The Great Gatsby, Jazz Age, and American History
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby, the third novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was published in 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Set in Jazz Age New York, the novel tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby and his search for Daisy Buchanan, a young woman he loved in his youth. Since its publication, the book is considered a classic of American fiction and has often been called the Great American Novel.
Themes
Themes are fundamental elements of a literary work.
- Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s
- Hollowness of the Upper Class
- Class
- The American Dream: a shared set of ideals that guide the spirit of the United States
- Love and Marriage: marriages seem to be unions of convenience or advantage over true love.
Motifs
- Geography: East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes represents the moral and social decay of America and the amoral pursuit for money and pleasure.
- Weather: the weather matches the emotional and narrative tone of the story.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, figures, or colors used to represent ideas or concepts.
- The Green Light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future with Daisy.
- The Valley of Ashes represents moral and social decay; it symbolizes the condition of the poor.
- The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg represent God staring at and judging American society as a moral wasteland.
Characters
- Nick Carraway: narrator
- Jay Gatsby: main character
- Tom and Daisy Buchanan: old money couple
- Jordan Baker: women’s golf champion
- George and Myrtle Wilson: Tom’s mistress and her husband (mechanic)
Mass Production
The basis for mass production was the development of the machine tool industry. Mass production is the method of producing goods in large quantities at low cost per unit while maintaining high quality standards.
Assembly Line
The assembly line is a technique that started in the 19th-century meatpacking industry in Chicago.
American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford designed an assembly line in 1913. Ford’s method reduced assembly time per vehicle from 12.5 hours to 93 minutes (by 1914). The price was subsequently reduced, forcing competitors to imitate his technique.
The Great Depression
Began in 1929 and lasted until 1939.
The Great Depression was an economic depression in North America, Europe, and other areas. It began with the disastrous collapse of stock market prices on the New York Stock Exchange on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The 1920s, or Roaring Twenties, were a period when America was over-reliant on production. There was a significant disparity between the poor and the rich.
Before the Great Depression, stock market regulations were very loose, allowing investors to speculate heavily.
After a large increase in the stock market between 1928 and 1929, the market began to drop, leading to the crash on October 29, 1929.
Prohibition
Prohibition was the nationwide ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol in the United States from 1920 to 1933. Supporters believed that alcohol had destructive effects on people’s lives and society.
- The ban caused an increase in underground activities.
- Organized criminal activities increased.
- Speakeasies (bars where alcohol was served illegally) emerged.
- Bootlegging (illegally transporting alcohol into the USA) became a major business for organized crime.
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs and projects implemented during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
When Roosevelt took office in 1933, he tried to stabilize the economy and provide jobs for those who were suffering.
He promised to face the “dark realities of the moment” and to wage war against the emergency.
On March 9, 1933, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which reorganized the banks.
The initial period when Roosevelt sought to end the Great Depression was called “The First 100 Days.” One significant action Roosevelt took was ending Prohibition and legalizing beer.
In the spring of 1935, Roosevelt launched the Second New Deal.
In April, he created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs for unemployed people. In August, the Social Security Act was passed, guaranteeing pensions to millions of Americans.
In 1937, President Roosevelt announced a plan to add justices to the Supreme Court to neutralize the “obstructionist” conservatives.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered World War II, effectively ending the Great Depression as wartime production stimulated the economy.