1. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Understanding the times helps to understand the novel

2. Warm Up What is the American Dream to you?
How does one reach the American Dream?
Who would be a strong example of the American Dream (real or hypothetical)?

3. The American Dream…according to famous people
“The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it’s possible to achieve the American dream.” --clothes designer and rich guy Tommy Hilfiger
“I lived the true American dream, because I was able to pursue what I set as my goals at a very young age.” –race car driver Mario Andretti
“I am living proof that the American dream still exists. It is still alive and well. There is only one trick, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and work very, very hard.” --talk show personality and cook Paula Deen
“I think the American Dream is equal protection under the law and equal opportunity.” – Civil Rights Activist Rev. Al Sharpton
“I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream.” -- Musician Bruce Springsteen
“People are so busy dreaming the American Dream, fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be, that they're all asleep at the switch. Consequently we are living in the Age of Human Error.” – Writer Florence King

4. The Reality of the American Dream
Based on the previous quotes and your personal opinions, is the American Dream still attainable?
Is it only an illusion?
Has it been corrupted? What has destroyed it?
Can it be repaired?

5. The Great Gatsby and the American Dream
“The best work of literature to represent the American Dream is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It shows us how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and that if you don't compromise, you may suffer.” Writer and Professor Azar Nafisi
The Great Gatsby examines the failure of the American dream, the misidentification of it, the tragedies that result when people put faith in it and blows up in their faces.
Characters have attitudes of eternal hope and optimism, the belief that any dream can come true, you can achieve whatever you wish and desire, and possibility is limitless.
Describes an attitude of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires.
Be on the lookout for these ideas: symbols and characters who show this.

6. Influence of World War I
World War I ended in 1918.
Disillusioned because of the war
“The Lost Generation.”
First war with modern weaponry.
20 million people died.

7. Post WWI Influences
Americans abandoned small towns in exchange for urban living
Economy prospered as Americans tried to forget troubles of war
- frivolous spending
- illegal liquor
- immorality

8. Roaring Twenties Economy booming America partied Organized crime
Prohibition Act
Decline of moral standards
Decline or destiny? Period between wars.

9. SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE OF CHANGE
popularity of jazz
change of the status of women
fascination with the dream of success ($$$$$$)

10. Prohibition
18th Amendment to Constitution prohibited manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages
Bootlegging
Boardwalk Empire
Mob activity increased to supply the demand for what was once legal
Mafia/ Al Capone/ St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
Passed in 1919/ Repealed in 1933
In "The Great Gatsby" Jay Gatsby is suspected to be a bootlegger and a murderer. And Meyer Wolfshiem is said to have "fixed the World's Series" in Even Jordan Baker is someone who cheated at playing golf. Illegal gambling and bootlegging led to wide-spread corruption in the United States at that time. Prohibition is not taken seriously in "The Great Gatsby": in almost every chapter alcoholic drinks are offered.

11. Who is F. Scott Fitzgerald?
The book, ultimately, is informed by the cynicism and misanthropy of its author, Fitzgerald.
He said of the Jazz Age (the period of the 1920s):
"It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.“
This sums it up pretty nicely.
But what did he mean?

12. Who is F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Experiences the extremes of the American Dream: wealth and happiness and excess and ruin
Born
He attended Princeton University.
1917 joined the army.
Struggles to get published; succeeds in 1920 with somewhat biographical work This Side of Paradise (rejected numerous times and rewritten)
The Great Gatsby in 1925 assures his fame.

13. Who is F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Marries in Zelda, a woman who is considered the quintessential flapper and possible inspiration for Daisy
The Fitzgeralds lead extravagant lives
Travel and party extensively throughout Europe
Attempting to escape his alcoholism and her mental instability (she is committed a number of times)
He described his own "crack-up" in an essay that he wrote in 1936, hopelessly in debt, unable to write, nearly estranged from his wife and daughter, and incapacitated by excessive drinking and poor physical health.
1937: Gets a job with MGM in Hollywood and begins writing again
1940: Dies of heart attack, believes he is a failure

14. Who is F. Scott Fitzgerald?
A closer look at his life and career reveals a writer with an acute sense of history, an intellectual pessimist who had grave doubts about Americans’ ability to survive their infatuation with success.
At the same time he conveyed in his best novels and short stories the sense of youthful awe and hope America’s promises created in many people.
His work is paradoxical: cynical yet pessimistic; in one hand condemning fame and the pursuit of money and in the other fully embracing and cherishing it.

15. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Purpose for Gatsby
He was a part of the “Jazz Age,” participating in the wealth, decadence, and partying BUT
He never felt quite comfortable in this scene. This book is criticizing the declining morals and values of society in the roaring 20’s.
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” –Nick Carraway The Great Gatsby

16. Setting
Long Island, NY during the 1920s (Events of summer of 1922; present 1924).
West Egg: A borough in the Long Island area. New money. Rich people who have made money rather than inherited it.
East Egg: A borough in the Long Island area. Old money. Rich people who have inherited money going back generations.
The Valley of Ashes: a poor area between Long Island and Manhattan.
Manhattan: Manhattan.

17. 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

18. Characters of The Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby- The self-made wealthy man who lives next door to Nick Carraway and loves Daisy Buchanan
Molds himself into American Dream
Ignores reality

19. Characters of The Great Gatsby
Nick Carraway- the narrator, Daisy’s cousin, Gatsby’s neighbor, “new money”/West Egg, WWI vet, confidant, doesn’t judge, tolerant
Daisy Buchanan- married to Tom, Gatsby’s love interest before the war, socialite, desires love an attention

20. Characters in The Great Gatsby
Tom Buchanan- Daisy’s husband, has an affair with Myrtle, hypocritical, bully
Jordan Baker- Daisy’s friend, professional golfer, new 1920’s woman (boyish, self-centered, cynical)
Myrtle Wilson- Tom’s woman in the city, married to George, wants to climb the social ladder
George Wilson- owns the gas station in Valley of Ashes, idolizes his wife

21. Old Money Vs. New Money Old Money: Money from family wealth Born rich
Someone who has achieved the American Dream
Not as respected in the 1920’s
Old Money:
Money from family wealth
Born rich
Respected above all in the 1920’s

22. WHAT IS THE AMERICAN DREAM?
It describes an attitude of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires.
“We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Gatsby is a character who represents this DREAM.
These wishes were expressed in Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.
The concept of the American Dream is presented from two different POV

23. FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
Poverty
Discrimination
Exploitation
Hypocrisy
Corruption
Suppression
The American Dream has totally failed to bring any kind of fulfillment, whether spiritual or material.
For all the progress and prosperity, for all the declaration of democratic principles, there are still poverty, discrimination, exploitation
As far as morality and values, there are also hypocrisy, cu=corruption and suppression.
The Great Gatsby also comments on this. Condition.

24. Read the first three pages of Gatsby (stop with the paragraph that ends “Father agreed to finance me for a year [ ] in the spring of twenty-two.”
Answer these questions:
That’s good advice the narrator’s father gave him, right? Can we tell whether he’s followed it yet or not?
How can you be “communicative in a reserved way” (1)? Does the speaker have a good/close relationship with his father?
How did the narrator treat “[m]ost of the confidences” who came to him in college for help (1)?
Note all the figurative language the narrator uses when describing Gatsby. It’s confusing, but maybe that’s the idea? I dunno cuz readin iz dum.
Is the narrator (whose name apparently is Something Carraway) from a poor family? What does that story of his grandfather’s brother and the Civil War tell you?
What is the speaker’s feelings about his participation in WWI?

25. Character Roundup:
You will be given a list of attributes that correspond to the characters in the novel. Start by identifying who you are. Don’t show anyone this information.
You need to find the other three characters in the novel.
Your classmates have been given attributes for those characters.
You can ask each classmates ONE question each. For example, are you rich? Are you married? Do you die at the end of the novel . . .
Do not tell your classmates who you are. They need to figure it out.
Once you have all five characters identified, you WIN!

26. Closure: Crash Course
What elements of 1920’s contributed to the literature?