Part 1: Introduction

Literary background: the novel

The author

Background notes

A note on the text

Part 2: Summaries

A general summary

Detailed summaries

Part 3: Commentary

Theme

Structure and technique

Imagery

Style

Characters in the novel

Part 4: Hints for study

Points for close study

Significant quotations

Answering questions

Specimen questions and model answers

Model answers to discussive questions

Answers to context questions

Part 5: Suggestions for further reading

The author of these notes

Literary background: the novel

The novel as a literary form emerged at the beginning ofthe eighteenth

century in England, during the age of the Industrial Revolution. The

rise of the middle class created a demand for simple reading material,

based on familiar everyday experiences. The novel, therefore, developed

as a piece of prose fiction that presenled characlers in real-life events

and siluations. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), Samuel

Richardson's Pamela (1741) and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749)

are some examples ofearly novel-writing.

The novel of manners

The portrayal ofaclual life and conditions brought about an interest in

manners (social behaviour and attitudes) as they were associated with

certain classes ofpeople ofa certain time and place. And from this kind

of interest there came into being the novel of manners such as those

written by Henry Fieiding and Jane Austen. This type ofnovel is based

on the satirical and comic portrayal ofa particular social class and the

evenls concern the connicls between individual attitudes and conven-

tional values. In a way, most novels reflect the social manners ofacer-

tain class, ofa specific time and place setting. But if these novels cover

more than just social attitudes, then they cannot and should not be

classified as novels of manners.

The romance

Whereas the novel is a piece of prose ficlion that faithfully attempts to

present life as it really is, the romance is a piece of prose fiction that

describes life as it is imaginatively seen. Thus, whereas the novel adheres

closely to real life as il is daily experienced, the romance plunges into

the unfamiliar and inner aspects of human nature, which are not often

encountered in normal life. The romance, therefore, is not concerned

with ordinary e'.'ents. It penetrates into the inner depths of man and

establishes a moral Iruth aboul human nature.

The Great Gatsby: novel of manners or romance

On one level J'he Greal Gatsby may be read as a novel of manners. If

we see Gatsby's idealism as representing a personal code of conduct

which opposes society and its values, the book can be called a novel of

manners. The tone, too, is satirical and comic most of the time.

But bearing in mind the wider significance of The Greal Gatsby, it is

more appropriate to classify it as a romance. For the book does not

merely show the difTerent values of two groups of characters. The

account is more concerned with the portrayal ofa man's idealism seen,

on the one hand, in all its magnificence and, on the other, in all its

unreality. The imaginative presentation of Gatsby as a mysterious

figure fits well with the fantasy and magic of his dream. And the very

elusiveness of his dream points to the true condition of man's lot, the

fact that hopes and desires can never be fully realised.

The author

Bom in 1896 in St Paul, Minnesola, Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a

Mid-Westerner (see p.lO) and he came from a family which, on his

mother's side at least, had its roots in the Middle West. Phillip McQuil-

lan, his maternal grandfather, was a successful businessman in St Paul.

Although Fitzgerald's own rather, Edward Filzgerald, came from

Maryland, he subsequently settled in St Paul and started a business

there too in 1898. The Fitzgeralds left St Paul in 1903 but they returned

in 1908. And St Paul continued to play its part in Scolt Fitzgerald's own

life and career. It was here that he came to complete his first novel, This

Side oj 'Paradise (1920). After his marriage to Zelda Sayre, he settled for

some time in St Paul and'it was here that his daughter was born. In his

novels, especially The Great Galsby, St Paul, or the Mid-West at least,

was to contribute a considerable influence on the shaping of the

characters' moral outlook.

Edward Fitzgerald belonged to the urban middle class. After a prom-

ising start in business, he became more and more of a failure as he

moved from job to job. Whatever money Edward Fitzgerald and his

family had came from Phillip McQuillan, Ihe father-in-law. Scott

Fitzgerald's own education -from St Paul Academy to Princeton

University was mostly paid for by his mother's family.