1. The Great Gatsby
Modernism

2. Roaring ’20s Economic boom Great prosperity–
Mass production industries and assembly lines
provides opportunities for investment (rich got richer)
Great prosperity–
Wages for working class increased 20%
Could afford mass-produced products
Technological advancements
Washing machines, radios, cars
Electrified households increased from 16% to two-thirds
Lively culture
Obsession with celebrity
Babe Ruth, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Advertising
Mass consumption promoted by billboards
Racism and Immigration
KKK revitalization
Breakdown of traditional mores
Changing gender roles, stereotypes; more promiscuity
Prohibition
Bootleggers and criminal activity

3. The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald explores “modern” America
Middle West represents a simpler time
East represents modern 1920s
The narrator, Nick Carraway, is thrust into a world of money and glamour, highlighting the sharp contrast of ideals during the 1920s.

4. Modernism: Context
Begins just before WW1 (1914) and ends just before WW2 (1945)– described as a traumatic coming-of-age period
World War I destroyed the illusion that acting virtuously brought about good. What was the point?
Based on the disruption and destruction of WWI; lack of purpose and drive having seen rampant, pointless death
Political turmoil– Nazism, Fascism

5. Modernism: Context
New technologies, industrialization, and changing morals
The lives of the youth were very different from their parents’
A rebellion against traditions of the 19th Centrury
The Lost Generation felt betrayed by their leaders, their culture, and their institutions.
The Lost Generation Authors:
Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, T.S. Eliot, E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost

6. Focus
Alienation
Rebellion
Cynicism

7. Style/ Characteristics
Most often fiction: Novels, Short stories, Poems
Experimental styles
Disjointed and nonlinear narratives (stream of consciousness
First-person limited narrator-- often unreliable
Frequent, broken dialogue
Loss of faith in religion and society
Symbolism used to point out society's evils.
Heavy use of classical allusions

9. Philosophy
Civilization is in decline (disillusionment, materialism, “lost generation”)
Traditional morals and virtues are no longer relevant (leaned toward experimentation, breaking away from the predictable)
The American Dream is an illusion

10. Comparison Romanticism Modernism Shows how society is corrupt
Shows a society that was lost and in need of a new direction
Rejected reality and hoped for something better
Hoped to change reality
Critical of society
Even more critical of society
Conventional structure
Fragmented plots; experimental