A bullet point summary of all of the important contextual points to be made when revising The Great Gatsby as part of the Tragedy paper in the AQA English Literature B A-Level. I achieved an A* in this subject.
The Great Gatsby - Context
World War One & Effects
• World War One ended in 1919
• America in a state of shock, men who came back from the war (Gatsby, Nick) used extreme
materialism to compensate, wanted to enjoy life - party, spend money
• Low interest rates - buy now, pay later - led to increased wealth
• Soldiers lost the ability to control their own lives - ‘liable at the whim of an impersonal government to
be blown anywhere’ - lives are controlled during the war, wanted to take back their own control
• Generation of young men that fought were disillusioned - Victorian time prior to the war was very moral
and conservative, the war disproved this - led to increased spending and stock rates, personal wages
and profits rose, huge commercial growth led to more material growth
• Huge economic growth, people quickly getting richer, spending money on person goods - cars,
telephones, fridges - not necessary items, recreational spendings, holidays, parties, to relax after the
horrors of the war
• Increase in tabloid newspaper production, film actors and actresses became more famous, increase in
celebrity culture and professional sports - Jazz Age / roaring 20s
• Prohibition introduced, led to bootlegging, illegal importation and selling of alcohol, this is how Gatsby
got his money
• Ended with the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression - this does not last
The American Dream
• When America was discovered, it was advertised as the land of opportunity - the American Dream - all
men were equal and had an equal chance to succeed in America if they worked hard enough
• Nick describes the midwest as ‘the ragged edge of the universe’
• He lives in ‘the consoling proximity of millionaires’, suggesting that living within reach of the wealthy
makes you happy, a misguided idea
• Gatsby always wanted to improve himself and achieve the American Dream - ‘Jimmy was bound to get
ahead’ - his dream is to become rich and powerful and through this would have Daisy love him, he
achieves the wealth part at the cost of his morals - ‘a lot of these newly rich people are just big
bootleggers’
• Some things you cannot achieve through hard work, e.g. love, happiness, only material wealth - this
does not make you happy and is not important
• Nick’s American dream is to be wealthy - ‘promising to unfold the secrets that only Midas and Morgan
and Maecenas knew’
• Daisy’s wealth and beauty supposedly makes her happy - ‘I’m p-paralysed with happiness’
• Those that are wealthy within the book are not ultimately happy - ‘the short-winded elations of men’
• The 20s were an era of decaying social and moral value shown through cynicism, greed and empty
pursuit of happiness - ‘civilisation’s gone to pieces’, ‘I want you to meet my girl’, ‘don’t bring Tom’ ‘who
is Tom?’, ‘incurably dishonest’ - the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure is more important than
any moral standards
• The American Dream was ruined and distorted, it only created a society of superficial and selfish
people
Fitzgerald
• Fitzgerald went to New York in the hope to become rich so that he could married Zelda, however when
he failed she broke off their relations. She then returned to him when he became successful
Class Divide
• There is a class divide between the ‘old money’ aristocracy (Tom and Daisy) and the ‘new money’
migrants (Gatsby). The newly rich in West Egg are presented as vulgar, gaudy, dishonest, immoral
and lack social graces, while the aristocracy in East Egg are shown to have elegance, grace and
subtlety, however they are shown to be careless and inconsiderate of others, using their money to
make their lives more comfortable - ‘they were careless people’
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