The Great Gatsby and the “Jazz Age”

1. The Great Gatsbyand the “Jazz Age”

2. Thematic Concepts: Would you marry for money?

3. Are social classes/distinctions important in today’s society?

4. Would you ever knowingly commit a crime?

5. Does a college degree make you more socially accepted?

6. Is there a circumstance in which adultery should be allowed?

7. Does the end justify the means?

8. Can you ever recover from a bad first impression?

9. Will your first love always be important to you?

10. In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new -- something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." That unique and fascinating novel became The Great Gatsby, perhaps Fitzgerald’s most famous work.

11. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.

12. Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of ‘cautionary tale’ about the American Dream.

13. It's also a love story, the narrative of Gatsby's passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meets five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby is a poor officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan.

14. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly.

16. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear.

18. The plot thickens…

19. When Daisy does appear, events unfold with all the tragedy of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as the watchful chorus.

20. Eyes A tear Explosions Circles A woman’s body Symbols

21. Themes from Gatsby • Decline of American Dream • Old money vs. New money • Idealized Perfection • Juxtaposition of Old and New Money • Old $ has taste, class, but lack heart and consideration • New $ considered vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking grace, but are sincere and loyal

22. Images of the ’20’s

23. Flappers

24. Guests at Gatsby’s??

25. Geography • East Egg = old aristocracy • West Egg = self-made rich Gold vs. Silver

26. Symbols from The Great Gatsby The Valley of Ashes Moral and social decay caused by uninhibited pursuit of happiness and wealth

27. The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg • God is watching with disapproval (????) • Judging American society as a moral wasteland

28. The Green Light • Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for future with Daisy • Generalized ideal of American dream

29. “Valley of the Ashes” • Based on the Corona dump in the borough of Queens, a swamp that was being filled with ashes, garbage and manure.

30. Plaza Hotel, New York

31. Modes of transportation

32. Who’s Meyer Wolfsheim??

33. Take me out to the ballgame

34. A modern Version…

35. T. S. Eliot (1888-1963) "Lost Generation" American-born poet and critic, later a British citizen. One of the major figures of 20th Century literature, author of such great works as "The Wasteland" and Four Quartets.

37. Henri Matisse (b. Dec. 31, 1869, Le Cateau, Picardy, France— d. Nov. 3, 1954, Nice)

38. EdvardMunch 1863 – 1944 “The Cry”