Introduction to ExploringThe Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ms. ImesAmerican Literature

2014

Objective Cite strong and thorough

textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text [or various sources]. (Common Core Standard 1)

Exploring Fitzgerald’s World: The Roaring Twenties

"The 1920s were an age of dramatic political and social change.

For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms.

The nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into an affluent but unfamiliar “consumer society.”

Many Americans were uncomfortable with this new, urban, sometimes racy “mass culture””

(Direct Quotes from http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties )

Cause and Effect Graph: The Roaring Twenties

Exploring Fitzgerald’s World: The Prohibition

Among that same time, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, banning "the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors", what came to be known as the Prohibition.

As people during the Roaring Twenties enjoyed partying, people began to illegally "produce and sell liquor (known as ”bootlegging")" and began opening secret ”speakeasies (illegal drinking spots)”

These, along with "the accompanying rise in gang violence and other crimes led to waning support for Prohibition by the end of the 1920s”.

(http://www.history.com/topics/prohibition)

Cause and Effect Graph: The Prohibition

Modern-Day Depictions of the 1920s

Click to Watch The Great Gatsby (2012) Trailer (Baz Luhrmann)

Questions to Consider: Citing the examined historical political and social

issues of the 1920s and this modern-day video of the parties of the Roaring Twenties, what similar social issues and practices can you identify in today's society?

How do you see the examples of consumerism and extravagance in Fitzgerald's world still seen today? Cite specific examples from the video and real life.

Charting The American DreamAs we explored, the 1920s brought new ideas of “mass culture” and definitions of “success,” as well as various ways of making money (sometimes illegally) to achieve this newly standardized American Dream.

Looking at some of the definitions of The American Dream below, what are some specific examples of “success” that you still see prevalent today? What are the results of pursuing only these things as the definitions of “success”?

Consider the Quotation

“I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way…, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him…Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning– So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180).

Why is Studying The Great Gatsby Important Today?

As we have examined, we still share many similarities with Fitzgerald’s society today (mass culture, obsession with material success, corrupt means of achieving wealth, and still many false ideas of the American Dream).

If Gatsby is to embody the pursuit of the American Dream, in what ways might we identify with Gatsby in trying to pursue the unattainable?

Using evidence from the quotation, what are some of the dangers of trying to achieve idealized things of the past? To what means might we try to achieve these?

Key Things To Look Out For As We Examine the Text

Characters: In-depth analysis of Jay Gatsby and his embodiment of many Americans

Symbols: The Green Light at the end of Daisy’s Dock

Theme: Jay Gatsby’s relentless pursuit of the American Dream