The 20s and the Great Gatsby
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In my presentation, I will be discussing how the 20s played a major role and affected the story, characters, and ultimately, the outcome of the novel, The Great Gatsby.
The first topic I will be discussing are the women of the Great Gatsby.
The 20s were a time of change in the views of women. They became more open and outgoing in many things. These included not only womens
rights, but also their sexuality. This was the age of the “flapper”. A flapper was a women who was very outgoing at parties. She smoked, drank, danced, and couldnt hold only one man. Think “Chicago” for a very good example. Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones both played flappers.
-Now, technically Daisy wouldnt be classified as a so called “flapper”, but she was highly influenced by them. When Gatsby returns, Daisy is still in love with him and, even though she is married, runs away with him, but only for a short period of time. Before the roaring 20s, this would be unthought of, but as the womens
rights movements set in, it is not so uncommon of a sight.
-Myrtle was also sort of a flapper, though as I said with Daisy, not the best representation in the book. She was also married, and was very poor, yet she was having a long running affair with Tom, Daisys husband. She was fat, loud, and tried to be as rich as she could, yet everyone saw right though that. Myrtles ideals played a very important part in The Great Gatsby.
-The best representation of a flapper in the book was none other than Jordan Baker. Jordan play golf professionally, which, before this time, was also unthinkable. Not only did she play golf as a pro but she also cheated at it. Jordan was very dishonest… she was an all out liar at most things. This pushed her away from Nick in the novel, just as her other qualities drew him to her.
Now, so far I havent really discussed how any of this relates to the story in general. Well basically, Daisy and Myrtle both cheated on their husbands, and were closely related in the book to how they handled the problem. Daisy ran away from her husband, Tom, because she not only loved Gatsby, but also because she found him cheating, and Myrtle ran away from her husband because she was cheating, which ultimately decideds the outcome of the novel for Gatsby. Jordan didnt really play a large role in the story herself, so much as she influenced Daisy.
(discuss any other ways they played a part or if the women were wrong in everything they did)
My next topic is prohibition.
This doesnt really play a large role, but it plays an important one. Gatsby could never be with Daisy as he wanted because she was rich and he was poor. When he left, he let Tom slip in with his wealth and take her. To get her back he would need money, and prohibition opened the perfect door. Prohibition was a time in the 20s where