The Great Gatsby

AN INTRODUCTION
“The Great Gatsby is a love story, of course, but love is fashioned and shaped by other
desires, especially an acquisitive urge that is a form of materialism”
 Learning Goals
We are learning the background of The Great Gatsby
 F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-
1940)
• From Minnesota, United States
• Very successful writer
• Considered a member of the Lost Generation
• Lost Generation: a group of American writers who came of age
during World War I and established their literary reputations in
the 1920s. The term is also used more generally to refer to the
post-World War I generation.
Characters
 Nick
Nick Carraway- narrator from
Minnesota, educated at Yale and
moves to New York after WWI to learn
about the bond business
 Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby- protagonist of the novel,
mysterious yet fabulously wealthy
and determined to reunite with Daisy
 Daisy
Daisy Buchanan- the young and beautiful
wife of Tom Buchanan, Gatsby’s long lost
love.
Pronounced Byue cannon
Initially appears to be superficial, but
there appears to be more to her
 Tom
Tom Buchanan
– powerful & wealthy man, distinct
attitudes towards race, class, and
gender, and has questionable
morality and integrity
 Jordan
Daisy’s BFF and Nick’s girlfriend (sort
of)
Setting-
NYC area
NYC
Cultural, economic, and media capital
Megacity of more than 23m
8th largest economy by itself
Most billionaires
Wall Street
Most culturally diverse
800 languages
United Nations
NYC
The Big Apple
So nice they named it twice
The city that never sleeps
New Amsterdam
Deep natural harbor
Purchased for $900
Setting-
NYC area
Setting- Long Island
Background Reading
Bootleggers and Rum-runners- about illegal alcohol production
Reading and question worksheet
How they roared- about the roaring 20’s
Reading and question worksheet
VOCAB:
Chasm
Isolationism
Runaway consumer credit
 Submit your Answers
After submitting your document we can discuss the questions
 Success Criteria:
1. I know the background of The Great Gatsby...
a. Because I learned about F. Scott Fitzgerald.
b. Because I learned about the major characters of The Great Gatsby.
c. Because I read about prohibition and the roaring 1920’s.