Michael McCooe – Common Era: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a fictional story by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg in the Roaring Twenties.

It takes a close look at the ‘American Dream’ which was a popular ideology at the time. As well as closely exploring themes of idealism, the novel also covers resistance to change, social upheaval, decadence and excess.

Setting the scene

It’s the summer of 1922 and a young man from Minnesota, (Nick Carraway), moves to New York to take a job in finance. Renting a house on Long Island, which at the time was a wealthy but unfashionable area, he moves in next door to a man named Jay Gatsby.

The neighbourhood is full of many people who have made their riches too soon to have established social connections and Gatsby in particular is prone to garish displays of wealth including extravagant Saturday night parties.

You can read this article in full with Michael McCooe.