS IN HIS NOVELS CLOSELY MIRROR PEOPLE IN
  HIS LIFE AND IN SOCIETY.

9
Trouble in Paradise

• IN 1929, ZELDA HAD A MENTAL BREAKDOWN AND SHE WAS
  INSTITUTIONALIZED. SHE WROTE SAVE ME THE WALTZ
  AS A COMMENTARY ON HER MARRIAGE TO FITZGERALD.

10
Back at Ya

• IN 1934, FITZGERALD WROTE TENDER IS THE NIGHT AS
  A "REBUTTAL" TO ZELDA'S NOVEL. IT IS ABOUT A
  CHARACTER (DICK DIVER) WHO MUST TAKE CARE OF
  NICOLE, THE MAD (CRAZY) HEROINE.