The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald - Final Presentation

Plot Summary: Eggs Cracked The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick Carraway, who was once Gatsby's neighbor, and he tells the story sometime after 1922, when the incidents that fill the book take place. As the story opens, Nick has just moved from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, seeking his fortune as a bond salesman. Shortly after his arrival, Nick travels across the Sound to the more fashionable East Egg to visit his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband, Tom, a hulking, imposing man whom Nick had known in college. There he meets professional golfer Jordan Baker. The Buchanans and Jordan Baker live privileged lives, contrasting sharply in sensibility and luxury with Nick's more modest and grounded lifestyle. When Nick returns home that evening, he notices his neighbor, Gatsby, mysteriously standing in the dark and stretching his arms toward the water, and a solitary green light across the bay. Plot Summary: Eggs Cracked

Plot Summary As the novel progresses, Nick meets Gatsby and the two develop a friendship. At the same time, Nick learns about Tom’s adulterous nature and his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Daisy and Gatsby begin an affair that Nick keeps secret. On the hottest and most unbearable day of summer, after failing to confront Tom about their affair, Daisy accidentally hits and kills Myrtle while driving Gatsby’s car back to the Eggs. Gatsby takes the fall for Daisy, while Daisy secretly tells Tom about the incident and the two flee. Wilson, Myrtle’s wife, believes Gatsby is the man Myrtle was having an affair with. He shoots Gatsby and then himself. Nick is left to help make arrangements for his burial. What is most perplexing, though, is that no one seems overly concerned with Gatsby's death. Daisy and Tom mysteriously leave on a trip and all the people who so eagerly attended his parties, drinking his liquor and eating his food, refuse to become involved. Even Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby's business partner, refuses to publicly mourn his friend's death. The novel ends prophetically, with Nick noting how we are all a little like Gatsby, boats moving up a river, going forward but continually feeling the pull of the past.

The main characters of the novel, Jay Gatz and Daisy Buchannan, were based on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife in real life, Zelda.

Real Life Meets Fiction In the grand ballroom of Fitzgerald’s home (On Summit Ave), guests would dance all night to big band tunes like “The Charleston.” This was how the characters in The Great Gatsby entertained themselves. They would drink and dance the night away.

Fitzgerald was known for his accurate description and criticism of the Jazz Age. His works reflect the key events of his own life. Examples?

“’Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’’’ Significance?

Symbolism: “Understanding the Green Light” Gatsby built his house to be closer to Daisy and to watch her from afar The Green light at the end of the dock symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes that they will one day still be able to be together

Gatsby gazing wistfully at the light from his own house across the water represents the "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” The green light also represents the hazy future, the future that is forever elusive. But if the green light represents Gatsby's dream of Daisy, in the past, then how does it represent the future, as well? Is the future always tied to our dreams of the past?

Symbolism – Ashes & Eyes The first time we see the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, they're looming over the valley of ashes: "above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg" The ashes are "desolate" and "grotesque" Think of the valley of ashes as one big, grey reality check. Compare Gatsby's lavish parties of fresh fruit and live music and champagne to this land of smokestacks and ash-men, and you quickly realize that not all the world is as privileged as our cast of characters.

The Valley of Ashes But the valley of ashes can also be seen as more commentary on the American Dream. The America of The Great Gatsby is ashen, decaying, and barren. The Wilsons live there, which means their whole sordid story—the infidelity, immorality, lack of compassion, and anger—is associated with this failed American Dream, too

The Eyes "The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose” Not long before the Tom vs. Gatsby showdown, Nick notes the eyes again keeping a "watchful vigil"; then, George takes Myrtle to the window (from which, we know, the billboard is visible) and tells her she can't fool God. Wilson makes the same connection readers might be: the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are always watching, and so are the eyes of God. In the absence of religion, God still exists. OR capitalism has replaced God - all we have is an advertisement, a replacement.

Character Analysis: Gatsby Why is he “Great”? What about Nick’s relationship and contradictory feelings towards Gatsby? Is he delusional and morally weak? Is he hopeful and inspirational? How does Gatsby, as a character, connect with the homework from last class (consider what he kills/murders and why)?

Themes - How does this novel critique the hollowness of the American upper class? How does this novel show the decline of the American Dream?