Francis Scott Fizgerald - Great Gatsby 课件.ppt

Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) The Jazz Era in the Twenties The decade of the 1920s is often characterized as a period of American prosperity and optimism. It was the Roaring Twenties, the decade of bath tub gin, the model T (luxuriant Ford car), the $5 work day, the first transatlantic flight, and the movie. Americas Great Depression After the roaring 1920s, the Great Depression immediately followed. Americas Great Depression began in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ended in 1941 with Americas entry into World War II.? Upon the dramatic crash of the stock market on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929, 16 million shares of stock were quickly sold by panicking investors who had lost faith in the American economy. At the height of the Depression in 1933, nearly 25% of the Nation‘s total work force, twelve million eight hundred and thirty thousand (12,830,000) people, were unemployed. The moral code of the 1920’s roaring decade: Sucess means money, and money means happiness. The characteristics of the 1920’s roaring decade: carefree in living style frivolous in sexual behavior impudent moneymaking drinking hard whisky driving fast cars decline of morality loss of honesty Fitzgerald’s own life was a mirror of his his times: As a writer, Fitzgerald was both a leading participant and a detached observer of the 1920s. When the nation was prosperous, he was rich and successful. When America suffered from the Great Depression, his fortune also failed. He met his girl friend Zelda Sayre in the same way as Gatsby meets Daisy in his novel. Zelda was the daughter of a judge in Montgomery, Alabama, a beautiful society girl, who told Fitzgerald that she liked him well enough but it would be too expensive for him to marry her. When he left the army in 1919, he had no means of supporting Zelda, who soon broke their engagement. Six months later, he made money from the publication of his novel This Side of Paradise, Zelda agreed to marry him . Throughout his life,