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Ronald MacDonald <ronald@rmacd.com> Fri Mar 27 16:18:28 EST 2009

F Scott Fitzgerald was born in Minnesota, to the daughter of a millionaire. From his mother, Fitzgerald inherited the aspiration that any young American could achieve their dream through hard work. From his father, Fitzgerald inherited the propensity for failure (Reynolds 860). Fitzgerald married above his social standing, a Southerner by the name of Zelda Sayre, in 1920.

The Great Gatsby was set in the 1920s, a symbol of a nation of change for many, from a state of post-war nervousness and shock, to the path to a realisation of the American Dream. Like The Great Gatsby, the Fitzgeralds' existence during the 1920s was one of flair and extravagance, of excess spending, riotous parties, and the company of the elite. Writing in 1931, Fitzgerald described how the Jazz Age “bore him up, flattered him and gave him more money than he could dream of” – simply for his recollection and vigorous literary realisation of the “nervous energy stored up and unexpended in the War” (Jo Tate 64) in his literary output of short stories. Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby also “participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War,” claiming to have “came back restless” and resulting in his migration “East [to] learn the bond business]” (Fitzgerald 3) At one point, Fitzgerald could command figures of up to four thousand dollars per short story sold to the Saturday Evening Post, despite the Depression (Mangum 866). Their downfall however, proceeding the crash of 1929, was just as spectacular, indirectly resulting in the institutionalisation of Fitzgerald’s wife for depression and psychological instability. Fitzgerald meanwhile yielded to alcohol abuse (Reynolds 860).

Fitzgerald, in Gatsby, portrays the lives of the careless and restless rich, depicting Jay Gatsby as the personification of the American Dream, the self-made man whose aim to succeed is also a futile quest for the love of the shallow and spoiled Daisy Buchannan (Mangum 865). A parallel to Fitzgerald’s own existence during the 1920s can be revealed as he describes the scenes of parties, happening on a regular basis, at Gatsby’s mansion. Extravaganza and panache abound when Gatsby hosts parties that are so grand, Gatsby himself does not know half of the visitors; “sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all…” (Fitzgerald 41). To add to the notion of Gatsby’s mindless squandering of money, Gatsby it is claimed by Nick, does not even invite most of his visitors, “a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission” (Fitzgerald 41). Gatsby’s reputation relies upon, and is swept along by, abundant rumours regarding his background - “Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once” (Fitzgerald 44) - certainly not tamed by Gatsby’s own lack of honesty and profuse insincerity.

Jazz as a musical language was experiencing huge revolutions in both its presentation and perception, and was beginning to transcend social, political and racial barriers that were all too common in an ever more isolationist and segregated society during a post-war 1920s America. Cases such as the Sacco vs. Vanzetti and the Scopes trial had put racism and religious fundamentalism at the forefront of the attacks spearheaded by the more conservative personalities of the 1920s. Inevitably, these tensions culminated in younger generations uprooting the very society they had been brought up in, turning their back to ‘archaic' and considered support of Isolationism and Prohibition, towards the hedonism of the Jazz Age; a loosening of sexual standards and an abundance of alcohol – despite Prohibition. The sexually evocative style of Jazz Dance was itself blamed for a breakdown in moral standards by those who regarded themselves expert in the field [quote]. Fitzgerald claimed in May 1931 to have coined the term “Jazz Age,” which as he defined it, stood from the suppression of the Cleveland May Day riots of 1919, to the collapse of the stock market in October 1929 (Lathbury 131).

It had taken until end of the Great War for general white populations in New York to recognise the value of Jazz. As Hans Arp writes, “Having lost an interest in the slaughterhouse of War, we searched for an elementary art that would, we thought, save mankind from the furious folly of those times” (Arp). Catalysed by the horror of war, and partly spurred by notions widely publicised by Freud On the Interpretation of Dreams, this artistic mini-renaissance, provided an opportunity for a metaphorical ‘fresh start,' culminating in a focus towards the primitive aspects of art form. Much of the groundwork had already been covered by European artists, such as in the case of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, or in the works of Modigliani and Picasso, and therefore with the objective of achieving a truly American post-romantic export, the task in hand was effectively passed to the African-American artists, who in turn cashed in on this fad – a “Vogue for Nero.”

It is impossible to envisage The Great Gatsby without the aspect and influence of the Jazz Age, an “age of miracles, an age of art, an age of excess and an age of satire.” Gatsby includes references to Jazz compositions of the Age, such as The Sheik of Araby, The Love Nest, The Rosary, and Ain’t we got fun, amongst others, which serve to provide a context for the passing of time. Excessive reference to time however, it may be argued, establishes a notion of ‘historical accuracy' throughout The Great Gatsby (Bruccoli c.200). For those readers in the 1920s who would have been familiar with the songs however, references to specific titles give an additional insight into the character of Gatsby, as the following lyrics can reveal:

In a literary context, although Gatsby is apart from Daisy for more than five years, during which time she marries Tom Buchannan, Gatsby retains the notion that Daisy loves him. In this sense, Fitzgerald therefore did not use the element of Jazz in its own artistic right, but rather as a metaphor for the 1920s and its related social issues in general.

Each individual character in The Great Gatsby has connections of some form, to the Jazz Age. Common to all character is their drive to succeed, as well as their desire to discover and realise a fragment of the American Dream in their own lives. The Great Gatsby intricately describes a society on the up rise across the board, from the working class Myrtle and Wilson, to Tom and Daisy Buchannan, who swoon amongst the social circles of East Egg and New York City. Each character is motivated by aspiration; as “idealism that [Fitzgerald] saw as defining America’s character” (Bruccoli).

As each of the characters rise and gain status within their own circle, Fitzgerald displays through the use of satire that each character cannot realise their wishes by any other means than through dishonesty. “In literature, in art, in music – the post-war theme is similar” writes Kreis in the Age of Anxiety, “Abandon tradition, experiment with the unknown, change the rules, dare to be different, innovate, and above all, expose the sham of Western civilisation.” This is epitomised in the plot, where Myrtle lies to her husband, ultimately resulting in the murder of Gatsby. Jordan baker cheats in golf tournaments. Daisy is also essentially insincere, as she allows Gatsby to take the blame for the car accident which kills Myrtle. Most significantly, the whole of Gatsby’s life is also a lie, fooling not only others (“He would never so much look at a friend’s wife” – Wolfsheim) but himself also, about his past. (Reynolds 861). Nick Carraway, the narrator who claims he is “one of the few honest men I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 59), is also flawed of character, for he does not inform the police of Gatsby’s tendencies to dabble in crime, even though he expresses some concern whilst attempting to establish what relation Wolfsheim and Gatsby have in common; “Have you known Gatsby a long time?” (Fitzgerald 72).

It is a misconception to assume that Fitzgerald was positively and solely a ‘prophet' of the Jazz age. Conversely, he was also one of its greatest critics. It is unfortunate however that towards the end of his life, Fitzgerald was unable to rid the postulation that he, as the writer Paul Gallico sharply put it, could “strike the bell of his generation but of no other.”

In conclusion, I would argue that within reasonable bounds, Gallico’s claim could easily be challenged, if only by comparison to contemporary accounts of the global economic recessions currently affecting millions in the United States and abroad. Fitzgerald and Carroway present to us as Gatsby, a portrait of a man broken by his own failures to achieve the American Dream. Through Fitzgerald’s account of the relentlessness and finesse of the Jazz Age, he clearly states his own belief that the Dream if at all pursued, should be done so by way of less prideful and more considered convulsions of energy and spirit – If only Bush had thought the same.