Every story carries with it its own set of historical contexts.
For example, if you watch a horror film from the Eighties, access to telephones (or the untimely lack of it) serves to complicate the plot, whereas if they had taken place thirty years later, a simple cell phone would have completely derailed the plot. Or something set in Victorian times must take expectations of women into account--our plucky single Lady Detective cannot, for instance, go out unescorted...it just isn't done. There are also a lot of assumptions made in a text which are not explicit, or even the focus of the story, but inform us about the society the story is set in nevertheless. With Gatsby, Wilson's deferential attitude toward Tom Buchanan isn't just about the economics of the plot, but there is an ingrained regard for the class difference, too. Small details reveal this, too. So I'd ask you on this post to take a work you're familiar with, note a smallish detail, and theorize what it could mean in a historical perspective.
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