Short Summary of the Great Gatsby - 11203 Words

Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald About F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, the only son of an aristocratic father and a provincial, working-class mother. He was therefore the product of two divergent traditions: while his fathers family included the author of The Star-Spangled Banner (after whom Fitzgerald was named), his mothers family was, in Fitzgeralds own words, straight 1850 potato-famine Irish. As a result of this contrast, he was exceedingly ambivalent about the notion of the American dream: for him, it was at once vulgar and dazzlingly promising. It need scarcely be noted that such fascinated ambivalence is itself typically American. Like the central character of The Great†¦show more content†¦Fitzgeralds own divided nature can be seen in the contrast between the novels hero, Jay Gatsby, and its narrator, Nick Carraway. The former represents the naive Midwesterner dazzled by the possibilities of the American dream; the latter represents the compassionate Princeton gentleman who cannot help but regard that dream with suspicion. The Great Gatsby may be described as the most profoundly American novel of its time; Fitzgerald connects Gatsbys dream, his Platonic conception of himself, with the aspirations of the founders of America. A year later, Fitzgerald published a collection of short stories entitled All the Sad Young Men. This book marks the end of the most productive period of Fitzgeralds life; the next decade was full of chaos and misery. Fitzgerald himself began to drink excessively, and Zelda began a slow descent into madness. In 1930 she suffered her first mental breakdown; her second breakdown, from which she never fully recovered, came in 1932. Throughout the 1930s the Fitzgeralds fought an ultimately unsuccessful battle to save their marriage. This struggle was tremendously debilitating for Fitzgerald; he later said that he left [his] capacity for hoping on the little roads that led to Zeldas sanitarium. He did not finish his next novel, Tender Is the Night, until 1934. It is the story of a psychiatrist who marries one of his patients, who, as she slowly recovers, exhausts his vitality until he is a man used up. This book, theShow MoreRelated Cars as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby Essay1036 Words   |  5 PagesCars as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby Cars play a very important part in the telling of The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a very dark, unhappy book, and the cars really exemplify this. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦cars change their meaning and become a symbol of death (Dexheimer). Cars also give the reader insight into some of the different characters in the book. One of the most important jobs of cars in this book is to foreshadow upcoming events. Throughout the book, there are many devastating and darkRead MorePersonal Reading Inventory Worksheet : The Great Gatsby Essay770 Words   |  4 PagesPersonal Reading Inventory Worksheet Title of Work: The Great Gatsby Author’s Name: F. Scott Fitzgerald Date of publication: April 10, 1925 Genre: Romance and Adventure Characteristics of the genre the work does/doesn’t meet: The work does meet the characteristic of having an obstacle that prevents love between two people. It also meets the characteristic of strong emotions, love at first sight, and having two protagonists. Setting: Time + Place + Atmosphere (mood or tone): It was the summer of 1922Read MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby1572 Words   |  7 PagesThe Great Gatsby The world is always in motion. All aspects of life are constantly changing, reforming, and developing. The American Dream has evolved greatly since the actual term was formulated in 1931 by James Truslow Adams. He proposed the American Dream was â€Å"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller†. But F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is based on an entirely different American Dream, one that is constructed upon the basis of notions of great successRead MoreThe Life and Times of a Philosopher of Flappers Essay696 Words   |  3 Pagesthe Jazz Age. Known for novels such as The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and The Beautiful and the Damned, and many short stories, Fitzgerald is described by famousauthors.org as â€Å"one of the greatest writers American soil has produced in the 20th century. F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. He had an amazing writing career driven by an int eresting personal life. His death and legacy cut his career short and we still celebrate him now. During hisRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1645 Words   |  7 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel â€Å"The Great Gatsby† is a consummate summary of the ‘roaring twenties’ and a devastating show of the ‘Jazz Age’. Nick Carraway Chasing his own American Dream, lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby young, handsome, and remarkably rich always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting although no one knows what for. Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As NickRead MoreEssay about The Jazz Age1435 Words   |  6 Pagestheir elders was through â€Å"flapper† culture. Flappers, often called the heroines of the Jazz Age, were women who offended the older generations because they defied the conventions of acceptable female behavior. A typical flapper had short, bobbed hair, and wore a short baggy skirt with turned d own hose and powdered knees. Their dresses often exposed her arms as well as her legs from the knees down. Flappers were thought of by their elders as being a little fast and brazen, since they were no longerRead MoreCompare Sonnets From The Shakespeare And The Great Gatsby1424 Words   |  6 Pagestexts is imperative as it allows responders to comprehend the discrepancies and similarities between texts as well as the values of composers within their contexts. Elizabeth Barret Browning’s (EBB’S), Sonnets from the Portuguese (SFP) and The Great Gatsby (TGG) composed by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (FSF) explore the way love and spirituality have been altered by the composers over the seventy years between the texts. In EBB’S SFP published in 1850, hope, purpose and passion are accentuated. HoweverRead MoreChapter 2 : Individual Notes1532 Words   |  7 PagesThe Great Gatsby: Chapter 2 Individual Notes PLOT SUMMARY: Nick is travelling on the train with Tom, who insists that Nick meet Myrtle. They visit a place between West Egg and New York, called The Valley of Ashes. Tom takes Nick over to a garage there, right next to the huge billboard of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which is where his secret mistress, Myrtle and her husband, George Wilson live. While George goes to retrieve chairs, Tom secretly tells Myrtle to get on the next train so they could meetRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1824 Words   |  8 Pages The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, socialRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1901 Words   |  8 Pageslife for Fitzgerald was never easy in â€Å"The Lost Generation†, he continued to provide for himself and his family’s needs by writing novels such as The Great Gatsby. Author Biography Middle-class man This Side Of Paradise 1920 RIP December 21, 1940 Historical Background â€Å"Lost Generation† Jazz age Hollywood Years The Great Gatsby - A Novel Summary Jay Gatsby Tom Buchanan The Green Light Stephen Hagenbuch David Scott Fields II American Literature Period 2 May 18, 2015 F. Scott Fitzgerald â€Å"Show me