Download The Great Gatsby Background

The Great Gatsby Background
World War I
• WWI began in 1914 and ended in 1918.
• It was a struggle between the Allies (Britain,
France, Belgium, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro,
Japan, and Russia (Russia eventually dropped
out, and the US joined) AND the Central
Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and
Turkey).
World War I and America’s Involvement
• Although President Woodrow Wilson wanted
America to remain neutral in this war, this
proved impossible, as a German submarine
sank the Lusitania (which was the pride of the
British merchant fleet). 128 of the 1,200
people on board were Americans. Germany
then went on to sink four American merchant
ships, and the US eventually joined the Allied
cause.
The Sinking of Lusitania
The REALITY of the war
• At first, the reality of the war did not sink in.
Americans were carefree and confident, as they
sent troops overseas. That cheerfulness soon
passed when Americans experienced the horrible
and dangerous conditions of WWI.
• Several American authors saw the war firsthand.
E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemmingway, and John
Dos Passos served in the war. Fitzgerald was in
the army, but he did not take part in WWI.
An Ugly War…
• WWI was one of the bloodiest and most tragic
conflicts ever the occur.
• Trench warfare and modern weaponry, such
as machine guns, tanks, and chemical
weapons made this a grueling war.
• More than 9 million soldiers were killed, and
more than 21 million were wounded.
Trench Warfare Video
• Video explaining trench warfare
WWI and Trench Warfare
• Trench warfare was used, and the introduction
of the machine gun made it virtually
impossible for one side to launch successful
attacks on its opponents’ trenches.
• In trench warfare, opposing armed forces
attack, counterattack, and defend from
relatively permanent systems of trenches dug
into the ground.
Hardships of Trench Warfare
• Rats infested the trenches.
• Lice was a never-ending problem. Lice caused trench
fever, a disease that started with severe pain followed
by a high fever.
• Frogs, slugs, horned beetles, and nits also were
prevalent within and on the sides of the trenches.
• Trench foot was also prevalent. It was a fungal infection
caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions. It could
turn gangrenous and often resulted in amputation.
• The awful combination of smells (poison gas,
thousands of rotting bodies, chloride, overflowing
latrines, terrible body odor, etc.)
Fighting for the right to vote!
• Carrie Chapman Catt spoke
out forcibly for women's
suffrage. She devised a
state-by-state campaign to
win the vote.
• She was successful, as year
by year, more states in the
West and Midwest gave
women the right to vote.
Eventually, more women
called for an amendment to
the Constitution.
Chapman Catt
Continuing the fight!
• Alice Paul and others met with
Woodrow Wilson soon after
he took office. Wilson was not
opposed to women’s suffrage,
but he did not support a
constitutional amendment.
• After numerous meetings,
suffragists began to picket the
White House. Many women,
including Alice Paul were
arrested. They went on a
hunger strike, but they were
force-fed. Upon release, they
picketed again.
Paul
The Temperance Movement
• After the American Revolution, drinking was
on the rise, which created a temperance
movement. At first organizations pushed
moderation, but eventually they pushed
prohibition.
• This movement blamed alcohol for societies
ills, especially crime and murder.
Members of the Temperance
Movement
The 18th Amendment: Prohibition
• By 1916, over half of us states already had
statues that prohibited alcohol.
• In 1919, the 18th Amendment to the
Constitution was ratified. This prohibited the
manufacture and sale of alcohol. It went into
effect in 1920.
• This led to bootlelegging, speakeasies,
widespread law breaking, and gangster
activity.
Speakeasies
The 19th Amendment
• By 1918, the hard work of women suffragists
paid off, and Wilson agreed to support an
amendment.
• In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment.
• In 1920, ¾’s of the states ratified it. This
Amendment doubled the number of voters in
the US and eliminated LONG-STANDING
INJUSTICE.
After the war…
the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age
• Throughout the 1920’s the nation seemed to
be on a binge.
• After a brief recession in 1920 and 1921, the
economy boomed.
– New buildings rose everywhere
– Radio arrived, as did jazz
– Movies became big business
– Fads abounded (raccoon hats, flagpole sitting, a
dance called the Charleston)
Flappers
• The term “flapper” first appeared in Great
Britain after WWI. It was used to describe
young girls, still somewhat awkward in
movement who had not yet entered
womanhood.
• Fitzgerald described the ideal flapper as
“lovely, expensive, and about nineteen.”
Lifestyle of Flappers
• The flapper attitude was characterized by
truthfulness, fast living, and sexual behavior.
• Flappers cut their hair short (the bob), wore
make-up, and shortened skirts.
