The Great Gatsby Background & Context

World War I War ended in 1918 – brutal carnage (trench warfare, chemical weapons) “Lost Generation” – no purpose in life Two main characters (Nick and Gatsby) fought in WWI New technologies were developed to make war goods (assembly line) Industry boomed, thus the economy boomed

The Roaring Twenties Rise of stock market in aftermath of war Increase in national wealth Materialism

The Roaring Twenties Consumerism Clash between “Old Money” (inherit from family) & “New Money” (develop it on their own) Desire for money and pleasure

The Roaring Twenties

The Jazz Age The decade (1920s) is also known as the Jazz Age Jazz music swept up from New Orleans to capture the national imagination Improvised and wild, Jazz broke the rules of music, and provided a soundtrack to the 1920s

The Jazz Age

The New Woman Women’s Right To Vote 19th Amendment passed August, 1920 “League of Women Voters” campaigned for social reform

The New Woman Women rebelled through fashion Refused to wear corsets Started wearing lipstick Women cut their hair into a boyish “bob” and bared their legs in the short skirts of the fashionable twenties “flapper”

The New Woman

The New Woman Behaved in more unconventional ways because of adjusting to more rapid changes than previous generations Smoked in public New ideas about family life: marriage, contraception, divorce, money

Prohibition 18th Amendment to the Constitution (1919-1933) banned the public sale of alcoholic beverages “Speak-easies” that sold liquor were often raided, and gangsters made fortunes as bootleggers, smuggling alcohol into America from abroad

Prohibition

Gambling Another “gangland” activity was illegal gambling “Black-Sox” Scandal of 1919: eight members of the Chicago White Sox were indicted for accepting bribes to throw baseball’s World Series.

Gambling

The Automobile Status symbol Brought America together, changed family life & recreation Advertising – automakers took advantage of new roadways to create billboard advertisements Both the automobile and a bizarre billboard play important roles in Gatsby

The Automobile

Other Inventions Radio-brought music into homes Moving Pictures-grew in appeal & sophistication. Sound was added in 1927.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald Born 1896 in Minnesota Princeton Class of 1917-on academic probation & later dropped out Enrolled in Army near end of WWI-became a 2nd lieutenant and was discharged in 1919

F. Scott Fitzgerald Met Zelda Sayre & fell in love - but her overpowering desire for wealth, fun, and leisure led her to delay their wedding until he could prove a success Married in 1920 - The couple fought regularly, often spurred by alcohol Zelda suffered a breakdown & died in a hospital fire in North Carolina

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald Wanted to be a writer but had a playboy reputation. Not taken seriously by critics. Wrote sober, although an alcoholic Even though he earned money from novels & screenplays, he was unhappy Died in 1940, considering himself a failure

The Great Gatsby Written in 1924, addresses different classes of society, money, and scandal during the Roaring 20’s Fitzgerald wrote many of these details from his early life into Gatsby

The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway (narrator) is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota who attends an Ivy League School and moves to New York after the war. Jay Gatsby is a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury and who falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed at a WWI military camp in the South.

The Great Gatsby Set on Long Island “East Egg” – Manhasset – symbolic of old money “West Egg” – Great Neck – symbolic of new money

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby “In my younger and more vulnerable years…”