司各特·菲茨杰拉德課件

1、F. Scott Fitzgerald & The Great GatsbyEarly BiographySept 24,1896: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald born in St. Paul, MNHis parents were Mary McQuillan, the daughter of Irish immigrants, and Edward Fitzgerald, a salesman. Both were Catholic.Attended the St. Paul Academy, then the Newman School, a Cathol

2、ic prep school in New Jersey. Scott & Zelda FitzgeraldOn academic probation, Fitzgerald joined the army as a 2nd lieutenant in 1917.June 1918: While on assignment in Montgomery, AL, he fell in love with Zelda Sayre, daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge.She broke off their engagement in 1919 be

3、cause she was unwilling to live on Scotts small salary.Literary Career BeginningsJune 1919: Fitzgerald returns to St. Paul, MN to rewrite his novel, This Side of Paradise.In the fall of that year, he begins writing stories in mass-circulation magazines. He wrote many stories for the Saturday Evening

4、 Post describing the free-thinking flappers of the 1920s.Overnight FameMarch 26, 1920: This Side of Paradise is published, making the 24 year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight. One week later, he marries Zelda Sayre in New York.the first novel: this side of paradise (1920). This novel concerns

5、the world of youth, excited tough somewhat cynical, and the parties and love affairs of the rich and the would-be-rich. The author sensed the romantic yearnings of the Jazz Age. It was an immediate success. It was the first American novel of the 1920s depicting the casual dissipations of “flaming yo

6、uth”, “the Jazz Age”, and “Dollar Decade”. The author became rich and married his lover a week later. 主人公阿莫瑞在一定程度上是作者自己的寫照。阿莫瑞嬌生慣養(yǎng)，多情善感，充滿幻想。他想出人頭地，娶最漂亮的姑娘，爬到社會的頂峰，做個大人物。結(jié)果，家庭經(jīng)濟破產(chǎn)，最漂亮的姑娘不要他。 Extravagant LivingScott & Zelda begin to live as young celebrities, socializing and drinking heavily. They ta

7、ke their first trip to Europe in 1921.October 1921: Their first and only child, Frances Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald is born.Early StumblingsFall, 1922: The young family moves to Great Neck, NY, expecting to earn a lot of money from Scotts play, The Vegetable. 1923: The play bombs, and Scott has to wr

8、ite short stories to get out of debt. Scotts drinking increases. He and Zelda fight often. Gatsby is BornSpring 1924: The Fitzgeralds go to France. Summer 1924: Scott starts writing The Great Gatsby. Zelda has a relationship with a French pilot.Winter 1924-25: The Fitzgeralds go to Rome where Scott

9、revises Gatsby. April 1925. Gatsby is published. Critical reviews are positive, but sales remain low. Fitzgerald and the ExpatriatesDuring the mid 1920s in Paris, Fitzgerald becomes part of the group of expatriate American writers which included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. Furt

10、her EstrangementDuring the 1920s, Scott and Zeldas relationship continues to be strained due to his drinking and her mental instability. They live in Paris, the Riviera, and a mansion near Wilmington, DE. Even though Fitzgerald earns about $4,000 per story (equal to about $40,000 today), he and Zeld

11、a continue to run into debt. 1930sThe Fitzgeralds rent a house in Montgomery, AL in 1931. Scott makes an unsuccessful trip to Hollywood; Zelda suffers a mental breakdown in 1932 and is hospitalized.1936-37: Scott drinks, gets into more debt, and lives in hotels near Asheville, NC. Zelda enters a nea

12、rby hospital. The Last YearsSummer 1937: Fitzgerald goes to Hollywood with a screenwriting contract earning $1,000/ week.Despite earning $91,000 from MGM, he is unable to save any money.1938: He falls in love with Sheilah Graham, a movie columnist.Dec 21, 1940: Fitzgerald dies of a heart attack in G

13、rahams apartment.1948: Zelda dies in a fire at Highland Hospital.Fitzgeralds LegacyAlthough Fitzgeralds drinking gave him a reputation as an irresponsible writer, he was a painstaking reviser. While he endured a lot of criticism just after his death, his reputation grew in the 1960s. Today, he is co

14、nsidered one of the great American novelists, and The Great Gatsby is considered his masterpiece. Enduring AssociationsFitzgerald has become identified with the extravagant living of the Jazz Age: “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.

