1. Modernism, the Jazz Age, the American Dream, and the Fitzgeralds
The Great Gatsby
Modernism, the Jazz Age, the American Dream, and the Fitzgeralds

2. Modernism
1910s – 1960s

3. At a Glance 1910s – 1960s Both Northern America and Europe
Slightly different in Europe than the US
Famous Authors
F. Scott Fitzgerald
William Faulkner
Famous Poets
Ezra Pound
Robert Frost

4. What is Modernism?
“Sought to capture the essence of modern life through both form AND content”
Both WHAT they wrote and HOW they wrote is part of the Modernist style
Shows fragments of the world instead of building a whole world like in traditional literature
Themes were implied instead of stated
Mostly free-verse poetry, abandoning meter and form
Forced the reader to draw their own conclusions

5. Causes of Modernism Influenced by World War I
Americans lost their optimism after the war
Replaced by disillusionment and uncertainty
Didn’t trust the ideas and values of the world
Those ideas and values had led to the war!
Instead of seeing progress, they saw a decline in civilization
Industrialization was just cold machinery and capitalism
Questioned what was going to become of humanity

6. The Stream of Consciousness
A literary device used in a story to capture the natural flow of a person’s thoughts
Show’s the narrator’s pure, unadulterated thoughts
Can be hard to follow since most people’s thoughts aren’t linear
They don’t follow one single path
One minute you’re thinking about your homework and the next you’re remembering the embarrassing moment you peed yourself last year

7. The Jazz Age
The 1920s in America

8. The Roaring Twenties Very prosperous Boom in Construction
End of World War I
Women working too
Boom in Construction
Lots of economic growth
Wartime earnings left a lot of money to spend

9. Class War of the 20s
Nouveau Riche
West Egg
Old Money
East Egg
People who earned their money recently and quickly
Thought to be of lower class
Threw crazy parties to show off wealth
No connections, no resources
People who inherited their money
Thought to be of higher class
Too sophisticated to be seen at raging parties
Established wealth meant resources and connections

10. Prohibition 18th Amendment, enacted in 1918
A ban of the sale, transportation, production and importation of alcohol
Pushed by both parties, along with others
Protestant leaders
Social Progressives
Anti-Saloon League
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
Ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment

11. Speakeasies Also called a blind pig
Underground bars where people could drink
Raided very often
Still, remained very popular and profitable
Led to integration of men and women of all colors
Women started to become more involved in these businesses
Home to many gangs and mobs

12. Women’s Rights World War I
Forced to work outside the home
Men were in the war, duty fell to women
After the war, women didn’t go back to the homes
Led back into the extra money families had
19th Amendment gave women the right to vote
Enacted in 1920
Trying to find individual identity instead of just “Mother”

13. The Great Depression Black Tuesday Stock market crashed
Unofficial end of the Roaring Twenties
October 29, 1929
Stock market crashed
Families lost everything in cities
Dust Bowl in the Midwest
Farmers lost everything in a major drought

14. The American Dream
White Picket Fences

15. The American Dream Ability to grow and achieve success in America
No matter your economic status
No matter where you come from
If you work really hard, you can do anything
America is the land of opportunity
You don’t need anyone else in order to succeed

16. The Lost Generation Young people of the 1920s
Cynical about the world after World War I
Rejected the materialism that was common in the Jazz Age
Coined and commonly practiced by American authors

17. The Fitzgeralds
F. Scott and Zelda

18. F. Scott Fitzgerald Grew up in the Upper Middle Class
One of the ‘Lost Generation’
Became famous for This Side of Paradise
Once he was famous, Zelda agreed to marry him
Raging alcoholic after the success settled in
Wrote The Great Gatsby for Zelda

19. Zelda Fitzgerald Zelda Fitzgerald IS Daisy Buchanan
Struggled to find her identity
Didn’t want to be JUST a wife or mother
Wasn’t sure how to be anything else
Struggled with schizophrenia
Wanted to be famous on her own, not just as an accessory to someone else’s success