The Man, The Myth,Creator of the Jazz Age

What influenced the writing of F. Scott ?

Personal life, Zelda, his dreams, and alcohol

Born 1896, St. Paul, Minnesota

Princeton dropout- joined the army in 1917

Met Zelda Sayre,1918 in Alabama

War ended before he saw any action

Zelda unwilling to wait for a “poor” F. Scott, called off wedding

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

1920, This Side of Paradise gained overnight fame

A week later Zelda agrees to marriage

F. Scott believed love as a means to life

The Great Gatsby, 1925

Critique of the “American Dream”People of talent could reach material success

Human conditions of an era

Themes transcend time-

The novel is the stuff that myths are made of

A Nation Craving Excitement

Changes in values and lifestyles

18th Amendment

Entertainment for escapism from everyday life

Economic boom in leisure items

Excitement touched less than half of the nation 50% still word for word Bible readers

Wrote his way out of debt with short storiesSpent money faster than he earned it

Peak story fee- $4,000, Saturday Evening Post$40,000 today

Averaged $25,000 yearly

Gatsby earned enough to get out of debt

Chief theme- aspiration of the American character

Nothing measured up to Gatsby

Drinking heavily, limited the quality and amount ofwriting, yet he wrote sober

Wrote just to pay the bills1937-’38 earned $91,000 from MGM studios

Zelda-

1930 diagnosed as a schizophrenic

Hospitalized on and off

1948 died in a hospital fire

Zelda, F. Scott and Scottiein happier times

Every morning, Every eveningAin't we got funNot much money, Oh, but honeyAin't we got fun There's nothing surerThe rich get rich and the poor get childrenIn the meantime, In between timeAin't we got fun

silk stockingsskirts showing legcheeks painteddeep red lipsbobbed hairsmoking

Birth of the Flapper

Boys will be BoysCar - # 1 item on their wish listCollege life- center of cultural shake-upNo interest in politics- too disenchantedColleges changedwith the times-Allowed smoking, dress code changeddrinking at parties

Attitudes in dress andliterature reflected the Age

With newfound freedom, women took on the challenges of the times. Flapper- symbol of recklessness and wonder

The Birth of theAuto Industry No single item hasever representedan Age as theAmerican car didin the 1920s

Auto Industry

Number 1 business - 4 million jobs

Ford in 1927 took out a full page newspaper adran 5 days in 2,000 papers,$1,300 per day

Ford - Gospel of Businesshigh wages, low prices, standardized manufacturing

2 cars per 3 families

60/123 ‘average’ families owned a car26/60 lived in ‘poor’ housing21/26 didn’t have a bathtub

New businesses were started

1919- 6,771,000 cars - 1929- 23,121,000 cars

Painted black and made of tin

Growth in other fields

Radio- 1922- $60,000,000 in sales 1929- $842,548,000 – up 141%

Newspapers- national circulationbetween 28,000,000 – 36,000,00055 chains controlling 230 daily papers

Movies- single month – 4 times the population

Growth in advertising- break down resistance

Ideas and Thoughtbehind theGreat Gatsby

“The American Dream”

Nothing is as it seems

All sparkle and no substance

Commentary on the Jazz Age

Themes to The Great Gatsby

East vs. West in the Gatsby

East West

Old families New settlersTraditions Creating cultureFormal, stiff No Holds BarredUrban RuralOld Money New Wealth“Parents” “Children”“Family Name” “New Democracy”Planned life Future dreams

Gatsby- dreams of having what the East possessedLife is a Dream – the perfect life, perfect girl, eternal hope

Humanitarianism- not found in the novel

Place little value on others

Self centered- no time for society

Class struggles dominate

Nick Carraway-Narrator

Through his eyesothers are presented

Reserves judgment, and doesn’t act on the faultsof others

Sees the “Dream” for what it really is – Corrupted by materialism

We get a clear picture of class structure fromNick-

Yet, his own social position is ambiguous- and he is uneasy as to what his position is

Well-educated, related to Daisy, but has a low paying job and lives simply

Only character which really ‘grows’ and develops over the course of the novel.

Jay Gatsby – a.k.a. James Gatz

Tragic character-

Imprisoned in the present,belonged more to the pastor to a future which neverreally existed but in hisdreams.

He fails to see the cheapness of his love affair withDaisy, due to the ‘price’ he places on her.

Class boundaries separate Gatsby and Daisy

Gatsby doesn’t have the family wealth standing behind him

Old money vs. new money

Daisy- the symbol ofGatsby’s dream

Pure and naïve

Purity of his dream is shownin the use of color-Daisy is always wearing white.

Daisy is shallow, careless and self-centered

Portrays the empty and careless side of her class

Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg- located in the Valley of Ashes, it was a billboard for an out of work eye doctor

Nation’s new and false god- a god which sees everything Commentary on America’scommercialism and materialism

Corruption of “The American Dream” by materialism

Empty, hollow America lacking hope

Valley of the Ashes

Area of land betweenThe Big City wheremoney was madeand the “Eggs,” where the wealthylived off the laborof others.

Green Light-

Dream to re-capture the past,

Symbol of Gatsby’s faith and all that he believed in.

Dream might befalse, but he is faithfulto that dream

Gatsby and Socialism

Artificial world- money is the desire of all

Socialism- value others place, not market valueGatsby – sets market value on Daisy

in terms of obtaining herDaisy – value placed on her by others

increases her value in Gatsby’s eyes