AO3

Question 1

TGG Alternative Titles

Answer 1

1) Trimalchio in the West Egg
- Compares Gatsby to Trimalchio from the controversial Satyricon - alluding to his ‘true character. (Discussed later)

2) Under the Red White and Blue
- American imagery, preposition might demonstrate oppressive capitalistic American system/dream

3) Gold hatted Gatsby/ High bouncing lover
- Refers to epigraph. ‘High bouncing lover’ refers to actions of a suitor. ‘Gold hatted Gatsby’ puts emphasis on wealth and the use thereof to elevate social status and acquire objects of desire

4) On the Road to West Egg
- Highlights the coming of age (Bildungsroman) aspect of the story, Nick becomes less naive and more disillusioned

5) Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires
- Juxtaposition of luxury and power in New York

-Modernist concern about rapid industrialisation

Question 2

Give evidence that shows Gatsby’s class divide is prevalent today

Answer 2

-In Barack Obama’s 2012 economic think-tank, Princeton professor Alan Krueger unveiled a graph called ‘The Gatsby Curve’

-Showed that in unequal societies it is near impossible for children of certain groups to transcend social barriers but in relatively equal countries such as Denmark and Sweden hard work could pay off.

Question 3

Women’s right to vote

Answer 3

-In 1890, the NWSA and AWSA merged into the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). It became the largest woman suffrage organization in the country

-Led much of the struggle for the vote through 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified

-Women’s contribution to the war effort was said to have expedited NAWSA’s progression as a point of argument

Question 4

Masculine Control and Fitzgerald’s concerns about masculinisation of women

Answer 4

• Fitzgerald openly voiced concerns about female empowerment and growing ‘masculinisation’ of women.
  ~Seen in phrases such as ‘Madam becomes Adam’

-Ref to TGG: Myrtle dies – implication that, inexorably, no good comes from women’s reinvention

-Fitzgerald never credited Zelda even though owed a lot of narratives to her

Question 5

Women’s lives in patriarchal America

Answer 5

-Women not valued for attributes
other than outward appearance.

-Women’s social position conferred through social status of husband

-Figures for women working:

1) 25% increase in number of women working during 1920s
2) By 1929, 10.6 million women were working

Question 6

The New Woman

Answer 6

-Newly emerging epithet/concept of women who did not repress themselves sexually, but pushed sexual boundaries at the expense of tradition Southern conventions

-Seen in Faulkner’s ‘The Sound and the Fury’
~Caddie and Quentin represent new women

Question 7

Flapper movement in 1920s

Answer 7

Young women with liberated lifestyles compared to previous generations.

Features: short, boyish bob haircut; high hemlines.

Behavior: wore more makeup, danced, drank, smoked, drove.
Viewed as indecent by some older Americans.

-One famous flapper was Joan Crawford, she drank, smoked and kissed on screen

Emphasis on greater freedom of movement and behavior.

Flappers in Fitzgerald’s works:

-Common in Fitzgerald’s short stories, which (AO4) had a much less somber tone than TGG

The Great Gatsby:

~Miss Baedeker: closest to a flapper; drunken young woman at Gatsby’s party (Chapter 6).
~Jordan Baker: not a flapper but thoroughly modern.
>Independent, celebrity sportswoman, skeptical attitude.

Question 8

The Golden Girl

Answer 8

Example: Betty Grable ~ film star who influenced Hollywood culture on women of jazz age

Idealized Image:
-Beauty, charm, social desirability.
Glamorous, often with blonde hair and a slim figure.

Social Status:
-Upper class or aspiring to it.
-Present in high society, attending lavish parties.

Personality Traits:
-Charismatic, charming, graceful, confident.

Cultural Impact:
-Represented aspirations for modernity and independence.
-Featured in literature and media as symbols of the American Dream.

Ref to TGG:

Daisy Buchanan
-Quintessential Golden Girl.
-Embodies beauty, allure, and social status.
-Represents Gatsby’s dream and the ultimate symbol of wealth and success.
-Her charm and status drive the novel’s central conflict and Gatsby’s pursuit.

Symbolism:

-Reflects the era’s changing roles and aspirations for women.
-Highlights the allure and emptiness of the American Dream.

Question 9

The Gibson Girl

Answer 9

Woman who was free to smoke, wear athletic clothing, drink and have sex with whomever they choose.

Question 10

Motherhood

Answer 10

Resisting against the nuclear capitalist family which anchors women to unpaid, and unfulfilled osmotic lives.

TGG: Daisy Buchanan
-Superficial Maternal Role: Daisy is a mother to her daughter, Pammy, but her involvement is superficial, reflecting the era’s emphasis on appearance and status over genuine maternal connection.

