Breaking Down Fitzgerald

A practical guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald's works for middle and secondary students

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American novelist, essayist, and writer best known for his glamourous novels that detailed life in America's Jazz Age—a term which he popularized. Throughout his career, Fitzgerald published four novels, four collections of short stories, and 164 short stories in magazines. His work commonly focused on themes of ambition and loss, money and class, and the promise and disappointment of America and its vaunted dream. In his lifetime, Fitzgerald gained fame for his The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise. Today, his works are taught in middle and high school classrooms throughout the United States and worldwide.

Breaking Down Fitzgerald provides readers with an overview of Fitzgerald's life and investigates the composition, characters, themes, symbols, language, and motifs in his work and their relation to contemporary society. Author Helen Turner clarifies some essential facts about F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and addresses important themes found in his novels and short stories. As readers explore the literary and cultural context of Fitzgerald's works, they develop a firm appreciation of Fitzgerald's role in modern literature and why he is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

Breaking Down Fitzgerald:

• Explains of why Fitzgerald remains one of the great American voices heard around the world
• Showcases the multiple genres in Fitzgerald's world
• Offers a brief thematic tour through Fitzgerald's novels and short stories
• Provides an overview of Fitzgerald's critical reception
• Discusses Fitzgerald in contemporary popular culture

This book is a primer for younger or new Fitzgerald readers and a welcome addition to the toolbox used by educators, parents, and anyone interested in or studying F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and work.

HELEN M. TURNER has a PhD from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. She has taught in a variety of schools and universities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Sweden. She is also an active researcher with particular interests in American and South African literature. She has published on Richard Yates, Tom Wolfe, and Archibald MacLeish.

Breaking Down Fitzgerald: Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Fitzgerald’s Life 5

Childhood and Princeton (1896–1917) 6

Meeting Zelda and Early Success (1918–1924) 8

The Great Gatsby and European Travels (1924–1931) 10

Tender Is the Night and “The Crack-Up” (1931–1937) 13

Hollywood and The Last Tycoon (1937–1940) 16

Further Reading 18

Further Viewing 18

Chapter 2: Literary and Cultural Context 19

The First World War and Its Aftermath 19

Modernism and a Changing Literary Landscape 22

The Roaring Twenties 24

The 1930s and the Great Depression 26

The United States versus Europe 28

Changes in Hollywood 32

Further Reading 34

Chapter 3: Early Novels: This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922) 35

This Side of Paradise: Composition 37

This Side of Paradise: Synopsis 40

The Beautiful and Damned: Composition 42

The Beautiful and Damned: Synopsis 43

Further Reading 45

Further Viewing 45

Chapter 4: The Great Gatsby (1925) 47

Composition 49

Synopsis 50

Themes 53

Structure 54

Motifs 55

The Green Light 55

West Egg versus East Egg 57

The Valley of Ashes 58

The Automobile 59

Characters 61

Jay Gatsby 61

Daisy Buchanan 64

Tom Buchanan 67

Myrtle Wilson 69

George Wilson 71

Jordan Baker 72

Nick Carraway 73

Further Reading 76

Further Viewing 76

Further Listening 76

Chapter 5: Later Novels: Tender Is the Night (1934) and The Last Tycoon (1941) 77

Tender Is the Night: Composition 78

Tender Is the Night: Synopsis 80

Tender Is the Night: Interpretations 83

The Last Tycoon: Synopsis 84

The Last Tycoon: Reflections on an Unfinished Novel 85

Further Reading 87

Further Viewing 87

Chapter 6: Short Stories and Essays 89 Short Stories 90

“The Ice Palace” (1920) 90

“May Day” (1920) 91

“Winter Dreams” (1922) 91

“Jacob’s Ladder” (1927) 92

“The Last of the Belles” (1929) 93

“Babylon Revisited” (1931) 94

Essays 95

Further Reading 96

Further Viewing 97

Further Listening 97

Conclusion 99

Bibliography 100

Index 103

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