The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. Historical Context • Gatsby was published in 1925 • Examines the results of the Jazz Age generations adherence to false material values. The Jazz Age began soon after WWI and ended with the stock market crash in 1929. • Americas at this time experienced a cultural and lifestyle revolution – stock market boomed, the rich spent money on fabulous parties, the automobile became a symbol of wealth, and profits were made both legally and illegally.

3. Historical Context • Jordan Baker, a woman who is independent , represents a new breed of woman in America. • 1919 – Congress ratified the 18th Amendment – outlawing the manufaturing, sale or transportation of alcohol. The Volstead Act passed, proving the enforcement means for such measures. Prohibition = bootleggers and speakeasies. • Gambling thrived = police took money from shady operators.

4. Historical Context • The Black Sox Fix of 1919 = White Sox vs. Cincinnati Reds. Eight players participated in a scam to throw the game. With the help of Arnold Rothstein, the money was raised to pay the players, and begin placing bets that the White Sox would lose. The Sox lost three games to five. Meyer Wolfsheim = Arnold Rothstein • When the scandal was exposed, the eight players were banned from baseball and branded the “Black Sox.” • Gatsby foreshadows the collapse of that era and the onset of the disillusionment with the American dream. • The Great Gatsby is called “one of the most penetrating descriptions of American life in the 1920’s”

5. Author • Fitzgerald and his wife spent time living in Long Island. • He entertained in a manner similar to his characters – expensive liquors and entertainment. • He loved the antics of the irresponsible rich. • They were self-absorbed and eccentric. • The party ended with the Great Depression of 1929. This was the beginning of Fitzgerald’s own depression and his wife’s schizophrenia. • Gatsby is his finest accomplishment and one most analyzed by critics.

6. Cover Artwork • Francis Cugat – Spanish artist • The outlined eyes of a woman looking out of a midnight blue sky above the carnival lights of Coney Island in Manhattan. • Completed seven months before the novel and Fitzgerald may have used it to inspire his own imagery.

7. Style • Point of view = Nick Carraway • Gives us flashbacks that fill us in on the life of Gatsby and then flash forward to foreshadow his tragedy. • Nick goes through a transformation himself. • Through this first-person narrative technique, we gain insight into the author’s perspective. • Nick is voicing much of Fitzgerald’s own ideas about life. “You can never judge a book by it’s cover.”

8. Style • Setting • The use of East and West Egg. One pure and idealistic, and the other corrupt and materialistic. • Wasteland of ashes – modern life destroys all the past values. Nick’s view of the modern world is that God is dead and man makes a valley of ashes – he corrupts and desecrates the American dream. • The only Godlike image are the eyes of the billboard.

9. Style • Satire – humor • Depiction of the newly rich • The sense of vulgarity of the people • The parties intended to draw Daisy over • The grotesque quality of the name “Great” Gatsby in the title.

10. Themes • Decay of the American Dream • The Wasteland and Moral Emptiness • The Ideal

11. Symbolism • Green Light = hopes and promise of the future • The Valley of Ashes = barrenness of the American Dream • Hearse = Gatsby’s decaying values and of the death that lies ahead • Gatsby’s silk shirts= Gatsby’s material achievements and his shallowness • The Midwest=region of high moral standards

12. Characters • Daisy – delicate and lovely. She also shows a certain weakness that simultaneously attacks men to her. Daisy is an ideal – the author gives her the qualities to live up to that ideal, and to bring it crashing down around her. She is responsible for the novel’s tragic ending. • Gatsby – an example for the American Dream in the 1920’s, the desire for wealth, love, and power. His only true dream is Daisy’s love. He is a tragic character motivated by love.

13. Characters • Nick – the narrator whose character develops from a relatively objective observer to a full participant in the action of the novel. • Tom – a bully who has an ongoing affair with Myrtle Wilson. He is the direct opposite of Gatsby. Tom’s actions, particularly at the end, prompt Nick to return to the Midwest. • Jordan Baker- opposite of Daisy. She is a fully liberated woman of the 20’s. • Myrtle – the emotional foil to Daisy