what are some historical or current events that have to do with the Great Gatsby?

Answer 1

It takes place in what Fitzgerald called The Jazz Age, which was around the Great Depression (just before, I believe)---that's why in spite of the West Egg loveliness, when they go toward the city it's a rather scary wasteland with shabby, sad sights. There were major divisions in social status. It was Prohibition, so the wealthy partied and drank and did drugs in underground clubs and bars (speakeasies) while poor people crowded into slum apartments and tried to find enough money to feed their children.

It was also the time of the rise of the flapper, which not only gave women the option of higher hemlines, but also put them in a more independent and free position in the eyes of society. This came about in part because of young women traveling to cities earlier on in the century, being without their families and making their own money. That influx of sometimes naive women was also a contributing factor in some of those large, poor families I described above, which is why Margaret Sanger started campaigning that women should practice forms of birth control. The state of women should have some importance when talking about the book because of the way the two main women act, and how that sort reflects two different eras or ways of thinking about women. It's more complicated than that, of course, but that idea could get you started.

There were also scores of immigrants coming to cities like New York (Gatsby's on Long Island) at that time, in part because of the perceived opportunities in America, in part because of troubles like WWI. And actually, I think there was also an increase in college students around that time, because of the Depression. I'm not sure if that has anything much to do with the Great Gatsby, though.

That was a really depressing book. I liked it, but after reading it several times during various parts of school, I'd never read it again.

If I were you, I'd check out the WIki page on it and follow up a few links you'd find there that talk about the historical and social themes of the book and that era.

Answer 2

I haven't read the book in a while, but I remember that it was set during a time when alchol was banned. Although Gatsby had parties all the time to get the girl to come over, although she never came. He had to have a lot of power to have an alcholic party during a time in which it was banned.