The Great Gatsby

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Learning Intentions
You are expected to take notes on every topic

• To know and understand the historical context
  surrounding the novel - background information on
  life in America in the 1920s.

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Business/Economy

• Fuelled by easy money the nineteen-twenties were
  boom times like never before. The post-war
  recession was forgotten as everyone went on a
  spending spree. Credit, and not savings, enabled
  consumers to boost corporate profits to new
  levels.
• The 1920's saw new discoveries and inventions in
  nearly every field of endeavour that became the
  foundation of thriving businesses.
• New business and production methods allowed
  manufacturers to make large profits which they
  put back into new factories and wage rises.
  Increased incomes, along with the introduction of
  credit with no credit card fees until years
  later, funded a huge increase in consumer
  spending.

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• Shoppers were able to buy big ticket consumer
  items like cars, fridges, washing machines,
  pianos, vacuum cleaners, furniture, and radios on
  time payment. Previously, these expensive items
  were only affordable by the wealthy.
• The rich splurged on apartments on Park Avenue
  and filled them with antiques and expensive
  paintings. The upward spiral in prosperity seemed
  to have no end and as always happens in this
  situation the easy money found its way into
  speculation. Using borrowed money, speculators
  pushed up the price of houses, land and shares

Business/Economy
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New Money VS Old Money

• New Money - recently acquired wealth
• Old Money - wealth acquired long ago and passed
  down through the generations.
• In the 1920s many of the wealthier people (mainly
  the ones who had always had money, old money)
  were thought to be coarse, rude, and tasteless.
  They believed they had a type of freedom from the
  ordinary. They were vulgar, insincere, and always
  let others clean their mess for them.

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Social Reform

• Up until the early 1900's the pace of change in
  American lifestyles had been relatively slow with
  most people experiencing a similar lifestyle to
  what their preceding generations had also
  followed. New influences created a new
  country-wide culture in the early twentieth
  century.
• Changes included
• VALUES -old values are being replaced with new
  values
• Growth and Prosperity
• Corruption
• Prohibition

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• How do you think todays society would react to
  Prohibition being passed in Australia?

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To Live in the 1920s

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v684n8FO68LUfeature
  related

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The Charleston

• Although the origins of the dance are obscure,
  the dance has been traced back to blacks who
  lived on an island off the coast of Charleston,
  South Carolina (which is why the dance is called
  "Charleston").
• The Charleston dance had been performed in black
  communities since 1903, but did not become
  internationally popular until the musical debuted
  in 1923
• The Charleston dance became extremely popular in
  the 1920s, especially with Flappers. The dance
  could be done by oneself, with a partner, or in a
  group.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vyNAOHtmy4j0feature
  related

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Flappers and Fashion

• In the 1920s, a new woman was born. She
  smoked, drank, danced, and voted. She cut her
  hair, wore make-up, and went to petting parties.
  She was giddy and took risks. She was a flapper.
• Beautiful coordinated and accessorized outfits
  were a feature of 1920's ladies fashions. Dresses
  were lighter and brighter and shorter than ever
  before.
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?v3Y0_dLgm4lw

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The Music

• In the 1920's new kinds of dancing evolved along
  with the new Jazz and Blues music.
• The new music and dances were fast paced and
  energetic, like the optimistic 1920's themselves.
  They were an escape from the horror of
• war, and an opportunity to release pent up
• emotions created by the restricted lifestyles
• forced on the public by the war effort.

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The Great American Dream

• In the 1920s most Americans were in pursuit of
  the infamous American Dream.
• The American dream was to be rich, successful,
  happy, and to be one of the social elites.
  However, the few that got there were labelled the
  new money.
• The new money is different from the old because
  the old never had to work for it. The old money
  treated the new money differently than ordinary
  people, but still deemed them inferior. People
  got to the top by which ever means they could.
  Americans put their values and morals away to
  reach the unreachable dream.

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HOMEWORK

• Define the following key terms in your own words
• Flapper
• New Money
• Old Money
• The Great American Dream
• Prohibition
• The Charleston