Setting and the relationship to the theme of the (sometimes lost) ‘American Dream’

NEW YORK

KENTUCKY (Louisville)

NORTH DAKOTA

An aerial view of the valley of ashes early 1920s

The valley of ashes

• Corona Ash Dumps– For much of the 19th century, trash removal was a

private, not municipal, service, which made garbage an issue of social class.

– In 1895, the new commissioner of street cleaning, Colonel George E. Waring Jr. instituted regular trash pickups, and required New Yorkers to separate their garbage into three curbside bins for fuel ash, dry rubbish, and "putrescible" (wet) waste

• The ash was delivered to landfills. Brooklyn's was carted to the smouldering Corona ash dump, in Queens, which became the model for F. Scott Fitzgerald's Valley of Ashes.

• The ash dump closed in 1933; six years later, the World's Fair rose on the site.

The valley of ashes today

North Dakota

North Dakota

• Not very populated – a very sparse state • Not famous for much and there were very

little prospects for young men with lots of ambition.

• Why would Fitzgerald have chosen this state for Gatsby/Gatz to originate from?

Louisville

Louisville

• A city that became wealthy from the agricultural land that surrounded it.

• The ‘gateway’ to the South • ‘Society’ very important – your name was

everything• Daisy comes from a well established, wealthy

family. • Old Money

The American Dream

The American Dream

• The American Dream is a national philosophy of the United States in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work.

The American Dream• In the definition of the American Dream by James

Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.

• The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The American Dream

• “Go West, young man”– Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are

high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country. Horace Greeley, 1865