KE / English HL 1 & 2 (Weeks 15, 16, & 17) - The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
Author Biography:
F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American novelist and short-story writer of the Roaring Twenties. He
was considered to be one of the primary spokesmen of the era he named the “Jazz Age”—the
period beginning with the end of World War I in 1918 and ending with the stock market crash in
1929. Born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was raised by
his father following the death of his mother; the two lived off her small inheritance. His father
worked for Proctor and Gamble, but failed in his career. Although his mother's family was wealthy
and well-known in the Midwest, she was rather eccentric.
As a youth, F. Scott was taught the
traditions of the upper class, but his family did not have the financial means to live that way.
Fitzgerald strove, however, to be a good student and a successful athlete; as a result, he was a promising and popular
young man. He also had an interest in literature and published fiction in his high school magazine. In 1911, Fitzgerald went
to Newman Academy, a Catholic preparatory school in New Jersey. Here he continued to write fiction and also developed
an interest in drama and had two of his plays produced by a local company. In 1913, Fitzgerald was accepted to Princeton,
where he continued to write. His Princeton years helped considerably in focusing his writing abilities although his
academics were poor, and it was here that he began drafting sections of a novel called The Romantic Egoist.
He also fell in
love with Ginerva King, a girl from the upper crust of Chicago Society. Distracted by her and his extracurricular activities,
his grades dropped so low in 1915 that he had to leave school for a while. He returned to Princeton in 1916, but was
distraught when his love affair with Ginerva was terminated by her. As a result, he decided to quit college and join the
army in 1917, wanting to experience the war in Europe. Instead, he was sent to Alabama, where he met the lovely, wild,
and undisciplined socialite, Zelda Sayre at a country dance. She was the daughter of a wealthy judge. The two fell in love,
however she refused to marry him because he could not support her. As a result, he went to New York in 1919, after being
discharged from the army, in hopes of earning a fortune in the literary world so he could win Zelda as his bride.
When his
first novel was accepted for publication, Fitzgerald had the success and acclaim he had sought.
In April 1920, Fitzgerald married the eighteen year-old Zelda, and they moved to New York City. Soon afterwards, they had
a daughter, Francis Scott, called “Scotty.” In spite of their parenthood, Fitzgerald and Zelda played hard and drank
excessively, living beyond their means and becoming famous for their partying and outrageous scenes. They immersed
themselves in the social scene of the twenties. They also traveled extensively and knew all the expatriate American writers
in England and France. Despite their glamorized marriage, it was very tumultuous.
With no real career, F. Scott had time to devote to writing. This Side of Paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920.
Encouraged by the attention it drew, Fitzgerald began to devote more time to his literary career. Beautiful and the Damned,
his second novel, and Tales of the Jazz Age, a collection of stories, were both published. His next novel, however, became
his greatest success; he published The Great Gatsby in1925, and it quickly brought him praise from the literary community,
but it failed to give him the needed financial security he sought. Although its release in 1925 was not as great a success as
had been hoped for, it is now considered to be his finest work—one of the classic masterpieces of American literature that
chronicles American society in the twenties.
Increasingly, Fitzgerald’s lifestyle and problems with Zelda negatively affected his writing.
During the 1920s, he often tried
reordering his life by moving from place to place; but he could not escape from his problems or his reputation. Zelda
played a pivotal role in the writer's life, both in a tempestuous way and an inspirational one. Mostly, she shared his
extravagant lifestyle and artistic interests. In earlier years Zelda had functioned as his advisor and literary editor, yet signs
of mental illness began to consume her followed by breakdowns in 1930 and in 1932, finally diagnosed as schizophrenia.
Running out of money and without a job, the Fitzgeralds moved back to their estate, "La Paix" located near Baltimore,
Maryland in time for the stock market crash in 1929. Zelda's illness became so bad that she required hospitalization for the
remainder of her life. She went in for treatment and never came out of an institution again.
In the decade before his death and in response to the loss of Zelda, Fitzgerald totally drowned himself in alcohol. His
troubles and the debilitating effects of his alcoholism limited the quality and amount of his writing. Nonetheless, it was
also during this period that he attempted his most psychologically complex and aesthetically ambitious novel, Tender Is
the Night (1934). Fitzgerald's drinking increased, and he eventually suffered a mental breakdown himself following the
unsuccessful release of Tender is the Night.
In order to support himself and pay Zelda’s hospital bills, he went to Hollywood to try his hand at screen writing.
Recovering somewhat, he took a scriptwriting job in 1937 where he lived in relative peace with Sheila Graham, a twentyeight year old British newspaper correspondent. She became his dear friend and helped Fitzgerald fight his alcoholism. His fourth novel, The Last Tycoon, now considered to be one of his best works, about the Hollywood motion picture industry,
was left incomplete after Fitzgerald's untimely death in Hollywood caused by a heart attack on December 21, 1940.
Fitzgerald was 44 years old. Zelda died eight years after her husband, when her mental hospital residence caught fire. At
the time of Fitzgerald’s death, he was virtually forgotten and unread. A growing Fitzgerald revival, begun in the 1950s, led
to the publication of numerous volumes of stories, letters, and notebooks. One of his literary critics, Stephen Vincent
Benet, concluded in his review of The Last Tycoon, "you can take off your hats now, gentlemen, and I think perhaps you had
better. This is not a legend, this is a reputation and, seen in perspective, it may well be one of the most secure reputations
of our time."
Fun Facts:
Freytag's Pyramid, Literary Devices in The Great Gatsby
Imagery
Dramatic Irony
Hyperbole
Allusions
Tone / Mood
Metaphors
Frame Story - Story within a story
TEXT with Polish Vocabulary bank, cultural information, and grammar exercises:
Article: Themes in the Great Gatsby
Course Pack / Reading Discussion Questions:
Course Pack: Vocabulary and Practice Activities:
Reading Schedule:
Week One: Chapters 1 - 3
Week Two: Chapters 4-6
Week Three: Chapters 7-9
Week Four: Analysis, Discussion, Exam
Film Version:
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