lllf) L~ ~ - EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY ANO MODERNISM - American Fiction

Rise from bed .... .... ........ ......... ••••··· ··································· ·· ··········· 6.00 A.M
Dumbbel1 2 exerci se and wall-~caling 3 .•.. .. . ...... .. . •. .•....... •.• •• . .•.•.. . •. 6. I 5--6.30 ,,
Study electri city, etc. .. ..... ....... .. ..... ... ... .. ... ..... .... ...... ... ........ .. ... .. ... 7. 15-8. JS ,,
Work ........ ........ ....... ... .... ......... ........ .. ... ............ ...... .... .... .... ...... .. .. . 8.30--4.30 P.M
Baseball and sports ............... ......... ... ... ..... ... .............. .. ...... ........... 4.30--5.0o ,,
Practice elocution, poise 4 and how to attain it... .. ...... ......... ..... .... 5.00--6.00 ,,
Study needed inventions ...... ......... .............. ... .. ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... 7.00--9.00 ,, IO

GENERAL RESOLVES 5
No wasting time at Shafters or (a name, indecipherable\
No more smokeing or chewing
Bath every other day
Read one improving book or magazine per week 15
Save $5.00 (crossed out\ $3.00 per week
Be better to parents

'I come across this book by accident,' said the old man. 'It just shows you,
don't it?' 20
'It just shows you. '
'Jimmy was bound to get ahead 6 . He always had some resolves like this or
something. Do you notice what he's got about improving his mind? He was
always great for that. He told me I et like a hog 7 once, and I beat him for it.'
He was reluctant to close the book, reading each item aloud and then 25
looking eagerly8 at me. I think he rather expected me to copy down the
list for my own use.
A little before three the Lutheran minister arrived from Flushing, and l
began to look involuntarily out the windows for other cars. So did
Gatsby's father. And as the time passed and the servants came in and stood 30
waiting in the hall, his eyes began to blink9 anxiously, and he spoke of the
rain in a worried, uncertain way. The minister glanced 10 several times at
his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But
it wasn't any use. Nobody came.
*
About five o'clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and 35
stopped in a thick drizzle 11 beside the gate - first a motor hearse 12 ,
horribly black and wet, then Mr Gatz and the minister and me in the
2. Dumbbell: weight
used to build up limousine, and a little later four or five servants and the postman from
muscles
3. wall-scaling: physica l
exercise
4. poise: dignified and
composed behaviour
5. resolves: things you
are determ in ed to do
6. Jimm y .. . ahead: it
was inevitable that he
would be successfu l
7. hog: ma le pig
8. eagerl y: expectantl y
9. blink: open and close
eyes quickly
10.glanced: gave a quick
look
11. drizzle: persistent
slight rain
12. hearse: funeral car
 The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 17 al

\,Vest Egg, in Gatsby's station wagon, all wet to the skin. As we started
through the gate into the cemetery I heard a car stop and then the sound 40
of someone splashing after us over the soggy 13 ground. I looked around. It
was the man with owl-eyed glasses whom I had found marvelling over
Gatsby1s books in the library one night three months before.
)1d never see n him si nce then. I don't know how he knew about the
funeral, or even his name. The rain poured down his thick glasses, and he 45
wok them off and wiped them to see the protecting canvas unrolled from
Gatsby1s grave.
tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment, but he was already too
1
far away, and I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy
hadn t sent a message or a flower. Dimly 14 I heard someone murmur,
1 50
'Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on,1 and then the owl-eyed man
said 'Amen to that1, in a brave voice.
we straggled 15 down quickly through the rain to the cars. Owl-eyes spoke
to me by the gate.
'I couldn t get to the house,' he remarked.
1
55
13.soggy: extremely wet
'Neither could anybody else.' 14.Dimly: not clearly,
'Go on!' He started. 'Why, my God! They used to go there by the hundreds.' indistinctly
He took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in. IS.straggled: walked in
a disorderly way
'The poor son-of-a-bitch,1 he said.

COMPREHENSION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - i
3 Who initially attends the funeral? Who arrives late?
1 What does Gatsby's father show Nick on the day of
the funeral? What had Gatsby written on the fly-leaf? 4 Why is the man with the owl-eyed glasses surprised
when he learns that nobody came to Gatsby's house
2 Why does Nick ask the minister to delay starting
to pay their respects?
the service by half an hour?

ANALYSIS
1 Find examples of non-standard English usage in
Gatsby's father's speech. Which social class does he
belong to?
2 Which entries in Gatsby's 'schedule' underline his
ambition to better himself?
3 Which entry hints at a strained relationship
between the young Gatsby and his parents?
4 How does the incident recounted by his father (line
24) confirm the notion that Gatsby was not happy
with his family/social background?
5 In Text Gl 6 Nick is unconvinced by Gatsby's way
of speaking. How have his suspicions been confirm ed
by what Gatsby's father has revealed?
6 Circle the expressions that refer to the weather and
its effect on the mourners and the funeral. What
atmosphere is created?
7 Gatsby is mourned by Nick, whom he met not
long before his death, and the man with owl glasses,
who apparently was not a particularly close friend
('I'd never seen him since then'). What conclusions
can you draw about the type of social circles Gatsby
moved in? Did he have any true friends?
8 Having read the description of the party in Text
Gl 6, are you surprised by the lack of affection shown
for Gatsby at his funeral?
D. 78 EARI.Y TWENTIETH CENTURY AND MODERNISM - American Fiction

