“Words and Screen: Transposition of American Idealism in The Great Gatsby”

(Don’t mention movie in the title. Title shouldn’t be so long)

Introduction

Francis Scott Fitzgerald, an American novelist, short story writer born in 1896 is an important
literary figure and the greatest American writer of the 20th century. The era of wild glamour and
economic success, Fitzgerald defined it as The Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald wrote four
novels This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), The Great Gatsby (1925),
and Tender is the Night (1934). A fifth, unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), was published
posthumously.

The period of cultural peak and decaying of social values is also known as the Jazz Age.
America endures a whole new wild experience when every set norm of the society was turned
upside down. Bootlegging and The Jazz Age defined era of Fitzgerald’s life as a successful
writer. Roaring Twenties boom lasted for ten years Fitzgerald reached the peak of his eminence
in 1925 when he perfectly captured the true essence of the Jazz Age and published his most
famous novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald stated the 20’s as the “age of miracles” (n.pag) he
added saying that “it was an age of art, it was an age of excess and it was an age of satire” (n.
pag). After the publication of his third novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald moved to Paris and
joined the growing community of American writers. Fitzgerald and his contemporary fellows
like Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Sherwood Anderson, and T.S Eliot published their
works in 1920’s. The famous duo of Fitzgerald and Hemingway had a unique friendship
bonding. For Fitzgerald Roaring Twenties had its own shimmer but that glamorous charm lead
man to the self destruction.

Fitzgerald’s writing has a lighter tone but contains layering of meaning in it. The layers
of meanings provide a subtext which allows his novels to a sense of doom and catastrophe
hidden beneath its evident simplicity while also displaying idyllic romantic. These Fitzgerald
combines literary naturalism and psychological complexity in his characters which was ever
much exploited in 20th century literature. Fitzgerald style has a clear sentence structure he also
puts a lot of biographical details into his own novels and stories which can be read for symbolic
qualities. In spite of using simple clear language Fitzgerald uses a dynamic technique with
words. The most prominent feature of his style is the use of descriptive language with similes
and striking adjectives draws a dramatic picture of his characters.

Symbols in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work express an imperative subject. In his most famous
novel The Great Gatsby, the symbol of the green light is used to express his character dreams,
hopes, money, wealth, and most importantly the boom of an American Dream. Fitzgerald not
only uses symbols to present the desire of his characters but draws a contrast between the reality
and illusion. Through these symbols Fitzgerald expresses the momentous thoughts on people.
Another symbol in Fitzgerald’s writing is the car as representation of wealth and rank. Fitzgerald
frequently uses symbol of car in many of his fiction to illustrate the financial position and
comment on society’s hierarchy and materialism. Fitzgerald’s work is highly symbolic and he
use symbols to emphasize the flaws of American society. By creating symbols, Fitzgerald
exhibits his surpass writing skills. His symbols represent more than just one thought or concern.

The main concern of Fitzgerald’s writing is materialism, glamour, and obsession with
American Dream which leads his characters to mental sickness and alcoholism. Fitzgerald’s
gives a true essence of the Roaring Twenties, the time when America’s economy was at its
boom. American the declared as the land of opportunities gave a birth to the American Dream.
Fitzgerald writes about the murky side of the America in 1920’s whereas Americans were
engrossed chasing their American Dream and getting carried away by the glitz and glam of
Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald has incorporated the theme of the decline of the American Dream
by the characters’ rot of morality, failure social values and the wild desire for money. Fitzgerald
also writes about the society’s consciousness of their status labeled people belonging to two
explicit types, the elite upper class and lower class. The tassel and conflict of social classes are
also raised in his works. In a nutshell Fitzgerald’s literary works shows the effects of money and
hierarchy influence on the people in authority. Fitzgerald believed that only in the world of
dream and illusion his characters can maintain their emotions. According to Mezener,
imaginative penetration to the American world is given by Fitzgerald (n. pag). He gives an
insight into the American lifestyle shows the potential power of the wealth accessible to the
upper class.
Literature Review

F. Scott Fitzgerald, the writer of roaring twenties had a great influence of the Jazz Age on
his works. His works presents a jagged satire of the Jazz Age and American Dream. Jazz Age
1920, is one of the most prominent key terms in Fitzgerald’s works circles around the pursuit of
sensations, inevitable fuse of dissolution and glamour. As Brooks remark roaring twenties as an
age of ‘disillusionment’ and ‘frenetic excitement’ (qtd.in Ghasemi and Tiur 118). James Truslow
Adams in his book Epic of America coined the phrase, American Dream, where he weight on
“fullest stature” of each men and women for which they are “innately capable” (qtd. in Roth 28).
The Jazz Age of 1920 lead America to undergo a radical change and social reform.

Fitzgerald, as a writer, did not view American Dream as a personal substance, or a wistful
idealistic approach only but he also saw it as a distinguishing attribute of the American nation.
The dream is a recurring pattern in each part, point and guise of Fitzgerald’s works on American
experience (Ghasemi 121). Fitzgerald’s works has been extensively analyzed through the
perceptive of an excessive indulgence in illusions, dreams and characters are sliding into “self
absorbed paralysis” and “individual waste” (Pelzer 53). In a quest of chasing the true essence
“American Dream” Fitzgerald instigate by exposing the corrupted side of the dream made by
industrial America which ended in moral decay. Hence concluded that the American Dream
symptomatic only an illusion of lasting youth, happiness, beauty and money (Ghasemi 124).
Boorstin elaborates dream as an aspiration or vision to which we can balance reality. On the
other hand we take an illusion as a mistaken image of reality. We continue to live for our created
dreams and illusions (239). Boosrtin continues by saying that sole purpose of the dream is that it
has to be accomplished only; the sole reason of Americans downfall was because they started to
live in a dream (240). Bewley labeled American Dream as a “fantastical ideology” (224).
 Research Methodology

This research report is qualitative in nature which contains material taken from critical
books as well as online articles to authenticate the topic at hand. Moreover, the topic “Words and
Screen: Transposition of American Idealism in the movie The Great Gatsby” is highlighted by
using the novel written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald as a primary source to examine the topic
thoroughly.

Containing both intra-textual and inter-textual references, this study tries to do justice to
the work under analysis and aims at developing deep understanding of the aforementioned. The
criterion of this research is to portray the synchronization of the characters with ----------. The
primary text for research is the movie “The Great Gatsby” based on the novel The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The secondary sources are books, encyclopedias, criticism, articles and
reviews. One of the main problems faced during research report was the lack of research
facilities in college premises. The limitations of research include limited access to J store articles
in universities’ computer labs. However, within the confines of availability the topic has been
comprehensively researched and explained.

Works Cited

Bewley, Marius. “Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America.” The Sewanee Review. University of
South: Sewanee Review, Vol.62. 1954. 226-23. Web.

Boorstin, Daniel J. The Image: Or What Happened to the American Dream. Atheneum: New
York, 1962. 240-39.Print.

Brooks, C. American literature: The makers and the making. Book D, 1914 to the
present. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1973. Print.

Elbe, Kenneth. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Twayne’s United States Authors Series#36. Revised
edition 1977. Fitzgerald.narod: Fitzgerald.narod.ru, n.pag. Web.
 Flanagan, Thomas. “Fitzgerald’s Radiant World.” The New York Review of Books.
Nybooks. Nybooks.com. 21 December. 2000. 4-1. Web.

Thrilling, Lionel. “Books and the Arts F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Amazonaws.com: The
Nation, 25 August, 1945. 182-84. PDF file.