The Great Gatsby

Resource Pack for: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Created by Caitlin Funk

Context

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in 1924 to be published in 1925. At the time, The Great War had just ended and America was in the Jazz Age/Roaring 20s during the Prohibition era. The novel was not popular when first published, but has since become a classic and is certainly one of the Great American Novels.

Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in Minnesota to Catholic parents. He began writing young, with his first work published in a school paper at thirteen. He joined the army in 1917, but never went overseas. While training, he was stationed in Alabama and met his future wife, Zelda. Since he had no fortune to give Zelda the life she was accustomed to, Fitzgerald moved to New York City after his discharge in 1919 to earn enough to please Zelda. It was there that he wrote his first novel, This Side of Paradise . The novel was an immediate success. He married Zelda and they began travelling the world together.

The Jazz Age and The Roaring 20s began at the end of WW1 and ended when Wall Street crashed in 1929. In these ten years, people in America were focused on living their life with no consequences. Art, literature, music and dance was created and celebrated. Everyone was grateful for those around them and that they had survived the Great War. Even though there were strong prohibition laws, people were gathering in speakeasies, listening to jazz and dancing the night away.