Modernism in Fitzgerald's Works

An analysis and comparison of Modernist themes of several short stories

Evan Widloski

Modernism

Cultural revolution from 1910-1945

Rejection of old ways Disillusionment with city

life Rejection of extravagance

and ornamentation

Modernist architecture with clean, rectangular lines

Common themes

Rejection of old ideas – realism, romanticism

Desire for material things Protagonist whose dreams are shattered Over-indulging culture Blindness from wealth Past is inescapable

Winter Dreams

Follows the life of an ambitious young man

Changes life directions whimsically – Winter Dreams

Dexter meets a strong-headed girl, Judy, but she is uninterested in him

She only cares for wealth They meet years later and Dexter brags of business success

Judy flirts with other men, and ends up marrying elsewhere

Dexter mourns over the years he lost chasing her

Winter Dreams v. The Great Gatsby

Judy and Daisy play the same role in both stories

They represent the allure of extravagance and the emptiness from it

Gatsby parallels Dexter Green

Both were ambitious young boys with targets set on success

Focused solely on gain. Material earnings are everything.

Gatsby and Dexter's dreams are destroyed by their overwhelming attraction to prosperity

Babylon Revisted

Charlie is a likeable young man with a sinful past He seems repenting but his attitude is sly and

extremely persuasive Charlie comes to Paris for the purpose of reclaiming

his daughter, Honoria He is hopeful that he will get to spend time with her

There is a change of plans: Charlie will not get Honoria, and the story abruptly ends

Babylon Revisited v. The Great Gatsby

Both Charlie and Gatsby led consuming lives

Changed their image and were presented as likeable characters

Despite being virtuous their history caught up with them and they pay dearly for it

Their dreams vanish immediately

Gatsby is killed without a fight and uneventfully Charlie ends the story quickly, unable to bear

the pain of losing his daughter

The Lost Decade

Orrison Brown is asked to take Trimble out to lunch

Brown begins to notice oddities in Trimble's answers

He wants to see the backs of people's necks and he is fascinated by the weight of spoons

Trimble finally reveals that he spent the last decade drinking heavily and that he is trying to reclaim it

Trimble's odd behavior shows the absolute loss resulting from his alcohol problems and encourages the reader to appreciate the detail of everyday life

The Lost Decade v. The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald is able to convey somuch in this short story

Trimble and Gatsby experience a disconnect

They are both “dreamers” Trimble lost a decade to

drinking while Gatsby lost 5 years obsessing over Daisy

Orrison Brown and Nick serve as observers

They both make mental remarks, but never directly ask what they are thinking

Drunk by Egon Schiele

Fitzgerald

Works Cited

Images:

http://fitzgeraldmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/he-knew-she-was-lying.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/2006-06-05_1580x2900_chicago_modernism.jpg

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium/drunk-inspired-by-egon-schiele-udi-peled.jpg

Sources

http://gutenberg.net.au/fsf/WINTER-DREAMS.html

http://gutenberg.net.au/fsf/BABYLON-REVISITED.html

http://www.gutenberg.net.au/fsf/THE-LOST-DECADE.html