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The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Born September 24, 1896 Princeton University-1913 Literary Interests Lyrics for college’s Triangle Club Productions Short stories in Nassau Literary Review Poor grades=withdrawal 1916 returned, but WWI caused him to leave w/o degree Army

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The Great Gatsby

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  1. F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

  2. Born September 24, 1896 • Princeton University-1913 • Literary Interests • Lyrics for college’s Triangle Club Productions • Short stories in Nassau Literary Review • Poor grades=withdrawal • 1916 returned, but WWI caused him to leave w/o degree • Army • Second Lieutenant • Met future wife—Zelda Sayre F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)

  3. 1920s • This Side of Paradise—instant success & fame • Married Zelda • 1st book of short stories: • Flappers and Philosophers • 2nd novel: • The Beautiful and the Damned Literary Output & Personal Life

  4. Meeting Zeldaand WWI

  5. Clippings aboutThe Side of Paradise

  6. Clippings aboutThe Beautiful& the Damned

  7. Family PhotosFrench RivieraMay 1924

  8. Clippings for The Great Gatsby

  9. The Great GatsbyNews Clippings

  10. Zelda SayreDad-AnthonyMom-Mini Macher

  11. Luxurious lifestyle and travels caused $ troubles • 1922 moved to Great Neck, Long Island • Began The Great Gatsby • 1925—published sales were a disappointment • Eventually considered his greatest achievement • Incessant partier & alcoholic • 1930—Zelda had her 1st breakdown—Schizophrenia • 1934—success in Tender is the Night, still had to turn to Hollywood to pay bills & medical expenses(prostituted his work) • 1940—suffered 2 heart attacks and died on Dec. 21st • 1948—Zelda eventually died in 1948 from the hospital fire Fitzgerald’s Personal Life

  12. 1919 when WWI ended to Stock Market Crash of 1929 • Fitzgerald called it the Jazz Age • Music from New Orleans moved North w/ touring big bands and newly invented radio • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKXFeMnCQAI • 1920s Slang • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJDnliDZByU&feature=fvsr • Americans-making & spending $ w/little concern for social welfare • Corruption accepted • Nation’s wealth grew, but benefits unevenly distributed • Intolerance toward ethnic, religious & racial difference Historical BackgroundPeriod piece about 1920s

  13. The opening scenes from the PBS documentary PEOPLE LIKE US, SOCIAL CLASS IN AMERICA by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker at www.cnam.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_132502&v=nU5MtVM_zFs&feature=iv Author & motivational speaker Ginie Sayles grew up poor, but ended up marrying a millionaire. Vessa Rinehart, tired of dating men w/o cars or gas money, has come to Sayles to learn ways of the rich & powerful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvibi2Cph-E&safe=active People Like Us, Social class in America

  14. http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/games/chintz.html People Like Us Game

  15. $1 in 1922 has the same buying power as $13.49 in 2012 • Calibrate wealth in 1922…The $350,000 pearl necklace Tom gives Daisy in 1919 as a wedding gift today would cost millions! • What does a new car costs today? • A new car in circa 1925 cost only $500 and some makes cost even less. • Gas was 10 cents a gallon & today it is almost $4.00!! • You movies now & pay several dollars for a ticket. • In 1925, a movie ticket cost about 25 cents. • Movies were nicknamed "Nickelodeon" before World War I, i.e., about 1910, because the ticket cost just a nickel Wealth in 1920s

  16. Old Money v New Money • Corruption of the American Dream • Hope • Paradox • Self-Discovery • Reality v Illusion • Possessiveness and jealousy American Icons—Studio 360 • Studio 360 - Show 1148: American Icons Gatsby 52:00 WNYC, New York Public Radio Studio 360 Audio • http://www.studio360.org/2010/nov/25/ Themes

  17. Old $ is not necessarily more moral than new $ • Perhaps the old money folk… • have learned to be less crass • or to keep their indiscretions under wraps better • or to hire smoother go-betweens & front people • or to set up more philanthropic foundations. Old Money vs New Money

  18. Old Money vs New Money

  19. Automobile • Decreased physical isolation • Created new opportunities for leisure • Status symbol • Radio and Movies • New form of entertainment • Standardization of styles and ideas Newer Inventions

