This document contains the agenda and notes from Class #15 of the ELIT 48C course. It discusses the historical context of The Great Gatsby, including the post-WWI era in America, Prohibition, and the Jazz Age. It provides character sketches of Daisy, Tom, and Jordan from the novel. It also discusses symbolic images in the novel and analyzes chapters through discussion questions. Students are assigned homework to read and analyze chapters 6-7 and post a discussion topic.

1. ELIT 48C: Class #15

2. Grammar Slide
http://listverse.com/2011/06/07/top-10-misused-english-words/

3. AGENDA
The Great Gatsby
–Movie Day: Friday May 17th matinee.
AMC Cupertino Square 16
Historical Context
Discussion

4. LECTURE: HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
Historical Context

5. Post WWI
 Standard of living increased for most
 Americans abandoned small towns in
exchange for urban living
 Economy prospered as Americans tried to
forget troubles of war
- frivolous spending
- illegal liquor
- immorality

6. The 1920s: Nicknames
The Roaring ‗20s
The Jazz Age
The Flapper Era

7. 1920‘s Context
WWI made Americans question traditional
ideals.
Literature and art denied foundations of the
past and went for the new.
The philosophy of the Jazz Age was
―modernism."

8. The Jazz Age / Roaring
Twenties
 Era: 1918-1929
 The age takes its name from jazz, which
saw a tremendous surge in popularity.
 This was a period of pleasure seeking &
reckless exuberance
 Most of Fitzgerald‘s stories provide a
picture of youthful hedonism and the
antics of the liberated young women
known as ―flappers,‖ affronting
conventional values with short
skirts, short hair and make-up.

9. Prohibition
 18th Amendment to Constitution
prohibited manufacture and sale of
alcoholic beverages
 Thousands turned to bootlegging
 Mob activity increased to supply the
demand for what was once legal

10. More 1920‘s
 This period has been referred to as ―The Lost
Generation.‖
 Hemingway, in his novel The Sun Also Rises depicts a
group of expatriate Americans, wandering aimlessly
through Europe, sensing that they are powerless and
that life is pointless in the aftermath of the Great War.
 The Great Gatsby likewise reflects this perception of life
without purpose, of restlessness, dissatisfaction and
drifting.

11. Conspicuous Consumption
 This term was originally coined to refer to
the rise & power of extremely rich
businessmen, who displayed their wealth
in ostentatious houses & extravagant
behavior.
 This was invariably wasteful & implied
increasing poverty among the lower
classes in society.

12. Advertising & the mass market
 By the time ―The Great Gatsby‖ was published, the
American population had almost doubled.
 The solution included mass production, which led to
technological development - cars, air travel and the
telephone - as well as new modernist trends in social
behavior, the arts, and culture.
 This growth in commodities led to standardization, where
all citizens had the opportunity to buy items that had
been too expensive or difficult to acquire.
 The early years saw a corresponding change in
advertising – products were given brand names as a sign
of reliability. But new advertising also sought to create the
desire for commodities & packaging became more
important

13. DISCUSSION

14. Character Sketch
 Daisy leans forward and talks in a low
voice.
 Tom is restless and hulking.
 Jordan balances something on her chin
almost in an athletic stance.
 What is Fitzgerald‘s purpose in thus
describing them?

15. Daisy Buchanan
 The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise — she leaned
slightly forward with a conscientious expression — then she
laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too
and came forward into the room.
―I‘m p-paralyzed with happiness.‖ She laughed again, as if she
said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment,
looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in
the world she so much wanted to see. That was a way she
had. She hinted in a murmur that the surname of the
balancing girl was Baker. (I‘ve heard it said that Daisy‘s
murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an
irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.)

16. Jordan Baker
 The younger of the two was a stranger to me. She was
extended full length at her end of the divan, completely
motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were
balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall. If she
saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it —
indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for
having disturbed her by coming in.
 At any rate, Miss Baker‘s lips fluttered, she nodded at me
almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back
again — the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a
little and given her something of a fright. Again a sort of
apology arose to my lips. Almost any exhibition of complete
self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me.

17. Tom Buchanan
 He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a
sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth
and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had
established dominance over his face and gave him the
appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not
even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide
the enormous power of that body — he seemed to fill those
glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you
could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder
moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of
enormous leverage — a cruel body.

18.  Contrast the green light at the end of
chapter 1 and the gray images in the
Valley of Ashes in chapter 2.
 What thematic statement do the
contrasting images reveal?

19.  Involuntarily I glanced
seaward — and
distinguished nothing
except a single green
light, minute and far
away, that might have
been the end of a dock.
When I looked once more
for Gatsby he had
vanished, and I was
alone again in the
unquiet darkness.
 This is a valley of ashes
— a fantastic farm where
ashes grow like wheat
into ridges and hills and
grotesque gardens;
where ashes take the
forms of houses and
chimneys and rising
smoke and, finally, with a
transcendent effort, of
men who move dimly and
already crumbling
through the powdery air.

20.  How can George Wilson
be said to symbolize the
American Dream?
Consider the Horatio
Alger‘s (―rags-to-riches‖)
motif, as well as his
undying desire to better
his situation.

21.  Is Nick a symbol of
honesty and Jordan a
symbol of
dishonesty? How are
they alike and
different in terms of
veracity and
credibility?
http://anoch.deviantart.com/art/Nick-and-Jordan-258532707

22. HOMEWORK
 Read The Great Gatsby Chapters 6-7
 Post #15: Choose One
– Discuss how the reunion of Daisy and Gatsby
signals both the beginning and the end of
Gatsby‘s dream and of his success.
– Trace the recurring image of eyes, and ascertain
the purposes of those images. Consider blindness
on any level as well as sight.
– Discuss one argument that supports a feminist
theory approach.