The Great Gatsby

1
The Great Gatsby

• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• September 24, 1896 - December 10, 1940

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Early Years

• Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (named after Francis
  Scott Key, author of the United States' national
  anthem "The Star Spangled Banner")
• Born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota to an upper
  middle class Irish Catholic family.
• 1913 - entered Princeton University, but was not
  a good student and didnt finish school
• 1917 Fitzgerald left Princeton to join the army.

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Just out of his reach

• 1918 - While in Montgomery, Alabama, he met Zelda
  Sayre, daughter of a wealthy Alabama family. A
  year later they were engaged, but Zelda broke it
  off a few months later because she couldnt marry
  anyone who couldnt financially support her.
• Fitzgerald sets out to earn her love by earning
  .

4
Winning Zelda

• 1919 - F. Scott Discharged from army and moved
  to New York City. Worked in advertising and wrote
  his first novel The Romantic Egoist. It was
  rejected by Charles Scribner, but after three
  revisions they published it as This Side Of
  Paradise (1920) and it became one of the most
  popular books of the year.
• He and Zelda married on April 3, 1920, at St
  Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Their
  daughter Frances Scott 'Scottie' was born in
  1922.
• They lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous,
  constantly entertaining.
• Zelda flirtatious Fitzgerald jealous
• It was the beginning of a turbulent life
  together.

5
Lavish Lifestyle

• Zelda embraced the flapper lifestyle, dressing
  provocatively and smoking cigarettes
• Together they enjoyed the free-thinking,
  materialistic pursuits of the roaring twenties
  when the post-war American economy was booming.
• 1920s prohibition, however, there was plenty
  of alcohol in the Fitzgerald household.
• 1927 - The Fitzgeralds rented a 27 bedroom
  mansion and drunken parties ensued. Fitzgerald
  was increasingly turning to alcohol, sometimes
  becoming abusive. Zelda often acted out
  impetuously, embarrassing herself in front of
  friends and strangers.

6
Health and Marriage Suffering

• 1930 - While in North Africa, Zelda had a nervous
  breakdown and was later diagnosed with
  schizophrenia. For the next few years she was in
  and out of clinics in Switzerland.
• Meanwhile, Fitzgerald used his wife's mental
  breakdowns and their overall dysfunctional
  relationship in his writings.

7
F. Scott the script writer

• Finances become very difficult for them.
• 1931 - Although he claimed to detest it,
  Fitzgerald moved to California to write scripts
  for MGM.
• 1938 - Fitzgeralds contract with MGM was not
  renewed, however, several other film companies
  hired him to do freelance work. But Fitzgerald's
  alcoholism continually interfered with his life
  and work, requiring hospitalization at times.

8
Toward the end

• 1940 - Still struggling with her illness, Zelda
  moved back to America and went to live with her
  mother.
• In November Fitzgerald suffers a heart attack and
  a month later, on 21 December 1940, he died of a
  second heart attack in Hollywood, California.
• 1948 - Zelda died in a fire at the Highland
  Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.

9
His Works

• Novels
• This Side of Paradise (1920)
• The Beautiful and the Damned (1922)
• The Great Gatsby (1925)
• Tender is the Night (1934)
• The Last Tycoon (1941 unfinished)

• He also published numerous short stories and
  short story collections including The Curious
  Case of Benjamin Button

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The Great Gatsby

• It is the crowning achievement of Fitzgeralds
  career.
• "There's no such thing...as a flawless novel. But
  if there is, this is it.
• Charles Jackson, author

11
Setting

• 1920s aka The Jazz Age
• This era lasted from the end of WWI to the Stock
  Market Crash in 1929

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General Characteristics of the Jazz Age

• Financial prosperity moral uncertainty
• First Youth Rebellion youth questioned all
  morals and lived only for the moment
• is easily available boom period
• Travel a way of life. A wandering, aimless
  lifestyle was the norm

• Raging fads dance contests, goldfish swallowing
  and flagpole sitting
• Parties were important. The wilder, the better
• Prohibition of alcohol was in effect, but the
  sale consumption of liquor was openly flaunted.

13
The 18th Amendment

• No person shall on or after the date when the
  18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United
  States goes into effect, manufacture, sell,
  barter, transport, import, export, deliver,
  furnish, or process any intoxicating liquor
  except as authorized by this act.
• title ii, section 3, National Prohibition Act

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Plot basics

• Plot a story within a story
• Narrator 3rd person, limited Nick Carraway
  tells his version of Jay Gatsbys life
• Nick is unsettled by the Buchanans' seemingly
  purposeless lives and hates Gatsbys values.
  However, he comes to see something heroic in
  Gatsbys vision.
• This conflict in Nick reflects America's own loss
  of innocence in the face of the crass materialism
  of the 1920s.

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• Nick is Daisys second cousin once removed
• The child of one's first cousin is one's first
  cousin once removed because the one generation
  separation represents one removal.
• See next slide for info

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Major Topics to Examine

• The American Dream
• American morality in the 1920s
• Emptiness created by materialism
• Society and class