The Roaring Twenties

F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age

Changing Times

The Roaring Twenties is known as the time in history after World War I and before the Great Depression (1918-1929).

During this time, the nation underwent a time of unprecedented social and technological change in the areas of literature, music, women’s rights, prohibition and technology.

The nation also enjoyed an unprecedented economic boom stimulated by World War I.

Urbanization

• Due to the onset of technology (mainly the automotive industry) the nation continued its trend towards urbanization and consumerism.

Generational DisconnectThe postwar years brought the younger generation a carefree atmosphere and rebellious lifestyle.

Flappers were typically young girls usually with bobbed hair, short skirts and rolled stockings. They danced the two most famous dances of the time period, the Charleston and the Black Bottom.

The 1920s also brought about a sexual and social freedom never before experienced before by women. Women started wearing shorter skirts, smoking cigarettes and demanding the right to vote.

Flappers

SuffrageSuffrage is the right to vote in public elections.

Women were granted this right in 1920 by the passing of the 19th Amendment.

The biggest argument against giving women the right to vote was the idea that in doing so, once would be doubling the vote of the husband.

Many historians believe that women were granted the right to vote as a reward for their contributions toward the war effort.

More Images from Suffrage Movement

The Jazz AgeThis era is also known as the Jazz Age (a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald) not only because of the style of music popular at the time, but also the carefree atmosphere that was prevalent throughout the decade.

Jazz became the soundtrack for rebellion for the younger generation.

During this time, music was known as yellow cocktail music. With the invention of the radio, they were able to reach a greater number of audiences than the performers before them.

Some Famous Musicians Include:

Louis ArmstrongDuke EllingtonKing Oliver

EntertainmentBesides the radio and jazz music, there were several other forms of entertainment during this time era.

Movies: This is the era in which silent movies where phased out and sound was ushered in. Movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin were able to make the transition easily, while others were not.

ProhibitionProhibition was the national ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol. This was brought about by various organizations such as the American Temperance Society as a reaction to the turbulently changing times. Those who supported the ban on alcohol practiced temperance, an advocating for the legal ban on alcohol.

Prohibition lasted from 1920-1933 and was enacted by the 18th Amendment. It was repealed by the 21st Amendment.

People who illegally sold alcohol during this time where called bootleggers.

More Images from Prohibition

Bootleggers, Speakeasies, and Gangsters…oh my!

The rise of Prohibition gave way to man speakeasies. A speakeasy is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages.

People who gathered at speakeasies would drink alcohol, listen to jazz music and play poker.

Many of the alcohol during this time was manufactured by mobsters; this gave rise to the mafia, the most famous member of which was Al Capone.

Lost GenerationBecause of their rebellious nature against previously set societal norms and their disconnect with the older generation, the young people were nicknamed “The Lost Generation”.

Today, the term “The Lost Generation” has come to mean an unfulfilled generation coming to maturity during a period of instability.

This term was first coined by Gertrude Stein, a prolific writer during this time.

ExpatriatesThe term expatriate refers to a person living in a country other than the one of this birth.

There were many writers during this time who felt that, though the United States had gone through great social and cultural changes, those changes were not enough. As such, these people emigrated to Paris because they felt that the morally loose society of the French was preferable to that of the United States back home.

These writers included: • Ernst Hemmingway• F. Scott Fitzgerald• Gertrude Stein • Ezra Pound.

Modernism and its ComponentsIn literature, Modernism is a rejection of the Romanticism and the advent or moral uncertainty.

• Because of the chaos of World War I, there is a longing for order, but it will never be achieved.

• Modernists mistrusted the possibility of absolute truth and idealism. In Modernist literature, many different points of view will be considered, and the narrator will have a limited amount of information.

• There is also the belief that the struggle for the ideal will lead to personal and societal downfalls.

Modernism Continued…

A few themes of Modernism are:

• Artificiality vs. authenticity• Money and class• The American Dream (the constant reach for success

and the ideal lifestyle)• Youth• Hope and love• Dreams vs. reality

F. Scott Fitzgerald: Key Points• Born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota• Named after Francis Scott Key, the author “The Star Spangled

Banner”• Attended Princeton, but left without graduating• Met Zelda Sayre in 1918, but was not rich enough to marry her• Immediately began a career as a writer to earn money in order to

be considered as an option for Zelda• Published his first novel This Side of Paradise in 1920 at the age of

24• Eventually earned enough fame as a writer to marry Zelda by

writing short stories for the “New York Post” at $4,000.00 a story ($50,000.00 today)

Key Points Continued…• Once Fitzgerald earned fame as a writer, he and Zelda were

associated with the high living of the Jazz Age• One daughter, Scotty, was born in 1921• Attempts to keep reputation as a famous writer were

thwarted by alcohol addiction; instead Fitzgerald earns reputation as a drunkard

• Zelda becomes mentally unstable and must be institutionalized

• Fitzgerald moves to Hollywood to work as a screen writer and dies in 1940 and the age of 45

• Zelda dies in a fire in the mental hospital in 1948

Images of F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is known as the “Great American Novel”. It is the most iconic work of American Literature and very difficult to avoid in high school, college or any country that speaks English.

The themes set forth in The Great Gatsby echo not only the sentiments set forth by Modernism, but also events which occurred in Fitzgerald’s life as well.

As we read through the novel, keep an eye out for parallels between Jay Gatsby and Fitzgerald himself. As with all of Fitzgerald’s work, the novel is semi-autobiographical.

Nick CarrawayNick is the narrator of the novel. He has come from Minnesota to New York to learn the bond business (he is in between a stock broker and a banker).

Nick is an idealist who believes in the good of people. He represents the average American person pursuing the American Dream.

He is Daisy’s cousin, and he lives next door to Gatsby in West Egg.

Tom and Daisy BuchananDaisy is Tom’s wife and Nick’s cousin. Although she seems very silly and unaware of the world around her, she keeps most of her thoughts to herself. She has more depth to her than people realize.

Tom is Daisy’s husband. He is a very racist and violent man. He does not like to be corrected when wrong and he becomes angry when others attempt to argue with him on any topic. Tom is convinced that because he is rich and attractive, he as the answers to everything.

Tom and Daisy live in East Egg.

Jordan Baker and Myrtle WilsonJordan is a professional golfer and Daisy’s friend. She often comes to visit Daisy at her house. Throughout the novel, she and Nick have a casual romance.

Myrtle Wilson is Tom’s mistress. She lives in Queens (the “hood”) with her husband, George who is an automotive mechanic. Even though Myrtle is of lower class, she is always looking for opportunities to improve her social and financial standing.

East Egg vs. West EggMost of the novel takes place in New York in the two fictional towns of East Egg and West Egg. East Egg inhabitants look down upon other locations, but especially on those who live in West Egg.

East Egg: Old moneyWest Egg: New money

Symbols in The Great GatsbyGreen Light: located at the end of Daisy’s dock and is visible from Gatsby’s mansion; represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams about Daisy and, to an extent, every individual’s personal American Dream

The Valley of Ashes: the area between West Egg and New York City (Queens); a desolate area filled with industrial waste; represents the social and moral decay of society during the 1920s; shows the negative effects of greed The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Ekleburg: a decaying

billboard in the Valley of Ashes with eyes advertising an optometrist; represents God’s moral judgment of society, AND the lack of religion in a decadent society