  20. Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) Known for publishing almanac based on astronomical calculations Rebecca Cole (1846-1922) 2nd black woman to graduate from med. school 7 joined Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell in NYC & taught hygiene & childcare to poor Edward Alexander Bouchet (1852-1918) 1st African American Yale College graduate. 1876, became 1st African American to earn doctorate-prof. of chemistry & physics Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931) Founded Provident Hospital in Chicago-1891 & performed 1st successful open heart surgery in 1893. Tom’s Politics is Common in this era of fear due to success of Blacks

  21. George Washington Carver (1865?-1943) Developed 100s of applications for farm products imp. to economy of South, including the peanut, sweet potato, soybean, & pecan. Charles Henry Turner (1867-1923) Noted authority on behavior of insects-1st researcher to prove that insects can hear. Ernest Everett Just (1883-1941) Work on cell biology--marine laboratories in the U.S. & Europe Read more: Famous African American Scientists & Inventors: History & Biographies — Infoplease.comhttp://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmscientists1.html#ixzz1nJUtP8jV Tom’s Politics is Common in this era of fear due to success of Blacks

  22. Character of Tom epitomizes racist attitude sweeping the country after Black Reconstruction… • Examples of racist and anti-racist “propaganda”… • Controversial scenes: D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4s2zl2trn0 • Controversial due to interpretation of history (Klu Klux Klan). • Historian Steven Mintz summarizes message: • Reconstruction was a disaster • blacks could never be integrated into white society as equals • violent actions of KKK justified to reestablish honest gov’t • suggested KKK restored order to post-war South…depicted as endangered by abolitionists, freedmen & carpet bagging Republicans politicians from North. (Dunning School Position) Connection to Black Reconstruction

  23. W.E.B. DuBois & other black historians vigorously disputed interpretation when film was released. • Most historians today agree w/Du Bois regarding Blacks’ loyalty & contributions during Civil War & Reconstruction (i.e. universal public education) • Dunning School position seen as product of anti-black racism of the early 20th C.--many Amer. viewed black Amer. as unequal. D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915)

  24. 2. Claude McKay’s "If We Must Die" a poem that Churchill used, without attribution, to rally the British against the Nazis.   If we must die, let it not be like hogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, Making their mock at our accursed lot. If we must die, O let us nobly die So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe! Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death blow! What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! Connection to Black Reconstruction

  25. 3. “Strange Fruit" sung by Billie Holiday-one of 1st anti-racism song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs Southern trees bear strange fruitBlood on the leavesBlood at the rootBlack bodies swinging in the southern breezeStrange fruit hanging from the poplar treesPastoral scene of the gallant southThe bulging eyes and the twisted mouthThe scent of magnolia sweet and freshThen the sudden smell of burning fleshHere is a fruit for the crows to pluckfor the rain to gatherfor the wind to suckfor the sun to rotfor the tree to dropHere is a strange and bitter crop Connection to Black Reconstruction

  26. NYC on Long Island East Egg— “old money” =Buchanans West Egg– “new money” =Gatsby Setting

  27. Summer of 1922 • Manhattan=materialism • Industrial wasteland=“Valley of the Ashes” • George & Myrtle Wilson • Point of View—1st person narrative (Nick Carraway) • What does he tell us about himself? Reliable? Setting

  28. Ash produced by coal-burning furnaces throughout city had to go somewhere-one dumping ground was in Corona, Queens. Corona Ash Dump-nicknamed Mount Corona, received daily ash deposits (a mountain along Flushing River) The “valley of ashes” in a 1920s Queens dump By wildnewyork

  29. The dump must have been an incredible sight-Fitzgerald used it as a symbol of industrial society’s decay & waste produced by rich in The Great Gatsby: “This is the valley of ashes, a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” Valley of the Ashes

  30. Fate of house which inspired The Great Gatsby <object width="420" height="245" id="msnbc48bced" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebaseheight: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">news about the economy</a></p>

  31. Fate of house which inspired The Great GatsbyLong Island mansion said to have inspired Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has poured its last drink, rolled up the dance floor & kicked out the guests for good. (April 2011) <object width="420" height="245" id="msnbc48bced" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebaseheight: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">news about the economy</a></p>

  32. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/nyregion/01gatsby.html?pagewanted=allhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/nyregion/01gatsby.html?pagewanted=all Gatsby’s NY

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