Gatsby and Passing AO3

Fitzgerald’s early life

Mother came from an impoverished family who FSF always looked down on & father was a failed businessman. Often claimed to be orphaned. Had a desperate need to be admitted into the rich - Ginevra King. Kept legers from 12 on how he could improve himself & invent a ‘character’ - he observed & tried to emulate popular classmates.

Fitzgerald & Zelda Sayre

Met in 1918, after his rejection from Ginevra, - she was a southern aristocrat & shared the need for the limelight. FSF was kicked out of Princeton & the armed service & had deep debts, causing Zelda to break off their engagement as she wasn’t satisfied by his little income. She re joined him & married him in 1920 after his novel ‘This side of paradise’ began to make money.

Fitzgerald’s life

Became the author of the Jazz Age & him and Zelda were Manhattan’s ‘it’ couple - frequently did things knowing it would get them in the papers - hedonistic success. Animosity for him existed strongly in the upper classes & he often felt like an outsider looking in. Was drawn to easy money & wanted to constantly be writing but feared he was losing his artistic expression & ‘selling out’. Feared growing old and hedonism & parties becoming forced/repetitive.

Media presence of Fitzgerald

Kept scrapbooks of all his press clipping & was desperate to please - played a part larger than reality to ensure fame & success. Was happy even being pictured in the press as ‘the hopeless drunk with the mad suicidal wife’ as long as it kept him relevant. Was essentially drunk for 17 years straight.

Fitzgerald’s last years

In 1936, he placed Zelda into a hospital for her mental health (a form of bipolar disorder) & she died there in a fire in 1948. FSF attempted suicide after Hemmingway criticised him & eventually died in 1940 of a drinking related disease. Few came to his funeral. He essentially lived his life drunk or hungover between what he wanted to be & what he was.

WW1 & the Lost Generation

The end of the war was viewed by many as pointless & destructive slaughter. Disillusionment & restlessness was common among those who returned from the war, seeking purpose and hope (Nick). Gertrude Stein described the generation as ‘a lost generation of men & women adrift in a chaotic hell of their own solipsism’

Benjamin Franklin & idea of the ‘self made man’

Franklin = directly referenced in Gatsby’s schedule shown at the end of the novel. He was a founding father & signer of the Declaration of Independence. Wrote extensively about need for self improvement & devised a ‘self improvement project’ based on 13 virtues including temperance,fragility, industry, chastity & humility

Trimalchio

An ancient Roman satire written by Petronius in which Trimalchio, a former slave who becomes incredibly rich in underhand ways is made fun of. Trimalchio throws lavish, vulgar parties that parade his wealth around in an attempt to appear more Roman than the Romans. FSF originally wanted to name the novel ‘Trimalchio in West Egg’

Concept of the American Dream in the 1920s

Was originally a symbol of the idea that anyone who came to the country, regardless of background, could achieve success through hard work. It drove the ideas of Westward Expansion & provided immigrants with the promise of a better life free from oppression. However, due to the industrial revolution of the 20th century & the economic boom post WW1, success became to define material wealth & a new middle class emerged in society focused on materialistic values (nouveau riche), as people could now afford luxuries they never could before.

The Roaring 20s - economic change

Economic boom occurred as a result of post war industrial achievement & the repurposing of industries that were expanded during the war. Cars, appliances & other luxuries were made accessible to the middle class through assembly lines like Henry Ford’s & became symbols of wealth. Advertising & consumption of goods grew to a national scale. and a sense of boundless prosperity was created.

The Roaring 20s - social change

Created a new era for women with the emergence of the ‘new woman’ from women gaining the right to vote, a 25% increase of women in the workforce (over 2 million joined) and access to more liberated lifestyles through birth control and divorce laws. Flappers also emerged, marking a freedom of expression, & a rejection of traditional female roles & expectations through drinking, smoking and dancing. However they were criticised & mostly middle class, urban women - many rural women were still confined to entrenched social constructs. Women were still mostly expected to keep home, raise children & be emotional support for husbands as well as contribute to the AD (shown in many adverts). Nearly a third of working women remained as ‘domestic servants’ and may entered into ‘feminised’ professions.

Prohibition

Alcohol was banned under the 1919 Volstead Act due to the belief that it caused crime, poverty and domestic abuse. However it largely failed to eliminate alcohol consumption, instilling widespread defiance of the law instead, as people viewed it as going against personal liberty - exceptions were made for medicinal, religious & industrial alcohol, allowing for loopholes. Speakeasies grew from 15000 to 30000 in 1926. Bootlegging & criminal activity increased to illegally smuggle in alcohol - organised crime syndicates capitalised on the demand for liquor. Moonshine was illegally produced & many violent/gang related murders occurred that went unpunished due to corruption of the CJS. Repealed in 1933 under 21st Amendment.

