The Great Gatsby PreReading Guide

1
The Great Gatsby Pre-Reading Guide

• F. Scott Fitzgeralds tale of a mans pursuit of
  the American Dream

2
The AuthorFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald

• Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24,
  1896 a second cousin to the author of the Star
  Spangled Banner
• His names a sign of his fathers pride in his
  familys past
• Lived in upstate NY until 1908, when they
  returned to St. Paul
• A member of Princetons class of 1917, he
  neglected school for writing. He dropped out of
  school and joined the army, quickly writing a
  novel, The Romantic Egoist, because he was
  certain he would die in war

• In 1918 he fell in love with Zelda Sayre, who
  broke off their engagement because he did not
  have enough money
• This Side of Paradise (1920), made Fitzgerald
  famous overnight Zelda marries him
• Moves to France in 1924, writes The Great Gatsby
  befriends Ernest Hemingway Gatsby receives
  critical praise, but does not sell well
• 1929, he and Zelda return to US continues to
  write and tries Hollywood screenplays Zelda in
  and out of sanatoriums
• Dies in 1940, convinced he was a failure

3
Fitzgeralds Writing

• He was a painstaking reviser whose fiction went
  through layers of drafts he worked to create the
  patterns and symmetry that appear in The Great
  Gatsby
• The Great Gatsby is regarded as the second
  greatest English language novel of the 20th
  century

• Major themes aspiration, the idealism that
  creates the America character, and mutability or
  loss
• In his story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (Esquire,
  August 1936) Hemingway comments that "poor Scott
  Fitzgerald" was "wrecked" by his "romantic awe"
  of the rich.

4
What is Modernism?

• Modernism is a term used to describe literary,
  dramatic, art, and philosophical movements
• Some types of modernism include expressionism,
  cubism, surrealism, and dadaism
• The Great Gatsby is a work of modernist fiction

5
Features of Modernist Fiction

• A focus on alienated individuals, rather than
  heroes who stand for the ideals of society
• Frequent themes of impermanence and change
• The use of understatement and irony to reveal
  important emotions and ideas
• The use of symbols and images that suggest
  meanings, rather than statements that explain
  meanings

6
Whats it about?

• A novel about the aspirations of one man, and his
  quest to obtain the American Dream
• The novel is an exploration of our national myth
• The novel follows Jay Gatsby as he pursues his
  dream

• Focus on parties, carelessness, the American
  Romance with cars, , mobility
• The novel also chronicles the process of change
  that the narrator, Nick Carraway goes through
• It captures the beauty and tragedy of the 1920s,
  an age of excess

7
The Roaring 20s

• Fitzgerald coins the term Jazz age to describe
  the decade
• 1918 WWI Armistice
• 1919 Prohibition Amendment rich can still
  obtain alcohol promoted gangsters, who
  controlled speakeasies and distribution systems
• 1920 Ratification of Womens Suffrage Amendment
• Minimal interference by the Govt. in business
• Industrial output doubles
• Americans are hungry for material goods
• 87 of country lives on lt2,500
• 5 receives 1/3 of countrys income
• Public enthralled by the wealthy, who they view
  as pleasure seekers living sinful lives
• 1929 Jazz Age ends with Stock Market Crash

8
Our National Myth

• Prosperity anyone can make it
• Freedom and equality we all have the same chance
• Status comes from , not the class of your birth

9
The Setting

• East and West Egg north shore of Long Island
  they are the playgrounds of the superrich
• Valley of Ashes (the Wilsons) a wasteland, the
  dumping ground for NYC and E. and W. Egg
• West Egg new (Gatsby and Nick)

• East Egg old , inherited, (Buchanans)
• NYC a nexus for the characters
• Mid-West home for Nick, Gatsby, et al

10
Narrative Structure

• The novel uses the scenic method to string
  together two narratives and three time periods
• 3 time periods
• Past 1915-spring 1922
• Present-Past Spring-Fall 1922
• Present Fall 1923 Nick begins to write his
  story
• Point of View modified 1st person Nick appears
  to be non-judgmental so the characters can reveal
  themselves

• Nick 3 roles observer (inexperienced and
  vulnerable) participant interpreter and
  journalist
• His roles represent his maturation and
  self-discovery
• Initiation to dishonesty, infidelity,
  corruption, carelessness, and materialism
• 3 main parties serve as checkpoints in the
  narrative each represents a critical point in
  the narrative the third is the climax

11
Jay Gatsby The Protagonist

• A mythic character who embodies the American
  Dream
• Focuses of his dream is the alluring Daisy
  Buchanan, a married woman who comes from old
  money
• Rags to riches Farming to business rural to
  urban
• Was once Jay Gatz reinvents himself
• The quintessential dreamer his devotion to a
  dream gives his life substance
• Extremely wealthy, mysterious, throws lavish
  parties

12
Themes

• Wealth/materialism
• The American Dream
• Reality vs. Illusion
• Time/Desire to repeat the past
• Fidelity and friendship
• Society/the spirit as wasteland

13
Key Symbols

• Dr. TJ Eckleburgs Eyes the sign failure to see
• Colors yellow, green, white, pink
• The Valley of Ashes physical, spiritual,
  societal desolation
• West and East Egg travel from west to east
  typifies American migration from farm to city
• The Green Lightthe dream but what about the
  dream?
• Gatsbys car

14
Questions to Consider

• What literary techniques does Fitzgerald use to
  convey his ideas? Why does he use them?
• Why is Fitzgeralds style distinct from
  Hemingways?
• What is the American Dream, and how does it shape
  our lives?
• Explain Nick Carraways role as a narrator.
• What makes The Great Gatsby a work of literature
  belonging to the modernist movement?
• Who is Jay Gatsby? Why does Nick say, he
  represents everything for which I have an
  unaffected scorn? What is his romantic
  capacity for hope?
• In what ways is the novel a work of art?