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In the book The Great Gatsby, how does your knowledge of "The Lost Generation," the changing role of women in society, the advent of the car, and...

The phrase "The Lost Generation" refers to that generation that came of age during World War I, especially to those artists and writers of this era.  Many of them fought in the war, an experience that disillusioned them about the world forever.  Afterwards, they always seemed restless and never content.  In fact, Nick says as much in the first chapter.  When he returned from the Great War, he "came back restless," no longer seeing the Midwest as "the warm center of the world [but rather] the ragged edge of the universe," and he felt the need to move East.  Such discontent and disillusionment is typical of this generation, and we can see it in Daisy too.  The world became a very different place after the war, and it makes most characters a great deal more cynical than they were before. 


Further, as women's roles were beginning to change, some women who felt beholden to the old rules began to feel a discontentment as well (and many men who disapproved of the new roles did too).  Times were changing, and fast, though someone like Jordan, a single woman of means, had a great deal more freedom than someone like Daisy, a married mother who seems to have taken on the traditional role before she realized that there might be other options.  Her cynicism -- and her husband's disapproval of Jordan's independence -- are emblematic of the time and help us to understand their characters as well.


With the advent of the car, characters gained a great deal more freedom than they had always had.  It suddenly became possible to go far, to go fast, and to go now.  The war seemed to make the world a bigger place, and now people want to see it (like Nick).  People can see more and go more places than they could before.  The sense of freedom that accompanied the automobile was, perhaps, perfectly timed given the sense of futility and sense of being trapped that so many in the Lost Generation (and so many women) felt.


Finally, the Roaring Twenties seem to be synonymous with jazz music, illegal alcohol, and rule-breaking.  Whereas things had seemed so formal and buttoned-up prior to the war, the war itself seems to have given everyone license to go a little crazy.  Further, for a generation of people who feel lost and disillusioned, the ability to forget all one's troubles and worries and go to big, loud parties and drink themselves into oblivion probably felt like a boon.  So many people drink to forget or at least dull their emotional pain, and the Roaring Twenties offered ample opportunity for that.  It helps to explain why alcohol was so integral to every single function at the Buchanans and all of Gatsby's parties.  


All of these factors help readers to understand what could be going on in the minds of the characters, even if they are unable to say so themselves.  The war had so many psychological and emotional effects, especially on the generation that actually did the fighting (The Lost Generation), that keeping these in mind as we read helps us to know the characters perhaps even better than they know themselves.  

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