1920s America: The Context of The Great Gatsby

The 1920s, nicknamed "The Roaring Twenties," provide the crucial backdrop for understanding Fitzgerald's masterpiece. This was an era of reckless pleasure-seeking and unprecedented economic prosperity, creating the perfect environment for Gatsby's lavish parties and ambitious dreams.

Despite Prohibition banning alcohol, this law only drove drinking underground, creating a thriving black market and speakeasy culture. This prohibition period saw the rise of organised crime, bootlegging, and political corruption—elements that appear throughout the novel in characters like Gatsby himself.

Did you know? The fashionable "flappers" of the 1920s challenged traditional gender roles by wearing short skirts and hair, listening to jazz, drinking liquor, smoking, wearing make-up, and even playing sports like golf (as Jordan Baker does in the novel).

The concept of conspicuous consumption (a term coined by social scientist Thorstein Veblen) describes how the extremely wealthy displayed their status through ostentatious houses and extravagant behaviour—precisely what we see in the novel's settings of East and West Egg.

The End of the Party: Historical Context

The wild prosperity of the 1920s came to an abrupt end with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, often called "Black Tuesday." This devastating economic collapse happened just a few years after Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, making the novel seem almost prophetic in its portrayal of shallow excess.

The crash occurred because greedy owners went unchecked, prices continued to rise without justification, and eventually, the entire system collapsed. Billions were lost in stocks, leading to a worldwide depression with millions out of work. The Roaring Twenties ended as suddenly as one of Gatsby's parties.

Writers of this period are often referred to as "The Lost Generation"—a term capturing their sense of moral aimlessness after World War I. This generation lost faith in human progress and experienced a mood of futility and despair that permeates much of the literature of this time.

Remember: Understanding this historical context helps explain why Fitzgerald portrays characters like Daisy and Tom Buchanan as morally empty despite their wealth—they represent a society on the brink of collapse.

Modernism and The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is firmly positioned within the Modernist movement in literature—a radical shift in how writers approached truth, reality, and human experience. Modernism emerged in response to a fully industrialised world that was changing rapidly.

Modernist writers like Fitzgerald questioned traditional morals and the significance of human life. They viewed truth as subjective rather than absolute, and elevated individualism over collective values. These themes run throughout The Great Gatsby, particularly in how characters construct their own versions of reality.

An interesting parallel can be drawn between Modernist literature and Cubism in art. Just as Cubist painters depicted objects from multiple viewpoints simultaneously, Fitzgerald presents characters and events from different perspectives—showing how one version of the truth is never enough.

Exam tip: When analyzing The Great Gatsby, connect the novel's themes to Modernist ideas about subjective truth and fragmented perspective—especially when considering Nick's reliability as a narrator.

Introducing Nick Carraway and Chapter 1

Nick Carraway serves as our first-person narrator and guide through the world of The Great Gatsby. He positions himself as Daisy's second cousin once removed and Gatsby's next-door neighbour—conveniently placing him at the centre of the story while seemingly on its periphery.

Nick presents himself as reliable when he claims "I'm inclined to reserve all judgements," yet contradicts this impartiality when he describes Gatsby: "there was something gorgeous about him." This tension in Nick's narration is central to understanding the novel—is he trustworthy or not?

The novel's main themes are introduced in this opening chapter:

• The American Dream and its corruption
• Love and its relationship to wealth and status
• Class divisions and the selfishness of the upper classes
• Hedonism and moral emptiness

Critical thinking: Nick's romanticising of Gatsby is intentionally contradictory. Consider how Fitzgerald uses these inconsistencies to create a more complex narrative rather than viewing them as flaws in the storytelling.

Character Dynamics in Chapter 1

The interactions between Nick, Daisy and Tom in Chapter 1 establish the novel's central tensions. Nick positions himself as an outsider-insider, privileged yet judgmental of the very privilege he enjoys—making him potentially unreliable as a narrator despite his claims of impartiality.

Daisy is introduced as a seemingly airheaded socialite who plays up her naivety, saying she'll be "a good little fool." However, this performance reveals her self-awareness and strategy for surviving in a patriarchal society. Her character embodies the contradictions of women's changing roles in 1920s America.

Tom Buchanan emerges as physically imposing and morally corrupt—a representation of old money's arrogance and entitlement. His casual racism and infidelity establish him as a character whose power comes from inherited wealth rather than personal merit.

Writing insight: Fitzgerald's characters function on multiple levels—as individuals, as social types, and as symbols within his critique of American society. Notice how even minor characters reflect some aspect of the 1920s cultural landscape.

Fitzgerald's Personal Context

The relationship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda often parallels themes in The Great Gatsby. The couple became regarded as the embodiment of East Coast America's new generation—famous for their extravagant lifestyle and volatile relationship.

