The Trial of Gatsby’s American Dream

Introduction

The Roaring 20s: A Fair Shot or a Rigged Game?

We talk about the "American Dream" like it’s a universal map to success, but The Great Gatsby usually tells a different story. In the world of Jay Gatsby, there’s plenty of glitz and jazz, but there’s also a lot of tragedy buried under the surface. It raises a pretty massive question: Was Gatsby’s actual downfall his own fault, or was the "dream" he was chasing fundamentally broken from the jump?

Task

Your team has been hired as a cultural forensic unit. Your goal is to create a multimedia digital portfolio that argues whether the American dream was attainable in the 1920s. To do this, you will:

  1. Research specific historical aspects of the 1920s using the provided resources.

  2. Analyze how these historical contexts (wealth inequality, racial barriers, and gender roles) appear in The Great Gatsby.

  3. Produce a "Verdict Presentation" (using Google Slides, Canva, or Prezi) that includes a curated gallery of primary sources and a written closing argument (500 words) defending your stance on the validity of the American Dream.

Process

The Process

Step 1: Roles: Divide your group into the following roles:

  • The Historian: Focuses on the economic boom and the reality of the self-made man.

  • The Sociologist: Focuses on the flapper culture, gender roles, and the new woman.

  • The musicologist/artist focuses on the Harlem Renaissance and the barriers faced by minority creators.

  • The Legal Expert: Focuses on prohibition, organized crime, and the "Grey Area" of Gatsby’s wealth.

Step 2: Investigation: Use the 10 resource links below to gather evidence. You must also visit our classroom library to consult the physical copies of The Great Gatsby and our supplemental textbook, The Americans.

Step 3: Synthesis: Create your portfolio. Each slide must connect a historical fact to a specific scene or character in the novel.

Step 4: The Closing Argument: Write a collaborative conclusion that answers the following: If Gatsby were alive today, would his dream be easier or harder to achieve?

 

Digital Resources:

  1. The Rise of the Flapper (USHistory.org)

  2. Prohibition: An Interactive Timeline (PBS)

  3. The Harlem Renaissance—Poetry and Power (History.com)

  4. Jazz Age Culture (Digital History)

  5. Economic Data of the 1920s (The Library of Economics)

  6. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Life and Times (Sc.edu)

  7. Advertising in the 1920s (Duke University Digital Collections)

  8. The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti: Anti-Immigrant Sentiment (Famous Trials)

  9. The 19th Amendment and Women’s Suffrage (National Archives)

  10. Visualizing the 1920s: Photo Gallery (Library of Congress)

Evaluation
Criteria Novice (1) Proficient (3) Exemplary (5)
Research Depth Used fewer than 5 links. Used 6-9 links and some text evidence. Used all 10 links and supplemental books.
Historical Accuracy Many inaccuracies in context. Generally accurate historical ties. Precise, nuanced historical analysis.
Collaboration Roles were not clearly defined. Roles were defined but overlapped. Each role contributed unique, expert data.
Closing Argument Less than 2 paragraphs. 3-4 paragraphs; somewhat logical. 5-7+ sentences per paragraph; persuasive.
Conclusion

So, that’s it. You’ve dug through the "valley of ashes" and seen what the 1920s were really like. It leaves you wondering if that "green light" is something people can actually reach today or if it's just a leftover ghost from a century ago.

As you move on to other books, keep looking for the stuff that isn't explicitly said. The history between the lines usually tells the real story. Your digital portfolios are done, and they do a solid job of linking these old 1920s issues to the stuff we’re seeing in our own world right now.

Nice work!

Teacher Page

Project Overview & Student Profile:

This WebQuest is built for 11th-grade ELA or US History students. It’s specifically designed for juniors who are either right in the middle of The Great Gatsby or digging into the 1920s in history class. Since students learn differently, I’ve set this up with a few different tracks: some roles focus on visuals, others on the music of the era (jazz/culture), and some on traditional text research.

The Standards (CCSS):

RI.11-12.1: Students need to back up their claims with solid evidence from the texts.

RH.11-12.7: This is about pulling together info from different places, videos, old photos, and articles and making sense of it all as a whole.

Teacher’s Guide: Tips & Timing

The Clock: Plan for about 3 to 5 class periods. I usually spend the first day just getting them into their roles and explaining the intro. Give them two days for the research and another two to actually put their presentations together.

When to Start: It works best if they’ve at least finished chapter 4. You want them to have that initial mystery about Gatsby’s past before they start looking into whether the self-made man thing was reality or just a myth.