The Great Gatsby:F.

Scott
Fitzgerald
IBDP April 2015
Miss Lorelle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rARN6agiW7o

F. Scott Fitzgerald
American author
He coined the term jazz age
Considered a member of the "

Lost Generation" of the 1920s

Sense of disillusionment-American
writers who went to live in Europe
after WWI
Problematic period in history-entire
generation eliminated.
http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.or
g/biography/biography_p1.html

Men went to war and the women had to work.

This radically changed the relationships and

gender dynamics.
The men came back & needed to work & the
women didnt want to go back to their
traditional roles.
Due to the war, people felts that things could
end any minute so they lived life to the fullest.

The 1920s
Lavish, grand parties,oppulance, debauchery
Lavishness was surrounded by corruption
People lost their inhibitions- no consequences
Period of Prohibitions: No alcohol allowed
People made a lot of money of this (millions in

fact)
Bootleggers (like Gatsby) were people who
used to illegally smuggle alcohol into the
country in their boots.
Over spending lead to the Great Depression of
1929

Music, Clubs the Jazz Age

Originally from African American communities in New

Orleans
The time for experiments and discovering new jazzstyles.
Jazz bands started the musical revolution using for the
saxophone for the first time. It has been known to
provoke close intimate dancing and many people were
shocked by the loud and extraordinary sound of the sax
(which happens to sound like sex).
Older people claimed that jazz was a debauched
influence on the younger generation. They began to
rebel and refused to follow the moral traditions of the
time.

The Great Gatsby

Over the top/Magic show
Enigmatic characters
Themes:
Decline of American Dream
Social Class structure
Immigration
Womens rights-the right to vote
Weather
Colors-The Green Light
Geography
Valley of Ashes
Eyes
Narrated 1st person

Online Summaries
https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw9Au9OoN88
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Iu29TNfkM

Jay Gatsby old sport

James Gatz, born in the USA but is

ethnically German.
He knows that in order to be a
success, or to be able to rise he has
to change his name=changing his
identity.
Rumors of how he made his money
He uses strange words, slang and
has a weird British accent- we dont
know about his past until the end.
Lives in the past- especially with
Daisy

Nick Carraway
Narrator, 1st person
British ancestry
Nick is compared to that of a seed= seems

pretty inconsequential but has the potential to

grow into something, like a new life.
He is constantly carried away by New York
Glamorizes Gatsby
Written in retrospective, looking back longing

Tom
Not much depth to his character
Very wealthy
The all American male
Football player, strong, goodlooking
Good education
Dumb
Moral-less

Daisy
Flower, gentle and dainty
She has a kind of charm, allure
Name taken from a novella which represented the innocent girl next

door, but is she really what she appears to be? All a faade
everything is about appearances
She wants to appear weak & frail- what society expects of her- but
shes the opposite literally gets away with murder
She has depth, beautiful little fool a fool wont understand the
world she is living in, she will accept her situation & live in a bubble
She is the ideal cannot happen a social class Gatsby cannot reach
Everything she says is fake, elaborate
She likes the attention from Gatsby and she knows it cant be more
than just an affair

Jordan Baker
Pro golfer, athlete
Follows Daisy
All about social class
Her name is constructed from popular cars at

the time Jordan Playboy and Baker Electric

A car says a lot about you socially, cars are
also agents of death.

Myrtle
Toms mistress. She is married to George

Who has a garage.

She is part of the working class
Her name is like a shrub- unlike Daisy who is
seemingly sweet.
She feels like she married beneath her, she was
born to be better,
She is always over dressed, no morals and not
classy

Ben Franklins Road to Riches

Anyone can make it in society, but this isnt

true because this depends on money,

background, ethnicity, gender etc.
Gatsby and Myrtle have aspirations but they
can never truly be fulfilled.
They are constantly climbing the social ladder
You are known by your family name, predetermined destiny
USA supposed to be able to re-invent yourself
American Adam vs Self proclaimed orphan

Symbolic Geography
What matters is who you are and where you

come from
West-East
Set in NY
Eastegg represents wealth- Hamptons
WASPS in Eastegg
Valley of Ashes- people go there to die
Like a border of societies
Service area of city

The Green Light

Gatsby wants to change the present, always

out of reach like Daisy

Green light=go
Green the color= envy/money/jealousy
American Dream
Hope

The Eyes
Billboard at the end of the passage tht used to

be a commercial for an eye doctor

Kind of like the eyes of g-d, sort of like the big
brother
It could be the eyes of society safeguarding
their place
Always watching
People always want to know about others

Tragic Hero
For Gatsby his past is doomed to begin with
A tragic hero is bound to fail
Failure in his own character
Pride in the end kills him
In death one can only be killed by another

from their social class- so Tom is the catalyst

to Gatsbys murder
Tom helps to maintain Daisys lifestyle- she
wants revenge on Tom but ultimately she
wont give up on her glamorous lifestyle