gatsby context

Question 1

fitzgerald & alcoholism

Answer 1

• desperation to please zelda by writing to earn money drove him to alcoholism

Question 2

semi-autobiographical

Answer 2

fitzgerald, like nick, was born in minnesota, attended an ivy, and moved to new york post-war

like nick, becomes obsessed with wealth and luxury, falls for a girl outside of his social class

zelda says “i hope it’s beautiful and a fool” when their daughter was born

Question 3

the jazz age (1920s)

Answer 3

• a decade of freedom, prosperity, cultural, social and artistic developments

Question 4

the lost generation

Answer 4

writers in the 1920s disillusioned with the lavishness and overindulgence of the era

Question 5

flappers & freedom (the new woman)

Answer 5

• flappers subverted societal expectations with short hair, skirts and makeup
• 19th amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote
• characterised through jordan, a foil to daisy
• fitzgerald’s wife zelda was a flapper

Question 6

the american dream

Answer 6

• america presented as a land of opportunity
• where working hard resulted in financial success
• many migrated for this opportunity
• fitzgerald believed AD boiled down to pursuit of wealth

Question 7

media & mass market

Answer 7

• 1920s rapid increase in materialism opens up more business opportunities via advertising
• represented in book via eyes of dr t.j. eckleburg
• (a symbol of religion too, capitalism as a religion for gatsby & co.)

Question 8

conspicuous consumption

Answer 8

• post-war wealth allowed for technological development
• cars, refrigerators, radios
• products advertised everywhere without regard for differences in financial status
• lower classes excluded from the extravagance of the era
• gatsby’s consumerism seen via parties, cars
• the same car that kills myrtle

Question 9

prohibiton & organised crime

Answer 9

• manufacturing, sale and transportation of alcohol illegal
• brought around an illegal economy
• organised by gangs of criminals
• gatsby placed into this world due to involvement with wolfsheim, how he achieved his wealth
• wolfsheim based on real life gambler arnold rothstein

Question 10

race & prejudice

Answer 10

• immigrants moved to the US in search of the american dream
• prejudice reflected in nick’s description of wolfsheim
• “Mr. Wolfsheim’s nose flashed at me indignantly”

Question 11

platonic conception

Answer 11

“jamez gatz - that was really or at least legally, his name”

suggests a reinvention or detachment from his family in order to pursue american dream

Question 12

religion

Answer 12

fitzgerald was raised catholic but rejected religion

he did so publically but evidence suggests an emotional tie to catholicism