Context

Question 1

Women in 1920s America

Answer 1

• New freedom reflected in the rise of the flapper, only accessible to upper/middle class women
• America was still firmly patriarchal
• Generational gaps between the moral standards of the older and younger generation

Question 2

The American Dream

Answer 2

• The idea that all men, no matter their background can attain success if they work hard for it
• Driving force for working class and immigrants in the 1920s

Question 3

Morality and religion

Answer 3

• After the war, God was in question
• Shift in expectations away from traditional moral behaviours
• Prohibition sale of alcohol in 1920

Question 4

America in the 20th century

Answer 4

• America was still a newly developing country in the 1920s
• Era of rapid economic growth, mass consumerism and immigration
• East vs West coast
  -East coast was assosciated with fast living and corrupt businessmen
  -West coast was assosciated with physical labour due to ‘Gold Rush’
• Class was shaped by heritage (old vs new money)

Question 5

Modernism

Answer 5

*FG fuses modernism and romanticism in his work
* Style incorporated the awareness of the irrational and workings of the unconscious mind
* ‘Stream of consciousness-discontinuity

Question 6

20th century tragedy

Answer 6

• Gatsby is a victim and a hero of the Jazz Age
• Focuses on individual suffering, regardless of status or gender
• Religion is replaced by consumerism so adverts have divine power in the Great Gatsby
• Use of chorus to comment on action

Question 7

The Lost Generation

Answer 7

The loss of faith in traditional values and ideals led many who came of age during World War I to become hedonistic, rebellious, and aimless—“lost.” This cynicism and disillusionment defined the literary and creative landscape of the 1920s.