The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby

• F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Roaring 20s The Jazz Age

• WWI is over!
• Great relief, but disillusionment.

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Characteristics of the Age

• Spectacular economic growth
• Rise in prosperity, but great disparity between
  the rich and the poor

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Far reaching Social Change

• 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the Volstead
  Act, ushered in Prohibition
• Affects of 18th Amendment
• Violence
• Crime
• Bootleggers
• Rumrunners
• Women asserted independence by drinking

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Far reaching Social Change

• 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Womans
  Suffrage
• Women asserted their rights and independence

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F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Born in St. Paul, Minnesota
• Enrolled in Princeton, but he left to join the
  army
• Stationed in the South and met Zelda Sayre
• Married Zelda after first novel, This Side of
  Paradise
• Turbulent marriage was marked by an extravagant
  lifestyle, alcoholism, and Zeldas emotional
  breakdown

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Works

• Four novels
• The Great Gatsby is most highly praised
• Style is lushly evocative
• Because of subject matter and style, critics
  overlooked the themes of The Great Gatsby

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Themes

• Position
• class, wealth, social standing
• Gatsbys whole focus on life is to attain money
  and status to sustain a certain position in life.
  
• From their position in life, Daisy and Tom look
  down at people from their position in life.

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Age of the Automobile

• Increase in cars manufactured from 7 million in
  1919 to 23 million in 1929

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Scandals

• Chicago Black Sox Scandal
• Teapot Dome Scandal
• Gangster and Police Corruption

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Carelessness

• Irresponsible lifestyle
• Many authors of the roaring 20s criticized the
  decadent lifestyle.
• Daisy and Tom are careless with their lives due
  to their position in life.

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Symbolism

• The Green Light
• Something/Someone a person longs for and is off
  in the distance

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The Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg

• The eyes look over the situation objectively, but
  offer judgment of characters and their actions.
• Crimes go unpunished. The eyes look on and remind
  the characters of their actions.

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East and West Egg

• Class and Social Standing pose a barrier for
  almost every character.
• Setting of story is also East Egg and West Egg.
• Gatsby is enticed by a green light coming from
  the East. It represents what he cant have,
  Daisy.
• Daisy lives on the East Egg.

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Water

• Water serves as a substantial physical barrier
  separating people

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Vocabulary WordLook the words up in the
dictionary!

• Chapter 1 Chapter 2
• Acute Ambiguously
• Complacency Obscure
• Epigram
• Levity

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Vocabulary Words Continued

• Chapter 3 Chapter 4
• Impetuously Disconcerting
• Innuendo Sporadic

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Vocabulary Words Continued

• Chapter 5 Chapter 6
• Gaudily Ramifications
• Scrutinized Laudable
• Scanty Dilatory

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Vocabulary Words

• Chapter 7 Chapter 8
• Boisterously Strata
• Libertine Benediction
• Stagnant Transitory
• Chapter 9
• Addenda Superfluous