F. Scott Fitzgerald and the 1920s

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F. Scott Fitzgerald and the 1920s

• Background Notes for the Reading of
• The Great Gatsby

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The 1920s

• A time of great social change including fashion,
  music, politics, attitudes, etc..
• Forces clashed to produce the most explosive
  decade of the century, a time when most of the
  established rules of society were broken.
• World War I ended in 1918 setting the stage for
  the Roaring Twenties, a decade in America of
  madcap behavior and materialism.

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Cultural Context of the Novel

• Among the rules broken were the age-old
  conventions guiding the behaviors of women.
• The new woman demanded the right to vote and to
  work outside the home.
• Symbolically, she cut her hair into a boyish
  bob and bared her calves in the short, sleek
  skirts of the fashionable twenties flapper.

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Cultural Context of the Novel

• Another rule often broken was the Eighteenth
  Amendment to the Constitution, or Prohibition,
  which banned the public sale of alcoholic
  beverages from 1919 until its repeal in 1933.
• Speak-easies, nightclubs, and taverns that sold
  liquor were often raided, and gangsters made
  illegal fortunes as bootleggers, smuggling
  alcoholic beverages into America from abroad.

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Prohibition and Gangsters

• Gangsters profited during this decade by
  smuggling alcohol and distributing it to
  different illegal businesses.
• Al Capone was one of these gangsters who made
  105 million a year on smuggling alcohol into the
  United States.

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The Black Sox Scandal

• Another gangland activity was illegal gambling.
  Perhaps the worst scandal involving gambling was
  the so-called Black Sox Scandal of 1919, in which
  eight members of the Chicago White Sox were
  indicted for accepting bribes to throw baseballs
  World Series.

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Cultural Context of the Novel

• It was also an era of reckless spending and
  conspicuous consumption, and the most conspicuous
  status symbol of the time was a flashy new
  automobile.

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Advertising

• Advertising was becoming the major industry that
  it is today, and soon advertisers took advantage
  of new roadways by setting up huge, often
  incongruous billboards at their sides.
• Both the automobile and a bizarre billboard play
  important roles in The Great Gatsby.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby

• Anticipation Activity
• Directions respond to the following
  anticipation questions for The Great Gatsby. Be
  prepared to support your response.

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Question 1

• Would you marry someone for money?

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Question 2

• Is a family with old money different from/better
  than a family with new money?

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Question 3

• Does a college degree make you more socially
  acceptable?

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Question 4

• Is there a circumstance in which adultery should
  be allowed?

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Question 5

• Are people with money happier than people without
  money?

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Question 6

• Do you think that you can be in love with more
  than one person at a time?

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Question 7

• When one comes by wealth illegally, do you
  believe he or she is very likely to pay for it in
  the end?