Download presentation
Presentation is loading. Please wait.
1
The Great Gatsby Discussion
2
Discussion Items Characters Setting Plot Theme Fictional Technique
Historical Context F. Scott Fitzgerald’s biography Your Point of View
3
Jay Gatsby Idealistic Naïve Romantic, flamboyant, slightly ridiculous
Characters Jay Gatsby Idealistic Naïve Romantic, flamboyant, slightly ridiculous Hardworking, a “self-made man” Generous A liar and a criminal With “an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness"
4
Minor Characters Myrtle Wilson Lower-class, vulgar Tom’s lover
Married to George George Wilson Owns garage in the Valley of Ashes Dull, self-defeating Married to Myrtle Mr. McKee Myrtle’s friend Photographer Affected, no talent
5
Minor Characters Henry C. Gatz Gatsby’s father Honest Naive
Meyer Wolfshiem Member of “Jewish Mafia” Racial stereotype Brains behind Gatsby’s business Ewing Klipspringer Gatsby’s houseguest Sponges off Gatsby Does not attend funeral Owl Eyes Comic drunk at the first party Recognizes Gatsby’s books Attends funeral Henry C. Gatz Gatsby’s father Honest Naive
6
Setting Setting The time and place in which a narrative takes place; the physical and psychological background against which the action of a story takes place; the scenery and stage effects for a dramatic production. Environment: The surrounding things, conditions, and influences in the narrative. Place: The physical location of the narrative. Time: The period or era in which the narrative takes place.
7
Setting as Means to Convey Theme
Midwest vs. East West Egg - where Nick and Gatsby live, represents new money East Egg - where Daisy lives, the more fashionable area, represents old money The City - New York City, where the characters escape for work and play The Valley of Ashes - between the City and West Egg, site of Wilson’s gas station
8
East vs. West The East is corrupt. The West is innocent.
Setting East vs. West The East is corrupt. The West is innocent. Nick, Jordan, Tom, and Daisy are all from the West. The image of the West in America: the frontier, possibility, Hollywood. Nick remembers life in the Midwest, full of snow, trains, and Christmas wreaths, and thinks that the East seems grotesque and distorted by comparison.
9
Nick’s Memory of the Middle West
Setting Nick’s Memory of the Middle West
10
East: Setting Based on Real Places
11
Setting Queens and Long Island The Valley of the Ashes is modeled on the city dump Fitzgerald passed many times, traveling between Manhattan and Great Neck. The huge fading eyes of T. J. Eckleburg convert a commonplace eyesore into a vast metaphor of modern desolation and futility. Great Neck is refashioned into West Egg. Manhasset is turned into East Egg (where the sun rises).
12
NYC In Manhattan: action takes place in specific locations.
Setting NYC In Manhattan: action takes place in specific locations. Tom's love nest is on west 158th Street. Nick first encounters Meyer Wolfshiem in a cellar restaurant on Forty-second Street. Nick dines at the Yale Club and often strolls afterward "down Madison Avenue past the old Murray Hill Hotel, and over Thirty-third Street to the Pennsylvania Station.” Wolfshiem's office is on frenzied Broadway. The main characters assemble at the Plaza Hotel, which Tom specifies as being on the south side of Central Park.
13
After Jordan tells Nick about Daisy and Gatsby…
Setting
14
Theme Theme The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. In order to figure out theme, a reader must ask what view of life a work supports or what insight into life in the real world it reveals. A theme is a major idea or proposition broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary or other work of art. A theme may be stated or implied, but clues about the theme may be found in the ideas that are given special prominence or tend to recur in a work.
15
Junior Theme: Universal Themes
A human being’s confrontation with nature The inevitability of fate The evil of unchecked ambition A human being’s lack of humanity The struggle for equality A rebellious human being’s confrontation with a hostile society The loss of innocence/disillusionment of adulthood An individual’s struggle toward understanding, awareness, and/or spiritual enlightenment The conflict between parents and children The making of an artist in a materialistic society An individual’s conflict between passion and responsibility The clash between civilization and the wilderness The human glorification of the past/ rejection of the past The clash between appearance and realities The tension between the ideal and the real The pain of love (or what passes for it) Conflict between human beings and machines The perils or rewards of carpe diem The impact of the past on the present
16
The Great Gatsby Themes
The American Dream Loneliness / Dependence The American Nightmare Love / romance Upper class vs. everyone else Past in present Gender roles Carelessness Honor West vs. East Search for identity Coming of age
17
The Great Gastby: Fictional Technique
One of the most conspicuous peculiarities of Fitzgerald's prose is his fondness for oxymorons, those phrases combining incongruous elements. Nowhere are they more striking than in Gatsby. Gatsby's gangster mentor, Meyer Wolfsheim,5 for instance, eats with "ferocious delicacy," and Gatsby himself pursues a vision of "meretricious beauty" and of "ineffable gaudiness" and perceives "the unreality of reality." Even when modifiers do not exactly cancel out their nouns, the juxtaposition is often startling, as when Fitzgerald refers to Wolfsheim's "tragic nose," the "cheerful snobbery" of Daisy's milieu in Louisville, or—in a touch of synesthesia—the "frothy odor" of a beverage. Then there are the "adventitious authority" of the detective at the scene of Myrtle Wilson's death and the "racy pasquinade" the press will make of the whole episode.
18
Context Historical Context
19
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Biography
He dies a drunk, his marriage over, penniless. September 24, 1896 Franklin Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota 1913 Enters Princeton 1917 On academic prohibition and unlikely to graduate, joins the army. Makes first attempt at novel, The Romantic Egoist 1919 Goes to NY to seek his fortune and win Zelda’s hand in marriage—but she is unwilling to live on his small salary and breaks the engagement 1920 Becomes famous almost overnight with the publication of This Side of Paradise Marries Zelda a week later in NY 1921 Writes second novel, The Beautiful and Damned. Settles in Seattle for the birth of his only child Frances Scott 1922 Starts to drink heavily 1925 The Great Gatsby is published December 21, 1940 Dies of a heart attack From Ryan and Krupa, Period 4
20
Your Response
Similar presentations
