1、Class 1008 Group members: 梁 钰 林 芳 张 瑶 刘梦秋,Contents,. Author,. Background,. Plot,. Theme,F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940),Spokesman of the Jazz Age,Life,He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896.He received education in Princeton University. But due to illness and neglect of academic st
2、udy, he left the university in 1917 without graduation.,He joined the army. In his army days, he met Zelda Sayre.,She is a beautiful southern girl, from a wealthy family. She loved social activities very much and told Fitzgerald that she loved him but she was too expensive for him.,Life,Zelda: the p
3、rototype of a series of rich, beautiful women who figure prominently in his fiction. The young couple frequently went abroad and lived extravagantly a luxurious life.To keep earning enough money, Fitzgerald wrote short stories and novels at a rapid speed.,Life,The 1930s brought relentless decline fo
4、r Fitzgerald with a series of misfortunes: his reputation declined, his wealth fell, his health failed. Zelda had suffered from some serious mental breakdowns which confined her in a sanitarium (宁养院)for the rest of her life. Alcoholism, loneliness and despair combined to ruin Fitzgerald. He died in
5、1940 of a heart attack.,Major works:,This Side of Paradise人间天堂 Tender Is the Night夜色温柔 Tales of the Jazz Age All the Sad Young Man 一代悲哀的年轻人The Last Tycoon 最后的大亨,The Jazz Age,The Jazz Age,The 20s are also referred to as “The Jazz Age,” a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922.The Jazz Age began w
6、ith the end of WWI, at a time when, for the first time, the U.S. had emerged as a world power, and ended with the stock market crash of 1929.,The Jazz Age,It is a time marked by frivolity (轻松快活), carelessness, hedonism(享乐主义) and excitement in the life of the flaming youth. The Jazz Age is brought vi
7、vidly to life in The Great Gatsby.,The Great Gatsby: the plot,Jay Gatsby,Daisy,Tom Buchanan,Former lovers,Husband and wife,Nick Carraway: the narrator of the story, neighbor of Gatsby,Myrtle Wilson: Toms mistress who already had a husband- Mr. Wilson,When he was a poor army lieutenant , Gatsby had f
8、allen in love with Daisy, his neighours beautiful cousin, but later Daisy married Tom Buchanan, who is wealthy but unintelligent and brutal.,Plot!,Gatsby manages to meet Daisy again with the help of his neighour and tries to win her back with his extravagant devotion.,Meanwhile Daisys husband takes
9、another woman, Myrtle Wilson, as his mistress.,When Mr. Wilson, the garageman, becomes jealous and imprisons her in her room, Myrtle escapes, runs out on the highway, and is accidentally hit by Daisy, who drives the car at that moment.,Gatsby tries to protect Daisy, and Tom, to whom Daisy has become
10、 reconciled, tells Mr. Wilson out of an hatred of his rival that it was Gatsby who killed his wife.,Wilson shoots Gatsby and then himself. At the end of the story, Nick broods over Gatsbys dream and decides to go back home to the West.,.,Theme,Fitzgeralds fictions often deal with the bankruptcy of t
11、he American Dream, which is highlighted by the disillusionment of the protagonists personal dreams due to the clashes between their romantic vision of life and the sordid reality,Theme,American Dream is a popular belief that people can achieve success, whether it is wealth, fame through honest hard
12、working in a new world of liberty, equality, chances and promises,But with the development of the industrialization, the pace of life become faster and faster ,meanwhile their mind become vacant.,At first time, the American dream focused both on material and spirit,all the people want to acquire wea
13、lth through their hardworking and had the potential to live a happy and successful life.,At last the American dream has turn to the the pursuit of money and capital.,Changes of American dream,Fitzgerald himself is also the portraitureof the age and the American dream.,Firstly, he lived extravagantly
14、 a luxurious life and get reputation in the literature by hard work.Later, his reputation declined, his wealth fell, his health failed too.At last loneliness and despair combined to ruin Fitzgerald. He died in his forties.,why Gatsby can be called“great“?,Gatsby turn to a rich person from an unkown
15、lieutenant by his hardworking ,but he did not become spiritual vacuum. This is different from most of people in his age.,he pursued Daisy,becouse he think her heart was as beautiful as her appearance.Daisy is the symbol of “good spirit “ in Gatsbyheart.,But at the end of the story Gatsby died ,he died for Daisy,paided great cost of his misunderstanding of the spirit he pursued.,He died because he is “the round pegs in the square holes“,so different from the majority.He is the victim of that age,Thankyou!,