Organised Crime

Flourished under prohibition & figures/groups such as Al Capone built vast criminal empires to control the distribution, production & sale of alcohol illegally, gaining immense wealth & influence - AC gained over 60 million dollars by mid 1920s. Known for often being extremely violent. Often used bribery on police officers, politicians & government officials. Allowed speakeasies and the purchasing of illegal alcohol to become normalised and acceptable.

The Jazz Age

Jazz became a defining feature of the 1920s cultural landscape, emerging in New Orleans, it spread rapidly to other urban areas, as African Americans moved northward during the Great Migration. It shaped a cultural movement that appealed to young people from all classes. Introducing new dance styles and nightlife, It became synonymous with the spirit of the decade & NY & Chicago became hubs for jazz. However it grew in popularity only when white jazz musicians emerged & some clubs only allowed white audiences.

End of the decade

The period of the 1920s was built on shaky foundations of widespread overproduction, income inequality and an unsustainable stock market bubble which burst in 1929 during the Wall Street Crash. The economic collapse triggered unemployment, poverty & a collapse of confidence, exposing the moral decay beneath the glittering surface of the age. The fragility of the AD was highlighted as many realised that materialism didn’t guarantee happiness.

Old money vs new money

The division between them highlights a significant cultural rift of the 1920s. Old money was characterised by inherited wealth across several generations while new money was self made wealth made in the period, often through illegal means. Old money members had established social connections and lived a more traditional, understated lifestyle while new money was often associated with a reckless desire to display their wealth more ostentatiously in hope of gaining these social connections and social status.

The Great Migration

Movement in the early to mid 20th century of many Black Americans migrating north from the south to escape violence and segregation from the Jim Crow laws. The North was believes to hold better prospects & job opportunities & less racism. 1.5 million black Americans left their home. Many were pushed out of the south due to the decrease in sustainability and profitability in farming and the use of shore cropping, as well as the constant threats of riots & lynching to Black communities (e.g. KKK). However, the southern infrastructure relied on their labour, causing many southerners to beat those trying to leave, block migrant trains & push newspapers to publish negative stories of Black Americans in the North.

Impact of the Great Migration

Created huge hubs of Black culture and urban spaces in the North, such as Harlem. Is a significant example of Black Americans taking control over their lives and identities in this period. However, despite the many stories of them thriving in the north, segregation and widespread poverty for Black people still existed in the north, it was just more discreet than the south.

Nella Larsen’s early life

She was born into a primarily white, working class neighbourhood to one white and one black parent in Chicago. Her father died/left causing her white mother to remarry into a white family and have another child, making her the only mixed race family member. She was often played off as the maid to others by her mother rather than a member of the family. She wasn’t surrounded by non-white people until she attended the Fisk Normal School in Nashville 1907.

Larsen’s life

She enrolled at the Lincoln School for Nurses in the Bronx which was founded to recruit black women into the field and she graduated with the equivalent of a registered Nurse’s degree. She married Elmer Imes, who was the 2nd African American to receive a PHD in Physics, in 1919 & they took up with a circle of black intellectuals in Harlem during the renaissance. She enrolled in the NY Public Library’s teaching program and became it’s first black female graduate as well as becoming the 1st African American woman to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship.

End of Larsen’s life

She was accused of plagiarism and her work was openly criticised, causing her to drop out of society for a while and withdraw from the Harlem Renaissance. Paired with her public divorce of Imes in 1933 after he cheated on her, the stress and toll it took caused her to end her writing career. She supported herself through nursing until she died in 1964.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws created to enforce racial segregation in the south in the USA from 1977-1950s. They were named after ‘Jim Crow’, a derogatory character which mocked black people and the name came to symbolise segregated life. White and Black people were separated in schools, public transport, movie theatres & parks and restaurants. The laws were struck down in 1954 after the Supreme Court declared segregation as uncon

The ‘one drop rule’

Was a law introduced in America that categorised anyone with a trace of African American blood as black. It was based on theories of white superiority and racial purity and the need of the white population to define people as white or black. It was legally enforced through the Jim Crow Laws and mainly developed to prevent the ‘problem’ of miscegenation (interracial marriage) which made it harder for white people to distinguish white from black. It allowed restrictions on interracial marriage/cohabitation & prevented black people from passing as white. It was outlawed in 1967.

Laws against interracial marriage in America

Laws preventing interracial marriage date back as far as 1661, when Virginia published legislation prohibiting it, and they lasted up until 1967. They were common laws in many states & by 1924 it was illegal in 38 states. The laws stemmed from racist views and a fear of African American and Indian people (the oppressed) marrying and rising up against the whites. The laws prevented anyone who wasn’t white from obtaining the same cultural status that a white person could.