• They often smoked (something only men had
done previously). They drank as well.
• They enjoyed dancing. They loved dances, like
the Charleston, the Black Bottom, and the
Shimmy.
The Flapper
The Charleston
• The Charleston was the most popular dance
during the 1920’s.
• The Charleston
The Birth of Modernism
• The devastation of WWI brought about an end
to the sense of optimism that had
characterized previous years.
• Many people were left with a feeling of
uncertainty and disillusionment.
• People no longer trusted the ideas and values
of the world out of which the war developed,
so they sought to find new ideas that better
suited 20th century life.
Characteristics of Modern Literature
• Because writers struggled to find new ways of
expressing the uncertainty people felt about the
world they lived in; they experimented with new
literary forms in an effort to communicate the
chaos and disorder that they saw in modern life.
• Characteristics include: search for meaning,
alienation, loss, despair, reference to myth,
rejection of traditional values, preference for the
individual over the universal
Structure of Modern Literature
• To reflect the fragmentation of the modern
world, Modernists constructed works out of
fragments, omitting the expositions,
transitions, resolutions, and explanations used
in traditional literature.
• In poetry, they abandoned the traditional
forms and meters in favor of free verse.
• Themes were usually implied rather than
stated directly, creating a sense of uncertainty.
Imagism
• Imagism is a poetic movement, which lasted
from 1909 to 1917.
• Imagists rebelled against the sentimentality of
nineteenth century poetry. Instead, they
created poetry with hard, clear expression,
concrete images, and the language of
everyday speech.
William Carlos Williams’
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
The Lost Generation
• Postwar disenchantment caused many American
writers to become expatriates. Many of these writers
settled in Paris. They saw very little in their civilization
to praise or even accept.
• They were inspired by Gertrude Stein, who coined the
term “lost generation” to describe those disillusioned
by WWI.
• Stein’s home in Paris attracted many authors, such as F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, and Ernest
Hemingway.
• Other influential expatriates were Ezra Pound and T.S.
Eliot
Gertrude Stein
Painted by Picasso
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Minnesota.
• He was named after his ancestor Francis Scott
Key, the author of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
• Even though he was a mediocre student, he
still managed to enroll at Princeton in 1913.
• He never graduated. He left and enlisted in
the army in 1917. There he became a second
lieutenant, and he was stationed in
Montgomery, Alabama.
Fitzgerald meets Zelda
• In 1918, Fitzgerald met Zelda at a dance in
Montgomery, while he was stationed there.
• Zelda refused to marry Fitzgerald until he had
better financial prospects.
• She married him in 1920, after his first novel This
Side of Paradise was published.
• One of the characters in his book was said to
have been inspired by Zelda, so she became an
instant celebrity. She often contributed her
opinions on modern love, marriage, and
childbearing to the media.
A Carefree Lifestyle
• Fitzgerald and Zelda embraced the freedoms
and excesses of the 1920’s.
• Zelda became an icon of the “flapper” lifestyle
and a symbol of the emerging fascination with
youth, consumption, and leisure.
Zelda Fitzgerald
The Fitzgeralds
Zelda: Fitzgerald’s Inspiration
• In 1921, Zelda gave birth to Frances “Scottie”
Fitzgerald.
• Her reaction to her birth is said to have been
used by Scott in The Great Gatsby.
“I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool
–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this
world, a beautiful little fool.”
The Fitzgeralds with Scottie
More Inspiration
• When Scott’s novel the Beautiful and Damned
was published, the New York Tribune hired
Zelda to review it, and she hinted that a
passage in the book was lifted straight from
her missing diary.
The Beginning of a Breakdown
• By the late 1920’s, the Fitzgerald’s often stormy
relationship began to breakdown as Zelda sought
new outlets for creativity (art and dance).
• She had a psychological breakdown resulting
from stress from attempts at becoming a
professional ballerina.
• In 1932, she entered Johns Hopkins University’s
Phipps Clinic. There she completed her novel
Save Me the Waltz. This recounted her unstable
marriage.
Parting Ways
• The Fitzgerald’s parted ways in 1934, but they
never divorced.
• From 1936 to 1940, Zelda resided at Highland
Hospital in Asheville, NC.
• In the meantime, Scott descended into
alcoholism and literary obscurity. He
eventually relocated to Hollywood to establish
himself as a screenwriter.
Dismal Deaths
• Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in Hollywood
in 1940.
• After returning to Montgomery, Zelda
occasionally returned to Highland Hospital for
depression. Zelda died at Highland Hospital in
1948, after a fire swept through the main wing
of the hospital. She was one of nine women
killed.