1. The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. F. Scott Fitzgerald Born in St. Paul, Minnesota
Named after Francis Scott Key, composer of “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Gave the 1920s the name “Jazz Age”
Married Zelda Sayre, whom he met while stationed at Camp Sheridan in AL during WWI
Zelda’s hometown – Montgomery, AL
First novel – This Side of Paradise, 1920

3. F. Scott Fitzgerald, cont.
Moved to France for a couple of years, where he became friends with Hemingway
Published The Great Gatsby in 1925
Zelda suffered a mental breakdown in 1930, spending the remainder of her life in and out of asylums
Spent money faster than he could make it; he “struggled with mounting debts, failing health, drinking, and depression.”
Died of heart failure in 1940 – age 44

4. F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda
The Fitzgeralds became the “darlings of the
Jazz Age
They had one child “Scottie” born in 1921.
Fitzgerald died in 1940; Zelda died in 1948.

5. Characteristics of the 20s
Americans made and spent money.
Little concern for social welfare or global cooperation
Corruption accepted by most people
Prejudice against Jews, Catholics, Blacks, and foreigners rose.
Nation’s wealth grew, but was unevenly distributed
Technology grew: automobiles, radios, movies

6. Key Facts genre · Modernist novel, Jazz Age novel, novel of manners
narrator  · Nick Carraway; Carraway not only narrates the story but implies that he is the book’s author
point of view  · Nick Carraway narrates in both first and third person, presenting only what he himself observes. Nick alternates sections where he presents events objectively, as they appeared to him at the time, with sections where he gives his own interpretations of the story’s meaning and of the motivations of the other characters.
tone  · Nick’s attitudes toward Gatsby and Gatsby’s story are ambivalent and contradictory. At times he seems to disapprove of Gatsby’s excesses and breaches of manners and ethics, but he also romanticizes and admires Gatsby, describing the events of the novel in a nostalgic and elegiac tone.

7. tense  · Past
setting (time)  · Summer 1922
settings (place)  · Long Island and New York City
protagonist  · Gatsby and/or Nick
major conflict  · Gatsby has amassed a vast fortune in order to win the affections of the upper-class Daisy Buchanan, but his mysterious past stands in the way of his being accepted by her.

8. Place Setting
Two wealthy fictional suburbs on the eastern tip of Long Island
East Egg – home of the “old money”
West Egg – across the bay and province of the newly rich
Valley of the ashes – an industrial wasteland located nearly
New York City and Manhattan – pinnacle of materialism

9. EAST EGG

10. WEST EGG

11. VALLEY OF ASHES George Wilson’s garage
The valley of ashes is a very grotesque area where all you can see is dust in the air. It is located half way between West Egg and New York City. It has rundown houses and polluted water. It is a desolate wasteland. It is a very poor area.
George Wilson’s garage

13. PLOT
There are two possible climaxes: Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy in Chapters V–VI; the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom in the Plaza Hotel in Chapter VII.
Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby, Myrtle’s death, Gatsby’s murder
 Gatsby’s lavish parties, Gatsby’s arrangement of a meeting with Daisy at Nick’s
Gatsby’s
Gatsby’s funeral;
Nick returns to
Midwest (more
Mature)
Gatsby has amassed a vast fortune in order to win the affections of the upper-class Daisy Buchanan, but his mysterious past stands in the way of his being accepted by her.

14. Putting It All Together
1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution
Beginning of Story
Middle of Story
End of Story

15. Symmetrical Plot
2 love affairs trigger 3 violent deaths (an accident, a murder, and a suicide) among 5 characters under the watchful gaze of a 6th character who is the narrator

16. THEMES The decline of the American dream, the spirit of the 1920s,
the difference between social classes,
the role of symbols in the human conception of meaning,
the role of the past in dreams of the future
The wasteland and moral emptiness
The ideal

17. MOTIFS The connection between events and weather,
the connection between geographical location and social values,
images of time,
extravagant parties,
the quest for wealth

18. SYMBOLS The green light on Daisy’s dock,
the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg,
the valley of ashes,
Gatsby’s parties,
East Egg,
West Egg
"I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock....his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

19. FORESHADOWING The car wreck after Gatsby’s party in Chapter III,
Owl Eyes’s comments about the theatricality of Gatsby’s life,
the mysterious telephone calls Gatsby receives from Chicago and Philadelphia

20. Nick First person narrator who tells the story as a flashback
Age 29-30
educated at Yale and fought in World War I, went to New York City to learn the bond business.
Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment
Daisy Buchanan’s cousin
Nick quickly befriends his next-door neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby

21. Nick Carraway Conservative, upper-middle-class background
Has a casual affair withy Jordan Baker, but finds her shallow
Appalled by the moral emptiness of the Buchanans’ society

22. JAY GATSBY
protagonist of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg – AGE 32
He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune.
Acquired wealth through bootlegging and racketeering (illegal bond deals)
Idolizes Daisy, the romantic embodiment of the American dream

23. Jay Gatsby cont. Turns materialism into a religious ideal
Uses money to create a new identity for himself
He is romantic and goodhearted
Tragic, pathetic victim of his own illusion

24. TOM BUCHANAN Wealthy married to Daisy Age 30
Former football player at Yale
Plays polo
Strong, arrogant, physically brutal, intellectually and morally weak, prejudiced

25. TOM BUCHANAN Believes he is entitled to whatever he wants
Restless, no moral qualms about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle, selfish
Materialistic by using and consuming people

26. DAISY BUCHANAN MARRIED TO TOM; AGE 23 CHARMING, BUT SHALLOW
FORMER BELLE OF LOUISVILLE
SEDUCTIVE VOICE
GUIDING PRINCIPLE IS MONEY
OBJECT OF GATSBY’S FANTASIES, BUT FALLS SHORT OF HIS DIVINE IMAGE OF HER

27. JORDAN BAKER FRIEND OF DAISY SINCE CHILDHOOD IN LOUISVILLE AGE 21
CHAMPION GOLFER
CHEATED IN A TOURNAMENT TO AVIOD LOSING

28. JORDAN BAKER CONT. BORED, ARROGANT PHONY MANNERISMS
ROOTLESS, USES PEOPLE
SPIRITUALLY EMPTY
INCAPABLE OF HAPPINESS
Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered.

29. MYRTLE WILSON GEORGE WILSON’S WIFE TOM’S MISTRESS MID 30s
SLIGHTLY OVERWEIGHT
SENSUOUS, FLESHY WOMAN
NOT BEAUTIFUL

30. MYRTLE WILSON PURSUES THE AMERICAN DREAM
possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation
SHE SEEKS WEALTH AND GLAMOUR IN AN AFFAIR WITH TOM
SHE IS KILLED

31. SYMBOLS
VALLEY OF ASHES
HEARSE
GATSBY’S SILK SHIRTS
THE MIDWEST

33. THE JAZZ AGE PARTIES