First-person First-person narrators fall into two main

.
categories: first-pe rson narrator
. s Who ar
narrators central characters in th e story, and fir st-person narrators who are mino h ethe
. r c aract
Ce ntral charac ter narr ators and m111or character narrators engage th e r ers.
eader .1
different ways. n
When a central character tells his story, th e reader has direct access to them .
. ain focu
interest in the story. The 'I' narrator who tell s lrn own story generally ex . Sof
. h' . d p1a1ns hi
thoughts, analyses his emotions an d motivates 1s action an , therefore , us ua Iyw· s
I
the reader's sympathy and involves him emotionally and intellectually in his tale 1ns
When the first-person narrator is a minor character, the reader does not ha ·.
. ve direct
access to the thoughts and feelings of the mam character of the story - what he le
he must piece together from them · format10n· t hat 1s· prov1·cted. ams
This narrative technique can be used to create an air of mystery and tension
. . , and ~
engage the reader's attention by slowly allowmg him to put together the pieces of the
puzzle.

TASK In Scott Fitzgerald's novel, the centr~I character and ~he main focus of interest is Gatsby,
but because the story is told by a minor character, Nick Carraway, the reader does not .
have direct access to Gatsby's thoughts and feelings. For much of the novel Gatsby
appears to be an enigmatic, contradictory character shrouded in mystery. Like Nick, the
reader only slowly pieces together the puzzle that is Gatsby. Why do you think Scott
Fitzgerald withholds information from the reader by using a minor character narrator to tell
the story?
To increase tension and mystery.
Because Nick can provide an objective assessment of Gatsby.
Because Nick truly understands the workings of Gatsby's mind.
Because this indirect form of narration makes the reader speculate and interpret and
therefore become an active participant in the story.

OVER TO YOU Write a short paragraph of introduction from the central character Gatsby's point of view'.
Mention the following points:
- family and social background
- ambition to succeed
- relationship with parents.
As the central character, your first-person narrative should try to engage the reader's
sympathies.

~!~~Isby was rich, he threw lavish parties for hundreds of people but how many of them were re~
IN_hy did none of th e~ go_to hi_s funeral? In English, the phrase 'fair-w~ather friends' .refers to people w~o a:~iveas
Ifne nd1 Ywh~n ~verythmg is 901119 well but who disappear when problems arise. What, then, is real fne nd p
opposed to fair-weather friend ship'? Write your own definition.
IFor exa mple: Real friendship is dropping what you are doing to go and help a friend in need.
 Writers' Gallery - Francis Scott Fitzgerald 79 ~-

I Early years
Francis Scott
. . LIFE Fitzgerald was born in 1896
m Minnesota into an upper-class family. He attended Princeton
University but, due to the outbreak of the First World War, he
interrupted his studies and joined the army.
Success, marriage and the high life After his discharge from
the army he moved to New York City, where he started work on
his first novel. This Side of Paradise was published in 1920 and
was an immediate success. In 1921 he married his fiancee Zelda,
a young socialite from a wealthy background, and embarked
with her on a high life of big spending and party-going. To
support such a lifestyle Fitzgerald had to keep turning out large
amounts of work, so he started writing stories for popular papers.
FRANCIS Scorr
FITZGERALD The appearance of his second novel, The Beautiful and the
(1896-1940) Damned (1922), consolidated his fame as a brilliant writer.
Europe and The Great Gatsby In 1924 the couple moved to Europe and settled on the French
Riviera. The following year Fitzgerald published what is widely considered his finest novel, The Great
Gatsby. However, the book was not a commercial success and marked the beginning of the decline of
the author's popularity.
Illness, debts and declining reputation For the next five years the Fitzgeralds travelled back and
forth between Europe and the United States. Zelda suffered a series of nervous breakdowns and was
hospitalised for much of the rest of her life. In 1934 Fitzgerald published Tender is the Night which,
although critically acclaimed, sold badly. Frustrated and in serious debt, he started working as a
scriptwriter for a major movie studio in Hollywood. He only completed one screenplay before being
dismissed for alcohol abuse.
Final publications Fitzgerald returned to writing short stories. In 1940, before completing his final
novel, The Last Tycoon (published in 1941), he died, at forty-four, of a heart attack.
A record of his life and times Fitzgerald was the author who
WORKS best represented the historical decade in America known as the
'Roaring Twenties', or the 'Jazz Age' Visual Link G16). He was not, however, a detached observer
of the period - he experienced it first hand and was an expression of its aspirations, dreams and
excesses. All his novels are autobiographical to some degree. Tender is the Night (1934), for example,
tells the story of a psychiatrist who marries one of his patients and reflects the author's experience as
the husband of the mentally unstable Zelda.
An American classic Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby has become a major American
classic. The story is set on Long Island, where the Fitzgeralds rented a house in the 1920s. It is
narrated by Nick Carraway, a detached but curious observer who watches his wealthy neighbours
living a hedonistic, destructive and immoral life. It captures the spiritual bankruptcy and material
excesses of the time and questions the basic principles of the American Dream.
Style Fitzgerald's greatest talent as a writer was his ability to create atmosphere and characters. His
rich, elegant prose style is dense in metaphors*, similes* and symbols*, and often has the evocative
beauty of poetry.

TASK
In many ways F, Scott Fitzgerald embodied the spirit of the 'Roaring Twenties'. Support this statement
referring to the events of his life and the themes of his novels.