Rural life during the early 20th century was “considered” safe with close personal ties to morals, all of which family values being at the core of American culture. This new heritage launched a joint effort after World War I to restrain the trends they found threatening and reinstate the traditional American values for which it once stood for. Prohibition, being seen as purging the nation of the evilness of city life after World War 1was favored in rural areas; helped spark what was known as the Sexual Revolution. In his literary work Spoon River Anthology (1915), Edgar Lee Masters stripped away the once rigid customs and traditions of American life in rural America. This work caused a great sensation because of its forthrightness about sex, …show more content…
In the literary works of lost generation writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited, time is used to reinforce his theme of one’s past being inescapable. This theme is evident as Fitzgerald writes, “But it was nice while it lasted, we were a sort of royalty, almost infallible, with a sort of magic around us” (44). References are made in time flying by and being lost due to the past indiscretions. This is rooted in Fitzgerald 's own personal experiences and in the financial crisis of his time, such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The urban culture Fitzgerald discusses in this quote is not about the individual, but rather the American society recovering from what was known as the Great Depression. Another American titan that is born in this time era of the lost generation is Ernest Hemingway. Like Fitzgerald, Hemingway portrays such works as Hills Like White Elephants as a relationship between American culture and those of allied countries. Throughout his work of Hills like White Elephants, he depicts the many distractions in Spain, the scenery, the alcohol. This type of literature of the urban modern period reflects the nation’s attempts to come to terms with the many meanings of modernity. The glamour of American cities was real indeed. As real was the sheer destitution of its slums. Both worlds plenty and poverty existed side by side. As the 20th century began, the plight of the urban poor was heard by more and more reformers, and meaningful change finally