THE GREAT GATSBYF. Scott Fitzgerald

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The “Roaring Twenties”

The “Jazz Age”

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Challenged the traditional ways. Revolution of manners and morals. A Flapper was an emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes.

VICTORIAN VS. FLAPPER

1900’s 1920’s

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F. Scott Fitzgerald & his wife Zelda

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD CHRONOLOGY

Born Sept. 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Full name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

His early life is shaped by the fact that his mother’s family is wealthy but his father is unsuccessful at business so money is always an issue. He is poor but he attends prep. schools which make him feel like an outsider.

Enters Princeton University in 1913. Tries, unsuccessfully, to play for the football team.

Writes for the Princeton Tiger and begins to write and act in plays. Impresses peers this way.

Falls in love with Genevra King, a wealthy young socialite but is rejected. He is not wealthy enough.

1915--drops out of Princeton 1916--returns to Princeton

1917—is placed on academic probation. Joins the army as

a second lieutenant. First novel attempt, The Romantic Egoist, is rejected 1918--meets and falls in love with wealthy socialite

Zelda Sayre. They become engaged. Theirs is one of the great love story of their time!

1919--End of WWI--Fitzgerald is discharged from the army. Zelda breaks off engagement due to

Fitzgerald’s lack of financial success. 1919--Working in advertising,

Fitzgerald is living with his parentsand writing

1919--Writes and submits novel This Side of Paradise. It is accepted by Scribners, and it is a huge success.

1920. Fitzgerald and Zelda marry!

During the next 5-10 years, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald are at the center of Jazz Age culture, and regularly appear in gossip magazines. They were the talk of the town! What was their life like?

She was wild! Some would say CRAZY! He was an alcoholic! They partied hard! He worked hard also. They both had affairs but loved each other deeply!

“He could glamorize wealth and yet stand away from the people who had it – and look at their values

with utter detachment and sometimes with horror.”

•1930--Suffering her first of many emotional breakdowns, Zelda is hospitalized in Paris. Later diagnosed with schizophrenia.•1932--As his popularity as a novelist declines, Fitzgerald begins to work on movie scripts for MGM to work himself out of debt. He despises Hollywood, and despises himself for having to write “commercially.”•1932-1940--As Zelda’s mental state worsens, the Fitzgeralds gradually separate. •1940--F. Scott Fitzgerald dies

of a heart attack.•1940 - 1948—Zelda Fitzgerald spends

next eight years in and out of institutions and dies in a fire at Highland Hospital in Ashland, NC in 1948.

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THEMES

The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s

Society and Class Isolation Mortality Dissatisfaction

SYMBOLS

The Green Light The Valley of Ashes The Eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg

VOCABULARY

Confer Perpetual Colossal Supercilious Pungent Banter Intimation Saunter Sumptuous Vitality

Rapture Pastoral Countenance Ambiguous Incessant

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . And one fine morning ------”

This quote describing Gatsby at the end of his novel could just as easily describe Fitzgerald himself.