Many critics see Gatsby and Daisy as self-referential figures—a fairytale couple stricken by ill-fated love. However, it's more likely that Fitzgerald based Daisy on Geneva King, whom he courted for two years until her father warned that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls"—a theme directly reflected in Gatsby's relationship with Daisy.

Zelda's comment that her husband "worshipped, despised, was awed by, was crippled by his inability to handle, threw away, slaved for" money reveals how central financial anxiety was to Fitzgerald's life and work. This complex relationship with wealth pervades the novel, particularly in Gatsby's desperate pursuit of fortune to win Daisy.

Connection point: The autobiographical elements in The Great Gatsby don't simplify the novel—they enrich it. Fitzgerald transforms his personal experiences into a broader critique of American society and values.

Settings and Symbolism: East Egg vs. West Egg

The contrasting settings of East Egg and West Egg serve as powerful symbols of America's class divisions. East Egg represents old money and established aristocracy—described as having "white palaces" that "glittered" along the shore. This is where Tom and Daisy live, embodying a world that appears perfect but is morally fractured.

West Egg is described as "the less fashionable of the two," home to the nouveau riche who made their own money rather than inheriting it. When Jordan Baker remarks "You live in West Egg" contemptuously to Nick, she reveals the social hierarchy between the two communities.

Gatsby's mansion in West Egg represents extravagant displays of wealth that old money considers to be in poor taste. His enormous house directly opposes Daisy and Tom's residence across the bay, symbolising his outsider status despite his fortune.

Analytical approach: The geography of the novel isn't just setting—it's social commentary. The physical distance between Gatsby and Daisy (separated by the bay) represents the unbridgeable gap between new money and old aristocracy in 1920s America.

The Shallowness of the American Upper Classes

Chapter 1 establishes a powerful critique of the American upper classes through its portrayal of characters lacking purpose and genuine emotion. Daisy's excessive exclamation "Do they miss me?" followed by crying "ecstatically" reveals her narcissism and emotional performance rather than authentic feeling.

The description of characters having "impersonal eyes" suggests they've been deadened by wealth—they follow upper class conventions without authentic experiences. The narrator notes "the absence of all desire" among the wealthy, indicating that having everything has left them without motivation or passion.

Jordan Baker's "pleasing contemptuous expression" further illustrates how the wealthy maintain emotional distance as a form of social superiority. These characters participate in social rituals without genuine connection, revealing the moral emptiness beneath their privileged exteriors.

Essay guidance: When analyzing the novel's portrayal of social class, support your arguments with specific quotes about characters' expressions, voices, and body language—Fitzgerald often reveals moral emptiness through physical descriptions rather than direct statements.

Chapter 2: Contrasting Settings

Chapter 2 introduces the stark contrast between the luxurious world of East and West Egg and the desolate Valley of Ashes—a bleak industrial wasteland that represents the moral and social decay resulting from the pursuit of wealth.

Fitzgerald's description creates a powerful visual: "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens." The "ash-grey men" who inhabit this landscape symbolize those crushed by industrial capitalism—the human cost of the prosperity enjoyed by the Buchanans and their social circle.

The transition from the Valley of Ashes to New York City—"from the mass of the station into glowing sunshine"—highlights the dramatic contrasts in American society. NYC represents wild, selfish behaviour and the pursuit of pleasure, shown through Tom and Myrtle's affair and the drunken debauchery of Myrtle's party.

Contextual connection: The Valley of Ashes was inspired by the Corona Dumps in Queens—a real landfill where ashes and rubbish from coal-burning furnaces were dumped. Fitzgerald transforms this actual location into a powerful symbol of moral waste in American society.

Character Development in Chapter 2

Tom Buchanan's true character emerges more clearly in Chapter 2. Described as having a manner that "bordered on violence" and a "supercilious manner," he wields power through intimidation. His commanding "Get on" emphasizes his controlling nature, while his audacity in taking his cousin Nick to meet his mistress reveals his complete moral disregard.

Myrtle Wilson provides a contrast to Daisy—described with a "thickish figure" that "blocked out the light from the office door." Her unhappy marriage to George Wilson is apparent when she describes living with him as "walking through life with a ghost." Her relationship with Tom is both volatile and transactional—she's "in it for the money," while he uses her for sex.

The scene where "Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand" reveals the violence beneath their relationship and foreshadows the novel's later tragedy. This physical brutality parallels the emotional violence prevalent throughout the novel's relationships.

Character analysis: Notice how Myrtle transforms when she reaches New York, changing her dress to one "which stretched tight over her rather wide hips." This physical transformation symbolizes her attempt to cross class boundaries—an attempt that ultimately leads to her destruction.