-Maternal Distance: Daisy’s detachment from her daughter illustrates the conflict between her desires for personal freedom and societal expectations of motherhood.

-AO2: Daisy’s remark, “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool,” indicates her cynical view on the limited roles available to women, including motherhood.

Question 11

1920’s Hollywood and TGG

Answer 11

Very popular industry - 60 million Americans went to cinema weekly. Increased to 110 by 1929.

TGG:
Opulence and Excess:

Both showcase lavish lifestyles, with Gatsby’s extravagant parties mirroring Hollywood’s glamorous events.
-Reflect a world of wealth, luxury, and carefree indulgence.
-Pursuit of the American Dream:

Gatsby’s quest for wealth and status parallels Hollywood’s promise of fame and fortune.
-Both reveal the darker, more ephemeral side of the American Dream, highlighting moral decay and disillusionment.

Illusion vs. Reality:

Hollywood’s idealised films contrast with behind-the-scenes realities, similar to Gatsby’s life built on illusion.
-Themes of deceptive appearances and hidden truths are central in both settings.

Identity and Reinvention:

Hollywood stars reinvented themselves for fame, akin to Gatsby transforming from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby.
-Both explore the fluidity of identity and personal reinvention.

Question 12

Prohibition

Answer 12

Enforced by Volstead Act
(18th Amendment ~ enacted 1919, took effect in 1920)

Gatsby’s Wealth:

-Rumored to come from bootlegging, linked to organized crime through Meyer Wolfsheim.

Lavish Parties:

-Extravagant parties with abundant alcohol, ignoring Prohibition laws.
-Attract New York’s elite, showing widespread disregard for the ban.

Social Commentary:

-Highlights moral decay and hypocrisy of the era.
-Gatsby’s illegal wealth contrasts with his pursuit of the American Dream, revealing underlying corruption.

Cultural Impact:

-Reflects the rebellion against Prohibition and the excess of the Jazz Age.
-Alcohol at Gatsby’s parties symbolizes hedonism and extravagance.
Prohibition in “The Great

Question 13

Industrialisation

Answer 13

Fordism and dehumanisation

-Fordism emphasizes efficiency and mass consumption but dehumanises individuals for wealth gain.
-Characters like Jay Gatsby prioritize material success over integrity.

Loss of Individuality:

-Mechanization erodes individuality; characters like George Wilson resemble machines.
-Myrtle’s affair with Tom Buchanan reflects the emptiness of industrial life.

Environmental Degradation:

• The Valley of Ashes symbolizes environmental decay from rapid industrialization.
  -It reveals the moral decay beneath the Jazz Age’s facade

Alienation and Disillusionment:

-Industrialization breeds alienation and disillusionment, disconnecting characters (Marxist reading [AO5])
-Gatsby’s parties epitomise the superficial pursuit of success.

Question 15

WWI

Answer 15

The First World War, also known as The Great War, was a predominantly European conflict fought between July 1914 and November 1918.
* America was drawn into the conflict in 1917.
* The demands of war accelerated America’s industrial production resulting in the economic boom of the 1920s.
* Nick Carraway says that he participated in the Great War, and it left him feeling ‘restless’ (p. 9). Nick tells us that Jay Gatsby ‘did extraordinarily well in the war’ (p. 143).

Question 16

The Jazz Age

Answer 16

The 1920s in America became known as The Jazz Age because this popular musical genre of the day reflected a spirit of rebelliousness and pleasure-seeking.
* The Jazz Age was in part a reaction to the First World War, which was seen as the end of an era.
* F. Scott Fitzgerald became known as the major chronicler of the Jazz Age.
* The Great Gatsby addresses deeply serious issues that lay behind the decade’s rebelliousness and pleasure-seeking.

“Vladimir Tostoff’s Jazz History of the World” played at one of Gatsby’s parties (C3)

Question 17

New York

Answer 17

By the 1920s New York had become a major commercial and industrial city, making use of the latest advances in engineering.
* Immigration, including internal migration of African Americans from the South, made it a racially and culturally mixed city.
* John Dos Passos, in his novel Manhattan Transfer (1925), depicted New York as an impersonal machine-like city, with rootless people passing through it.
* F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses his novel on an individual who stands out from the mass society of the city.

Question 18

Technology

Answer 18

In America, the early decades of the twentieth century saw great leaps forward in technological innovation and mass production.
* The telephone and the automobile, both fairly recent inventions, were starting to modify social behaviour through their impact on communication and travel.
* Both play a significant role in The Great Gatsby, although their effect is not necessarily positive.
* In Studies in Classic American Literature (1923), D. H. Lawrence argues that Americans are prolific inventors because they are ‘idealists’ who prefer to ‘let a machine do the doing’.