We Dissect The Great Gatsby

Our meeting was akin to a college literature class last week, as Patty led us into the deep meanings and literary mastership of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When Patty joined our group, she was introduced as a friend of Dorothy, who has since moved to Dallas but who was a retired English professor from American University. For a long time, I thought Patty was also a retired English professor, but then she told me she had taught kindergarten. I still think Patty has some college professor qualities! Everyone seemed impressed with the directed manner she used to lead our discussion!

To me, the most interesting aspect of Gatsby was the interplay between Fitzgerald's bio and the book. We decided that the book was a great commentary about the roaring 20s and also a slice of life portrayal. We decided that it didn't become popular until later because people enjoyed looking back later (that's the simplistic rendition of our discussion on that topic). We decided that Daisy was indeed modeled after Fitzgerald's tempestuous wife, Zelda, and we went into some of the ramifications of that for the book as well as for the marriage at the time. We found that the author was reflected in both Gatsby and the narrator, Nick. We did not find any of Fitzgerald in Tom - we didn't like Tom, but we had a healthy respect for Fitzgerald!