F.Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Great Gatsby' Flashcards
What is The Great Gatsby a novel about?
A working-class man who goes to great lengths to become rich and win back the woman he loves. She eventually rejects him in favour of someone of her own class, and he dies alone.
What does Gatsby’s failure suggest?
That people can’t reinvent themselves or break away from their social class.
This challenged the American Dream at a time when people were already starting to question it. The novel reflects society’s concerns, so it becomes very influential.
Why is the novel: Gatsby and the 1920s era so inseparable?
Captures the ‘Jazz Age’ of the 1920s so clearly
When and where was Fitzgerald born?
September 1896
Saint Paul, Minnesota
When and where does Fitzgerald go to university?
1913
Princeton University
What does Fitzgerald do when he leaves university? And when is this?
Enlists in the army
November 1917
When does Fitzgerald meet Zelda Sayre and who is she?
July 1918
A wealthy socialite
His future wife - engaged in February 1919
When does Zelda break off her engagement to Fitzgerald?
June 1919
When is Fitzgerald’s first book published and what’s it called?
March 1920
This Side of Paradise
When do Zelda and Fitzgerald get married and when do they have a daughter?
April 1920
October 1921 - gives birth to daughter, Frances Scott “Scottie”
When is Gatsby published?
April 1925
When does Fitzgerald die? What age was he?
December 1940
Aged 44
How long did Fitzgerald’s writing career last?
20 years
How does Fitzgerald’s upbringing link to Nick’s?
He was born into an upper-middle-class family, but his father’s failure in business made their social position precarious. He compared his father to the wealthy men around him, which made him both admire and resent the rich.
Nick’s upper-middle-class but, like Fitzgerald, he has to make his own living. He’s attracted by the lifestyle of his rich neighbours but appalled too
How does Fitzgerald’s relationships link to Gatsby’s?
Fitzgerald fell in love with Zelda, but she refused to marry him until he could comfortably support her.
Gatsby also falls in love with Daisy, a materialistic girl who marries a rich man instead
