The Great Gatsby BY F SCOTT FITZGERALD Tidbits

The Great Gatsby BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

Tidbits �F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896 -1940 �Named after great uncle Frances Scott Key �From the midwest: St. Paul, MN �Married to Zelda Sayre - m 1930 �The dominant influences on F. Scott Fitzgerald were aspiration, literature, Princeton, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, and alcohol. �Coined “The Jazz Age” �The Great Gatsby was published in 1925 �Scott Fitzgerald died at the age of 40 from heart failure as a result of his alcoholism – he died thinking he was a failure as a writer

Title �Significance of the title, The Great Gatsby: �Focus on the “Great” as in a magician trying to perform magic, “The Great…” �There is irony in describing Gatsby as Great

Setting � 1922 New York �Each setting reveals characters/values/personalities East Egg – old money West Egg – new money Valley of the Ashes – working class, poor New York City – used to define social status, money

Answers �Each setting reveals characters/values/personalities East Egg – old money: Tom and Daisy Buchanan West Egg – new money: Jay Gatsby Valley of the Ashes – working class, poor: George &Myrle Wilson New York City – used to define social status, money: Tom and Myrtle’s apartment, trips with Gatsby, wild immorality of the Roaring Twenties

Themes �Outward appearance can be deceptive �Wealth/love can breed careless and reckless behavior �The attainment of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuit of that dream �The “American Dream” is corrupted by the desire for wealth �The blind (total, obsessive, all-consuming) pursuit of a dream is destructive

Chapter One

Characters �Nick Carraway: narrator, cousin to Daisy and college friend of Tom’s �Tom Buchanan: married to Daisy; wealthy business man �Daisy Buchanan: unhappy wife of Tom �Jordan Baker: pro golfer, friend of Daisy, will become love interest of Nick

Nick Carraway �Single, 30 something, well to do, Yale graduate 1915, from the midwest, fought WWI, went to NY for his first job - stockbroker �Lives next door to Gatsby �Sees himself as non-judgmental and a keeper of confidences �Some vague references to a fiancé �Will become involved with Jordan Baker

Tom Buchanan �Married to Daisy; extremely wealthy, “sturdy, straw haired, man of thirty, ” former college football player �“hard mouth”, supercilious manner, ” “shinny arrogant eyes, ” “great pack of muscle, ” “cruel body” �“gruff husky tenor, ” has an attitude of “ I am stronger and more of a man than you are” �“I’ve got a nice place here. ” �Tom is a racist, “if we don’t look out the white race will be-will be utterly submerged. ” “It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things. ” �A two-timer, “got some woman in New York. ”

Daisy Buchanan �From prominent St. Louis family �“Low, thrilling voice, ” “her face was soft and lovely” �“bright eyes, bright passionate mouth, ” �Daisy is distracted at dinner, she has, “an unthoughtful sadness �Knows her husband is cheating but doesn’t know what to do about it. Her way of dealing with unpleasantness is to feign ignorance. Her first words when told she had a daughter, ‘I hope she’ll be a fool-that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. ” �Daisy has “an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged. ”

Jordan Baker �“slender, small breasted girl with an erect carriage” �“grey stained eyes” “wan, charming discontented face” �“Autumn-leaf yellow of her hair” “slender muscles in her arms” �“Time for this good girl to go to bed” �“I thought everybody knew” �Something unpleasant in her past

Jay Gatsby �“Only Gatsby…was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. ” �“…it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. ” �“Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short winded elations of men.

Jay Gatsby con’t �At the end of the evening, Nick spots Gatsby standing outside “with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. ” �Nick stops short of meeting him because he seemed “content to be alone-he stretched his arms toward the dark water in a curious way” �“Involuntarily I glanced seaward –and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. ”