The Great Gatsby
by
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Born: Sept 24, 1896
 Named after ancestor (Francis
Scott Key)
 1913 - enrolled in Princeton
University (didn’t graduate)
 1917 – enlisted in army
 Fell in love with Zelda Sayre
 She agreed to marry him once
he was a success
 1920 – his book This Side of
Paradise is published
The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald (cont.)
 The book is successful;
Zelda agrees to marry
him
 Daughter – Frances
 1925 – The Great Gatsby
 Parties and alcoholism
 Zelda’s breakdown and
death
 Died: 1940 (heart attack)
Great Gatsby Information
 Time period – 1920’s
 Setting – East Egg, West Egg, NYC
 List of Main Characters
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Nick Carraway (narrator)
Tom Buchanan
Daisy Fay Buchanan
Jordan Baker
Jay Gatsby
George Wilson
Myrtle Wilson
Prohibition
 The Eighteenth
Amendment (1919) to
the Constitution forbade
the manufacture, sale,
import, or export of
intoxicating liquors.
 The Twenty-first
Amendment (1933)
repealed the Eighteenth
Amendment.
ALCOHOL
The Roaring Twenties
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Prohibition
Speakeasies
Bootlegging
Organized Crime
Jazz Age
Dancing
Flappers
Women’s rights
1920
 More people in the city than in the country
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# of radios in homes – 2,000
First radio broadcast aired
Harlem Renaissance begins
League of Nations established
19th Amendment – women granted the
right to vote in the US
1921
 Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as
President of the United States of
America
 Knee length skirts become
fashionable
 The first Miss America pageant
 First drive-in food place
1922
 Flapper dress makes its debut
 Speakeasies in NYC = 5,000
 First radio commercial
broadcast
1923
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Hollywood sign goes up
Americans see on avg. 1 movie/week
President Harding dies
Vice President Coolidge becomes President
15 million cars registered in the US
Charleston dance becomes popular
1924
 # of radios in US homes –
2.5 million
 1st Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
Parade
 Coolidge is reelected
1925
 Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby
 Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
 The first woman Governor of a U.S.
state (Wyoming) is elected.
 The Scopes Trial
 Evolution in schools debate
 First trial broadcast over the radio
 Frisbie invented
1926
 40 hour work week (used to be 84 hour)
 1 in 6 Americans owns a car
 1st supermarket
 Mae West – arrested for moving navel
during play
 US woman swims the English Channel
 Deaths due to bad booze in NYC =
750
1927
 Charles Lindbergh flies solo across
the Atlantic Ocean
 First talking movie (The Jazz Singer)
 Telephone service is opened between
New York City and London (AT&T)
 Speakeasies in NYC = 30,000
 Deaths due to bad booze in 1 hospital
in NYC on New Year’s Eve = 41
1927 (continued)
 Al “Scarface”
Capone earnings
 $100 million –
alcohol sales
 $30 million –
protection business
 $25 million –
gambling
 $10 million – vice
and sundry rackets
1928
 U.S. signs Briand-Kellogg Pact - outlawing
war
 Amelia Earhart flies across the Atlantic
 Women compete for the first time in
Olympic field events
 Penicillin discovered
 1st televisions are sold - $75
 Mickey Mouse in first cartoon
 Divorce rate – 1 in 6 marriages
1929
 Empire State Building
construction begins
 Speakeasies in NYC = 32,000 –
100,000
 Speakeasies in Chicago = 10,000
 Valentine’s Day Massacre
 “Bugs” Moran gang killed by Al
Capone’s men
 Car radio invented
 Stock Market crash
 October 29
 “Black Tuesday”
 $9 billion lost on that one day
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
1920’s compared to today
Bibliography
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http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/a-f/fitzgerald-f-scott/fitzgerald-med.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.shortstory.by.ru/fitzgerald
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005846/introduction/introduction.htm
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/timeline-1926.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Feb2003/030114-O-0000D-001.html
http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/incredibles/
www.theconnection.org/.../ 04/20040402_b_main.asp
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http://www.apple.com/ipod/
http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/models/gallery.jsp?model=escalade
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www.allsports.com/ mlb/yankees/frommer42.htm
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/baseball/20050323-99991s23bonds.html
Assignment
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What would the US be without the following 1920’s
events/inventions?
Pick one from the following list and write 50 words in your
journal explaining your opinion.
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Radio
Car radio
Television
Miss America Pageant
Prohibition
Fast food places
40 hour work week
Skyscrapers
Penicillin