1920s Background Info
• World War I ends – 1918– America is a stronger, more powerful
nation• After the war – people are full of energy• People had been repressed because of a
bad economy– $$ saved for possible hard times because of the
war
• Protest & Violence followed the end of the war
Prohibition (1919-1933)
• Restricted sale & Use of liquor• Originally to abolish saloons– Thought to be immoral & dangerous to
society
• Bootleggers– People who made & sold liquor
illegally–Often ran drugstores & other
“front” businesses in order to sell liquor
The Roaring Twenties
• Carefree time of wild parties, illegal drinking & extravagant lifestyles– Young people of America embraced
• Time of change in fashion & music– “The Jazz Age”– Flappers
Flappers• Described young girls in the US & Britain who were
ideally “lovely, expensive & about 19”• Defined as “giddy, attractive and slightly
unconventional…inclined to revolt against the precepts (rules)…of her elders”
• Nearly a generation of men died in WWI– Women were not willing to waste away their youth
waiting for spinsterhood– Decided to enjoy life
• New Trends– No corsets– Waists @hipline– Bobbed hair– Makeup
1920s Literature
• Showed a mood of rebellion with alarming topics
• More freedom of language & descriptions
• New & freer attitudes toward the representation of sex
F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Born (1896) in St. Paul, Minnesota• Studied for 4 years @Princeton– Wanted to play football but didn’t make the
team– Developed a drinking problem - flunked out– A girl did not like him because he was poor
(huge influence)
• Did not graduate – joined the Army– Met & married Zelda Sayre - rich, Southern
Belle– Zelda - Fitzgerald’s muse
Fitzgerald’s Outlook
• Father was fired and a failure in business– Caused obsession with success/money
• Used his talent for writing to produce plays for school so he could cast people he wanted as friends
Fitzgerald’s Writing
• This Side of Paradise (1920) - describes life @Princeton among the glittering, bored and disillusioned– Novel was an overnight success– Fitzgerald known as King of the Jazz Age
Gatsby Characters
• Tom: dictator/bully• Daisy: clinging vine• Myrtle: clinging vine/weakling• Gatsby: calculator• Nick: nice guy/protector• George: nice guy/protector• Jordan: calculator
Theme(s)
• Corruption of the American Dream– Defined as the idea that in America one
might hope to satisfy every material desire & thereby achieve happiness
– Fitzgerald believed this to be deceptive• How can the goal of all you desire be
something you can attain?• desire = material possessions =
dissatisfaction
– One can end up with great wealth & “stuff” and be quite empty
More Theme(s)
• Old $$ v. New $$• Prosperity, Material Excess,
Bootleggingv.
• Discovery, Individualism, “Pursuit of Happiness”
Even More Theme(s)
• Sight/Insight–Many images of blindness– No one seems to really know what’s
going on
• Meaning of the Past– Gatsby & Nick hold on to a simpler,
nobler time when family & church meant something
• Illusion v. Reality
Color Symbol(s)
• Gray - death, lifelessness (people & land)
• Green - money (light at end of Daisy’s peer), Gatsby’s goal
• Blue: dream (eyes of Dr. Eckleburg-rep’s. sightlessness)
• White: corruption is underneath-wedding cake, Daisy’s and Jordon’s clothes(airiness and fairylike)
More Color Symbol(s)
• Darks & Lights: Gatsby’s world is deceptive
• Gold or Yellow: wealth, materialism• Red: violence/violent death• Pink: violence underneath
Other Symbols
• Valley of Ashes: The Wasteland T.S. Eliot– Explores the “hollowness @the heart of
things”– Purgatory–Moral & Social Wasteland
• Daisy: wealth, position, status, “golden girl”
• Dr. Eckleburg’s Eyes (billboard): capitalistic profit (He is the “god” of the Wasteland)
Even More Other Symbols
• Ashes: gray, lifeless, wasteland, death, True Reality
• Apartment: on outside, a beautiful wedding cake; inside, corruption, greed & selfishness
• Gatsby’s house (white), Garden (blue), Chauffer’s uniform (blue)
• The Green Light (Buchanan’s Dock)– Positive & Negative aspects of the color
• Opportunity v. Greed
Still More Other Symbols
• Buchanan’s house: red & white/carpet crimson
• Nick’s boats: red & gold (dream stained by violence)
• Myrtle: wears brown in Valley of Ashes, changes to Ecru/Cream dresses: becomes unreal & someone else
• Sunday: day of worship except @Gatsby’s where people party (un-God-like)
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