F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Winter Dreams” and The Great Gatsby

About the Author Born on September 24, 1896 Died on December 21, 1940 Married Zelda Sayre Famous works include The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and the Damned, and Tender is the Night.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Impact on Society Fitzgerald is credited with coining the phrase “The Jazz Age” to describe the 1920’s. He wrote the The Great Gatsby, which is said to be the most accurate description of the 1920’s.

“Winter Dreams” and The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald is best remembered for his spoiled and conflicted Jazz Age characters, including Dexter Green from “Winter Dreams,” who bears a distinct resemblance to Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of The Great Gatsby. Both men are self-made and eager to rise beyond their stations in life. The similarities between “Winter Dreams” and The Great Gatsby are not accidental, as Fitzgerald wrote the short story while he was developing the ideas that would become the novel.

World War I World War I ended in 1918. People were disillusioned because of the war. The generation that fought and survived has come to be called “The Lost Generation.” The end of this war helped spawn the Jazz Age, which coincides with the decade known as The Roaring Twenties.

The Roaring Twenties While the sense of loss was readily apparent among expatriate American artists who remained in Europe after the war, back home the disillusionment took a less obvious form. America seemed to throw itself headlong into a decade of madcap behavior and materialism, a decade that has come to be called the Roaring Twenties.

The Jazz Age Prohibition was in effect. Dances such as the Charleston were popular. Popular sayings included “23 skidoo” and “the bee’s knees.” The economy was in a “boom.”

The Jazz Age The era is also known as the Jazz Age, when the music called jazz, promoted by such recent inventions as the phonograph and the radio, swept up from New Orleans to capture the national imagination. Improvised and wild, jazz broke the rules of music, just as the Jazz Age thumbed its nose at the rules of the past.

The New Woman Among the rules broken were the age-old conventions guiding the behavior of women, such as marriage at a later age and public drinking and smoking. The new woman also demanded the right to vote and to work outside the home. This rebellious new woman tried to appear more man-like by cutting her hair into a boyish “bob.” She also shortened her skirts revealing the new-found sexuality common of the “flapper.”

Prohibition Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, or Prohibition, banned the public sale of alcoholic beverages from 1919 until its repeal in 1933. This amendment was not obeyed. Speakeasies, nightclubs, and taverns that sold liquor were often raided; and gangsters made illegal fortunes as bootleggers, smuggling alcohol into America.

Gambling Illegal gambling was encouraged by gangs. Perhaps the worst scandal involving gambling was the so-called Black Sox Scandal of 1919, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were indicted for accepting bribes to throw baseball’s World Series.

The Automobile The Roaring Twenties was an era of reckless spending and consumption. The most conspicuous status symbol of the time was a flashy new automobile. Advertising was becoming the major industry that it is today, and soon advertisers took advantage of new roadways by setting up huge billboards at their sides. Both the automobile and a bizarre billboard play important roles in The Great Gatsby.

Characters in The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby- The self-made wealthy man who lives next door to Nick Carraway and loves Daisy Buchanan

Characters in The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway- the narrator, Daisy’s cousin, Gatsby’s neighbor

Characters in The Great Gatsby Daisy Buchanan- married to Tom, Gatsby’s love interest before the war, socialite

Characters in The Great Gatsby Tom Buchanan- Daisy’s husband, has an affair with Myrtle Myrtle Wilson- Tom’s woman in the city, married to George George Wilson- owns the gas station Jordan Baker- Daisy’s friend, professional golfer

Settings in The Great Gatsby West Egg- where Nick and Gatsby live, represents new money East Egg- where Daisy lives, the more fashionable area, represents old money

Settings in The Great Gatsby The City- New York City, where the characters escape to for work and play The Valley of Ashes- between the City and West Egg, where Wilson’s gas station is located

Symbols in The Great Gatsby Green Light- at the end of Daisy’s dock and visible from Gatsby’s mansion; represents Gatsby's hopes and dreams about Daisy

Symbols in The Great Gatsby The Valley of Ashes- the area between West Egg and New York City; a desolate area filled with industrial waste; represents the social and moral decay of society during the 1920’s; also shows the negative effects of greed

Symbols in The Great Gatsby The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Ekleburg- a decaying billboard in the Valley of Ashes with eyes advertising an optometrist There are multiple proposed meanings, including the representation of God’s moral judgment on society.

Important Quotes “I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” ---Daisy’s description of her daughter “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” --- last line of the novel

Important Quotes "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." – Nick’s description of Tom and Daisy

The American Dream Gatsby is the ideal image of one who has achieved the American Dream. What is the American Dream and who has achieved it in our time? Choose one person on the next slide and explain how they are living the American Dream.

The American Dream Lebron James Kim K. Tyler Perry Oprah Winfrey Bill Clinton Mark Zuckerburg

Old Money Vs. New Money New Money Old Money someone who has achieved the American Dream not as respected in the 1920’s Old Money money from family wealth born rich not earned through work or done by yourself respected above all in the 1920’s