Rhinelander-Jones case 1925

Kip Rhinelander - a rich white man - married Alice Beatrice Jones who was a woman passing as white. When he became aware of her black heritage, his parents forced him to sue for the annulment of the marriage through the threat of disinheritance. During the trial she was forced to show intimate parts of her body and heavily exposed, however eventually the jury ruled in Alice’s favour. The case helped to influence the literature and rt of this period, e.g. Passing.

The novel’s alternate ending

The stereotype of the ‘Tragic Mulatto’

Was a stereotypical fictional character that appeared in American literature during the 19th & 20th centuries. It portrayed a mixed race person who was assumed to be depressed or even suicidal as they failed to fit within the ‘white’ or ‘black’ world. This character is depicted as the victim of a society divided by race, where there is no place for people not fully ‘black’ or ‘white’

The Harlem Renaissance

Commonly known as the blossoming of African American culture from 1918-37 & is viewed as the most influential moment in African American literary history. It represented a break away from Victorian moral values & racist bourgeois shame over aspects of their lives. Harlem became a world renowned hub of art & culture as 175000 settled there after the GM - new forms of creative expression were developed. Harlem became the symbolic capital of a cultural awakening as literary, musical, theatrical and visual arts were embraced, allowing a break away from the white stereotypes that had influenced black heritage. A cultural revival occurred along with many black people now advocating for their civil rights.

Fashion & culture in the 1920s

Fashion trends became more relaxed with the styles of the flapper & zoot suits becoming popular with the creation of new dances like the Charleston & Shimmy. Cinema and Hollywood grew rapidly and became the most influential part of culture with actors becoming massive stars (Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino). Many sought to imitate the lifestyles displayed in the most popular movies - millions copied Clara Bow’s ‘it girl’ look.

Race relations in the 1920s

Black members of society were often ruthlessly separated from white - Jim Crow, One Drop Rule etc & extreme violence and prejudice was common in the south with practices like lynchings occurring regularly - 400 during 1920s. Race riots were often used to intimidate African Americans where hundreds would be killed & property destroyed - but no prosecutions would occur as juries would be all white. The KKK also constantly attacked African Americans throughout the period & had 5 million members by the mid 1920s. Despite the GM, the north still had unofficial segregation, and many black people were left in low paying jobs, not having benefitted from the economic boom, or in competition with white people for jobs.

Class divides in the 1920s

The new consumer culture that developed caused the further growth of class divides, as industrial workers who didn’t benefit from the economic boom continued to face poor wages and living conditions. A third of all income was earned by 5% of the population, while over 60% were left living just below the poverty line. Many Americans had tried to take part in the consumer boom using cheap credit which only resulted in great debt. Black Americans and immigrants mostly remained in cheap labour.

Consumerism & advertising in the 1920s

An increase in consumerism occurred after WW1, causing personal success to become equated with material goods - which was furthered by advertising as by 1929, advertising companies were spending 3 billion dollars on adverts. Adverts cleverly tapped into the desire of many to be happier, wealthier, prettier & more popular, making them heavily persuasive. Companies saw a massive increase in advertising opportunities & this fuelled the consumption of many popular goods. Magazines, radios & newspapers offered effective channels of advertising to target audiences, causing the advertising industry to become massive and companies to set up marketing departments. Many famous figures like Amelia Earhart features in ads to promote products.

LGBTQIA history of the Harlem Renaissance

The LGBT movement combined with the Harlem Jazz scene in the 1920s due to them both being alternative cultures to mainstream America. Despite the obscenity laws used by the government to censor LGBT topics in cinema, music and theatre, young people still embodied the freedom of self expression created in the 1920s and challenged this. The sense of new possibilities fostered within Harlem embraced sexuality and expression of it as a form of emancipation. The speakeasy culture of the prohibition era created frequent expression of LGBT nightlife and drag balls where thousands would attend to cross dress and win awards for the most lavish costumes. Queer singers like Gladys Bentley often performed at gay speakeasies backed by drag performers & one of the few openly gay black writers of the period Richard Bruce Nugent published Harlem literature depicting bisexuality - may other Harlem works have since been adopted as part of a queer canon. However towards the end of the decade, black writers begun to worry that openly talking about queerness could jeopardise their civil rights agendas & writing depicting Gay Harlem went out of print.

Passing as a queer novel

It has been identified as a milestone work in LGBTGIA history and many literary scholars consider Nella Larsen one of the ‘queer figures’ of the Harlem Renaissance.