Biography
Association with man from higher social backgrounds = observe structure of American society
Fitzgerald left Priceton University without a degree and joined the Army but he never served overseas. At Camp Sheridan he fell in love with Zelda Sayre that didn’t want to marry him because of his poor background. When he had success because of his book This Side of Paradise, he became popular and married Zelda. During the 1920’s they had a glamorous lifestyle spending a lot of money and they lived in NY, Washington, Hollywood and travelled abroad. They had an only child, Frances Scott. But they were always in debt. Fitzgerald then published The Beautiful and the Damned, where he wanted to express a moral vision. In 1954 they went to Europe where, in 1925 The Great Gatsby was published. The popularity of Fitzgerald declined. In Paris they met Hemingway and other members of the American expatriate community. Zelda became very frustrated by the lack of accomplishments in her life and decided to achieve some independent self-expression. Fitzgerald began to drink more and write less. In 1930 Zelda was recovered in Switzerland because she had schizophrenia. In 1931 they returned to the United States to recover Zelda. In 1947 Zelda died. Fitzgerald published Tender is the Night. In 1935 he had a physical and spiritual crisis. Then he signed a contract as a scriptwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and moved to Hollywood where he began a sentimental relationship with Sheilah Graham and he started The Last Tycoon. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44.

The Jazz Age
Between the end of the first world war in 1918 and the great crash on wall street in 1929. Period characterized by the changes in the way people thought, felt and behaved. The young were in revolt against the “Puritanism” a repression and an adherence to gender roles. They experienced a new freedom, which gave rise to a type know as “the flapper” a typical young girl who cut her hair short, abandoned corsets, wore short dresses and did the Charleston. The automobile changed the world in assembly line method, alteration of the landscape because of the building of roads and greater mobility. The rise of mass media brought the radio in nearly every family, brought movie stars on the cultural scene, encouraged the development of magazines. The government encouraged economic expansion and the natural income rose by 50%. However, if business people were advantaged, people from mining towns and farmers were disadvantaged. Racist movements born in this period, like the “Red Scare” in Russia or the Ku Klux Klan in America. Prohibition of liquor was introduced, and as a consequence it begun a new life style of illegal drinking with criminal organizations.
In literature, a lot of American writers moved to Europe because they felt alienated from American society, and most chose to live in Paris. Fitzgerald had a dual vision of the romantic and the moralist and chronicle the malaise and the exuberance of the decade.

The American Dream
Is the belief in the possibility of starting over again, of escaping from the past and inventing a better future. On socio-political level is the opportunity for all (Jefferson, agrarian civilization). Economically exalts the self-made man, like Benjamin Franklin. In spiritual terms, is the expression of the basic human desire to transcend the limitations of one’s life and achieve happiness and fulfillment. In 1920 the American dream is only the pursuit of material success. People live in a world of materialism where objects are more important than morality and have no culture or religion by which order their lives. Ex. the parties at Gatsby’s mansion.

The Design of The Great Gatsby
Aesthetic principles: economy of expression and clarity of design. His success is determined by the use of a modernist point of view, more subjective and limited. There are two Nick Carraway in the novel: the storyteller that is retrospective, and the protagonist. He also rejects a strictly chronological ordering of time. The book is structured as a series of scenes. He created a unique style, paying attention to shape and sound of his sentences: the result is a blend of three kinds of language, quoted speech and dialogue, a polished vernacular, and Nick’s literary personal style.

Differences between movie and book
In the movie Nick is not the narrator nor does it say that he is. In Gatsby's phone call the first one Detroit wasn't mentioned as the small town that Philadelphia mentioned. When Nick was offered a job be Gatsby he didn't say anything about it ruining his life that it would be the crisis of his life. In the movie Gatsby comes through the back door not the front. Its says that's Gatsby and Daisy haven't seen each other in 8 years next November and in the book it is 5 years next December. The eight year difference also changed the age of the characters, making them older than they are in the book.
The plot and the setting of book and movie are very similar.   There was a lot of thins borrowed from the book, but there was a lot changed as well.   The movie followed the plot of book very closely and portrayed the setting of the book very well. A lot of the dialogue was borrowed and spoken directly as it was in the book.    The party scene of where Nick met Gatsby for the first time was drastically different in the movie than it was in the book.   In the book, Nick and Gatsby were talking about the war and Nick did not know that he was talking to Gatsby. In the movie, Gatsby summoned Nick up to his study and they had a very awkward conversation.  

Jordan Baker -  She is Daisy Buchanan's long-time friend, a professional golfer with a slightly shady reputation. She’s a woman with whom Nick becomes romantically involved during the course of the novel. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth. She has been born with money and has lived in a culture full of money and has been spoiled by it. She is surrounded by people like the Buchanans who perpetuate her indulgent behavior. This can be observed in the scene where she and Nick are driving in the city and calls her a careless driver. She says she doesn't worry because the other people on the road aren't as careless as her and that she makes sure she surrounds herself with people who won't "crash" into her. It can be seen that Jordan has no concept of accountability and that has been furthered by the people who allow her to go unaccountable.