Great Gatsby Revision Notes

The idea behind the book

Gatsby is a novel that is the direct counter to the American ideals of unity, freedom and anti-aristocracy. Throughout the novel it is seen that the novel is actually about the lack of freedom extorted to those who are not of wealthy or noble backgrounds and their struggle to get anywhere in life

Context with the Novel:

At the time the book is set, Warren G Harding was the president of the United States. He wanted to bring the countries economy back from the brink and overall improve the United States, bringing it back to the pre-1917 days. Although the government did succeed in bringing the economy back, this proved difficult for the administration due to corruption and scandals within his government, and opposition to his government by the trade unions, who were marginalised by the governments siding with managers, and the mafia

At the time the novel was set, America was experiencing some of the heaviest immigration in its history. Due to the destruction in Europe, many moved to America so that they could live a better quality of life, hence the strong Italian and Irish populations in America. This made tensions high between the workers of the time and those who were immigrating

Organised crime was high at the time. The economy at the time meant that organised crime was able to exploit this. The mafia crime culture of Italy spread to America in the migration of the 20's, with immigrants like Charles 'Lucky' Luciano spearheading operations like bootlegging. One famous example of organised crime is Arnold Rothstein, the man who is suspected to be a lot of the basis for Meyer Wolfsheim. He was notorious for high interest loans and was suspected to have been involved in fixing the 1919 MLB world series

After the war, there were issues at home. The 18th Amendment to the US constitution banned alcohol from being manufactured or sold. This brough around prohibition, a period of time where people would manufacture their own alcohol and sell it whilst trying to prevent the police from catching them. This also established speakeasy's, a secret bar. Another issue that came about was the rise of the KKK. The Klan were a racist group who still exist today. They were opposed to many minorities, particularly black people, and were known to abduct and kill black citizens.

Important Dates in 1922:

8th February: First radio in the White House
13th April: Massachusetts opens public office to women
14th June: US president makes first radio speech
3rd October: Rebecca Felton becomes first female senator

What do we know about Nick at the start:

Nick grew up in the Mid-West of the United States, at the start of the novel he has moved into New York, but by the end he leaves for the Mid-West again

Nick is well educated. He introduces Gatsby saying "Gatsby turned out alright in the end, it was what preyed on gatsby, what foul dust floated in the…