Historical Context

Question 1

When and what was the Dust Bowl?

Answer 1

1930s, dust storms on the southern great plains- drought and migration.

Question 2

What started the Great Depression and when?

Answer 2

The stockmarket crash 29 October 1929 (‘Black Tuesday’)

Question 3

What influenced Fitzgerald’s religious views?

Answer 3

Attended a private Catholic school and relationship with Father Fay

Question 4

Previous titles of Gatsby

Answer 4

‘Trimalchio’, ‘Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires’

Question 5

What does ‘trimalchio’ mean?

Answer 5

Trimalchio was a crude parvenu in Petronius’ Satyricon’, become shorthand for the worst excesses of the nouveau riche.

Question 6

Grapes of Wrath quote Revelation

Answer 6

‘threw them into the great wine press of the Wrath of God’

Question 7

Origins of the title ‘The Grapes of Wrath’

Answer 7

The Battle Hymn of the Republic, book of Revelation

Question 8

When was Grapes published and why was this date significant?

Answer 8

14th April 1939, exactly 4 years after the Black Sunday Storm- the worst storm of the Dust Bowl

Question 9

Inspiration of Grapes

Answer 9

field notes taken during 1938 by Farm Security Administration worker and author Sandora Babb. personal stories about displaced migrant workers.

Question 10

Articles by Steinbeck and their significance

Answer 10

Grapes developed from seven articles Steinbeck had published in 1936 called ‘The Harvest Gypsies’ that focused on the lives of migrant workers living in California’s Central Valley. Material such as the government camps and Rosasharn’s stillborn baby taken from real stories.

Question 11

basis of The Valley of Ashes

Answer 11

Corona Ash Dumps- a place where ashes were dumped from coal furnaces.

Question 12

Psychoanalysis of Gatsby

Answer 12

oedipal- he loves Daisy because she represents the wealth his mother never had

Question 13

Real-life inspiration of Tom’s racist comment

Answer 13

‘The Rising Tide of Color’ by Stoddard (a member of the Ku Klux Klan) in 1920. Tom refers to ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by Goddard

Question 14

Steinbeck undercover camp

Answer 14

Tom Collins- utopian, inspiration for the government camp. Book is dedicated to him

Question 15

Key themes of the ‘Lost Generation’

Answer 15

Decadence and frivolous lives of the wealthy, the American Dream

Question 16

Women’s rights

Answer 16

the progressive Era 1890-1920 called by some ‘the women’s era.’ 19th ammendment gave women the vote 1920, birth control= more sex, women worked i.e. in offices answering phones

Question 17

Prohibition

Answer 17

18th ammendment

Question 18

When was Gatsby written?

Answer 18

1925

Question 19

Fitzgerald suicide

Answer 19

Attempted through morphine overdose