THE GREAT GATSBY: HISTORICAL CONTEXT.

It is important that students are aware of the historical context that surrounds Fitzgerald's novel as one of the assessment objectives demands that students can discuss context when constructing a critical argument. Below are a few links to resources that may help students develop an understanding of America in the 1920s. The decade is a complex decade. At the beginning of the decade was a period of economic hardship, in 1925, when the novel was published, rich urban Americans were experiencing an economic boom, and in 1929 America suffered the Wall Street Crash.

FITZGERALD'S novel only became viewed as one of the THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS after the end of World War Two in 1945. Fitzgerald died in 1940 and never received any commercial or artistic benefits from his novel. Students might like to consider WHY the novel only began to appeal to a wide audience over twenty years after its initial publication. What is it about this novel that eventually captured the imagination and intellectual attention of an American audience?

'THE ROARING TWENTIES' is a three part YOU TUBE documentary that includes a voiceover that will test your will to exist and may inspire random acts of extreme violence...but it does include some interesting information about mass consumption and the role of advertising, prohibition, the role of women, the jazz age,the Scopes trial etc:
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVOflzLGKCc&feature=relmfu
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExfjbSmR0k&feature=relmfu
Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHZckXwIa5E&feature=relmfu

'BOOM AND BUST' is another YOU TUBE beast that contains some of the most appalling and comedic sound effects....but again...provides a good overview of America in the 1920s.
Click on link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xrz69_W4ew&feature=related

'THE CENTURY...AMERICA'S TIME: BOOM TO BUST' IS A DECENT THREE PART DOCUMENTARY WITH DECENT PRODUCTION VALUES AND INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO LIVED THROUGH THE 1920s.THIS IS A MORE SOPHISTICATED AND MEASURED RESOURCE. WORTH WATCHING. IT IS NOT A STRICTLY ACADEMIC RESOURCE BUT IT SHOULD ENGAGE A CURIOUS TEENAGE MIND.This is a three part 45 minute resource:
One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foooDFF9Dgs
Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuEi-U6pmo&feature=endscreen
Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPP7FE8RIbY&feature=endscreen

Here is a link to a previous BE CURIOUS entry that provides links to two documentaries that explore the life and times of F.Scott Fitzgerald:
http://becuriouslit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/fscott-fitzgerald-documentary.html

If this feast of resources is not enough to keep a stimulated literature student engaged and informed, here are three videocasts from the University of Leeds that explore issues related to THE GREAT GATSBY:
http://becuriouslit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/gatsby-podcasts.html

ENJOY.