The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby Review of F. Scott Fitzgerald Chapter 6 Analysis April 2011 – May 2011

2. Review, Author – The Way Up F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896 – 1940 (Laurel Avenue, Minnesota) • Father went bankrupt but he stilled played with the wealthy kids in town • Paradox - self-contradictory • Enrolled in WWI, met Zelda Sayre (very animated) – the couple became celebrities of the Jazz Age • Had an appetite for excess • Expatriate – withdraw from his/her native country • 1925 – Charles Scribner’s Sons publishes The Great Gatsby

3. Review, Author – The Way Down F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896 – 1940 (Laurel Avenue, California) • 1932 – Zelda suffered a mental breakdown, never recovered • Wrote stories acknowledging his wife’s illness and his own alcoholism • 1937 – Fitzgerald relocated to California • 1940 – Fitzgerald passed away of a heart attack while writing the novel, The Last Tycoon

4. Chapter Six – Analysis • Gatsby “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself,” which refers to that his ideal form • Gatsby modeled himself of an ideal version of Jay Gatsby • Striving to be the man he envisions in his fondest dreams • Think about Daisy being unable to fulfill his ideal vision of her • Gatsby = novels representative of The American Dream • Myth of the “self-made man”

5. Chapter Six – Analysis • Gatsby leaves St. Olaf college because he feels degraded being a janitor – gross humiliation of what he imagines for himself • This damages his actual circumstances since graduating from a university would enhance social standing • Sensitivity to class – yearns for wealth, sophistication and elegance, which he imagines wealth provides

6. Chapter Six – Analysis Dan Cody/Gatsby Similarities • Early hardships turned to self-made millionaire • Generous to friend and subordinates Additional analysis • America may no longer be a place where the self-made man can thrive • Cody drinks – cannot make a place for himself • Passes away... Treachery of the woman he loves • Foreshadowing

7. Chapter Six – Analysis Awkward luncheon – Old Money vs. New Money • Underlines the hostility of the American 1920s toward the figure of the self-made man • Tom Buchanan and Mr. and Mrs. Sloane treat Gatsby with contempt because he is not of the long-standing American upper class – like East Eggers are • Gatsby may be wealthier than Tom, but is regarded as socially inferior – West Egger

8. Chapter Six – Analysis Daisy • Narrow-minded – East Egger • Symbol of everything that Gatsby wishes to posses • Wealth and sophistication • Although she posses these traits, these traits are the reason she cannot fulfill his dreams • She would never sacrifice her own status to be with him • Cares more for privilege than Gatsby’s love

9. Chapter Six – Key Questions • How truthful was Gatsby when he relayed the story his life to Nick? Why does Fitzgerald tell the story of Jay Gatz now? • Describe the meeting of Tom and Gatsby. What does this meeting reveal about them? • Why did Daisy and Tom find Gatsby’s party loathsome? • How did Gatsby measure the success of his party? • When Nick told Gatsby that “you can’t repeat the past,” Gatsby replied, “Why of course you can!” Do you agree with Nick or Gatsby?