15、” -F. Scott FitzgeraldHe felt that aspiration and idealism defined America and its people. His writing style is known for being clear, lyrical, and witty.Characters of The Great GatsbyJay Gatsby- The self-made wealthy man who lives next door to Nick Carraway and loves Daisy BuchananCharacters of The

16、 Great GatsbyNick Carraway- the narrator, Daisys cousin, Gatsbys neighborCharacters in The Great GatsbyDaisy Buchanan- married to Tom, Gatsbys love interest before the war, socialiteCharacters in The Great GatsbyTom Buchanan- Daisys husband, has an affair with MyrtleMyrtle Wilson- Toms woman in the

17、city, married to GeorgeGeorge Wilson- owns the gas station, kills GatsbyJordan Baker- Daisys friend, professional golfer Basic Plot of The Great GatsbyNick moves from the midwest to New York City in order to pursue a career in bondsNick begins a friendship with his cousin, DaisyNick befriends his ne

18、ighbor, Jay GatsbyBasic Plot of The Great GatsbyNick reunites Daisy with her former love, GatsbyDaisys husband, Tom, discovers his wifes affairA trip into the City results in the death of Toms lover, Myrtle, when she ran out in front of a car Daisy was drivingPlot of The Great GatsbyTom tells Myrtle

19、s distraught husband, George, that Gatsby killed MyrtleGeorge kills GatsbyNo one but Nick comes to Gatsbys funeralTom and Daisy leave townImportant Quotes“I hope shell be a fool- thats the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”Daisys description of her daughter“So we beat

20、on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” the last line of the novelThe Great Gastby deals symbolically with the frustration and despair resulting from the failure of the American dream. It is a story of an idealist who tries to recapture his lost love but in vain and is

21、finally destroyed by the influence of the wealthy people around him. Important QuotesThey were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people cle

22、an up the mess they had made. Nicks description of Tom and DaisyThe American Dream and The Great Gatsby:The American Dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve financial and personal success. These were values hel

23、d by many early European settlers, and have been passed down to subsequent generations. What the American dream has become is a question under constant discussion, and some believe that it has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and/or happiness.The American dream is a conc

24、ept that permeates our culture and unifies us all as Americans despite our racial, religious, and socio-economic diversity. This dream also serves to connect us to our nations historical past as well as to the generations of the future.Origins of the American Dream:European explorers and the Puritan

25、sDoctrine of Election and PredestinationThe Declaration of Independencelife, liberty, and the pursuit of happinessAmerican Revolutionary Warpromise of land ownership and investmentIndustrial Revolutionpossibility of anyone achieving wealth & the nouveau richeIndividualism and self-relianceWestward e

26、xpansion and the Gold RushImmigrationWhilst The Great Gatsby explores a number of themes, none is more prevalent than that of the corruption of the American dream. Gatsby appears to be the embodiment of this dream he has risen from being a poor farm boy with no prospects, to being rich, having a big

27、 house, servants, and a large social circle attending his numerous functions. He has achieved all this in only a few short years, having returned from the war penniless.However, Gatsby is never truly one of the elite his dream is just a faade. However, Fitzgerald explores much more than the failure

28、of the American dream he is more deeply concerned with its total corruption. Gatsby has not achieved his wealth through honest hard work, but through bootlegging and crime. His money is not simply new money it is dirty money, earned through dishonesty and crime. His wealthy lifestyle is little more

29、than a faade, as is the whole person Jay Gatsby. The society in which the novel takes place is one of moral decadence. Whether their money is inherited or earned, its inhabitant are morally decadent, living life in quest of cheap thrills and with no seeming moral purpose to their lives. Any person who attempts to move up through the social classes bec