THE GREAT GATSBY AND F. SCOTT FITZEGERALD

Updated: Spring 2014

Part One: the 1920s

Or Part One: “The Roaring Twenties”

Or Part One: “The Jazz Age”

WWI

After WWI, The United States basically the only major power left standing.

People thought war was basically over.

THE 1920S

The economy boomed – people were making more money than ever! Thanks to the Stock Market and Wall St, ordinary people could make a fortune.

JAZZ AGE

Jazz became a popular form of music. The Charleston became a form of dance. This was mostly among the younger generation – the older generation considered all this to be “too vulgar.”

RIGHTS FOR WOMEN

During WWI, women had to go to work.

In 1920, women got the right to vote.

This new, liberated type of women lead to the emergence of “flappers.”

FLAPPERSFlappers were a "new breed" of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.

Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms.

AUTOMOBILES

Automobiles became available to everyone – not just the super rich.

PROHIBITION

Prohibition (making the sale of liquor illegal) lasted from 1920 to 1933.

Drinking became a secret illegal activity that took place in secret bars called “speakeasys.”

PROHIBITION

The banning of booze led to the illegal selling of booze becoming a major industry and gave birth to the mafia.

People who illegally sold booze were called bootleggers. Al Capone was the most infamous.

PART TWO: F. SCOT T FITZGERALD

Named after Francis Scott Key

Lived from 1896-1940

No interest in school – he’d rather write

F. SCOTT FITZY

Joined the army to fight in WWI – never made it out of boot camp before the war ended.

While in the army he met Zelda. He fell instantly in love with her but she rejected him because she didn’t think he made enough money to provide for her.

SCOTT AND ZELDA

After he published his first novel, she agreed to marry him.

Scott and Zelda were the young “party couple” of the 1920s. Their drunk antics on the social scene were legendary.

PART THREE: THE GREAT GATSBY

Narrator: Nick Carroway

Carroway moves to an area of Long Island called “West Egg.” He moves next to a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby who people rarely see but always throws amazing parties.

PART THREE: THE GREAT GATSBY

West Egg is home to the new rich – young people who have gotten rich off the new opportunities of the 1920s.

East Egg is where the old rich live – they look down on the young people.