The Great Gatsby

Roaring ’20s Economic boom Great prosperity– Mass production industries and assembly lines provides opportunities for investment (rich got richer) Great prosperity– Wages for working class increased 20% Could afford mass-produced products Technological advancements Washing machines, radios, cars Electrified households increased from 16% to two-thirds Lively culture Obsession with celebrity Babe Ruth, F. Scott Fitzgerald Advertising Mass consumption promoted by billboards Racism and Immigration KKK revitalization Breakdown of traditional mores Changing gender roles, stereotypes; more promiscuity Prohibition Bootleggers and criminal activity

The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald explores “modern” America Middle West represents a simpler time East represents modern 1920s The narrator, Nick Carraway, is thrust into a world of money and glamour, highlighting the sharp contrast of ideals during the 1920s.

Modernism Begins just before WW1 (1914) and ends just before WW2 (1945)– described as a traumatic coming-of-age period World War I destroyed the illusion that acting virtuously brought about good. What was the point? Based on the disruption and destruction of WWI; lack of purpose and drive having seen rampant, pointless death Political turmoil– Nazism, Fascism WW1, new technologies, industrialization, and changing morals The lives of the youth were very different from their parents’ Authors John Steinbeck, E.E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway

Focus Alienation Rebellion Cynicism

Style/ Characteristics Novels, Short stories, Poems Experimental styles Disjointed and nonlinear narratives (stream of consciousness)– often leaves the reader wondering: Where is this novel going? First-person limited narrator-- often unreliable Frequent, broken dialogue Themes of loss and exile; alienated and lonely characters Symbolism used to point out society's evils. Heavy use of classical allusions

Philosophy Civilization is in decline (disillusionment, materialism, “lost generation”) Capitalism and industrialization isolate the individual Collectivism is more successful than individualism Traditional morals and virtues are no longer relevant (leaned toward experimentation, breaking away from the predictable) The American Dream is an illusion

Comparison Realism Modernism Shows how society dealt with the normality of life Shows a society that was rebelling against traditions of the Realist generation Accepted reality Hoped to change reality Critical of society Even more critical of society Conventional structure Fragmented plots; experimental