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Fitzgerald’s National Ethos: The American Dream The 1920s in American history was an incredibly significant era, bringing about a multitude of major changes and societal shifts. As affluence and success became the center focus of American culture, this society following The Great War was one in which Americans had grown to yearn the classic “American Dream”. The work of artists, like F. Scott Fitzgerald to capture such work has been consequential to telling the story of the ever-shifting trajectory of the twentieth century in the United States.
F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the way the skewed morality of the 1920’s is shown by the reshaping of the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that every citizen should have an equal chance to achieve success through hard work. This was shaped into a pleasure seeking society. This shift came about due to the post WWI women’s movement. The Great Gatsby shows the immorality of the upper class in the 1920’s with the dishonesty of Jordan Baker and infidelity and hypocrisy of Tom and Daisy Buchanan.
The 1920s represented the post-suffrage era when women made drastic social and cultural changes that affected the American women way of life. Women began to seek more rightsand equal representation through changes in social values. However, women still observed their primary responsibility for caring for the household; and also depended on men for monetary support (Martin, 1926). The essay brings into perspective, various transformations that took place in the 1920s, resulting in the diversion of the traditional norms.
During the 1920s, Word War I had just ended and people were ready to celebrate. Although 1920 had its good times and perks, some bad things were going on, like cultural clashes. The first major cultural clash was the Great Migration. The Great Migration is known as the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural south to the urban north cities. The second major cultural clash was the national origins act.
The 1920s were marked by an increase in consumerism due to a booming economy post-World War I (CrashCourse, 2013), the increasing popularity of consumer debt (CrashCourse, 2013) and an increase in the mass production of consumer goods (Osburn, n.d.). Coupled with technological advances, families now had access to mass media (in the form of the radio and television) and modern conveniences, such as household appliances and automobiles. Radio and television broadcasts helped to build a mass culture, where consumers were watching, listening, purchasing and emulating the same things across the nation (Osburn, n.d.). Women’s suffrage granted women the right to vote; some women took this new found voting freedom as license to break from traditional female roles in other areas and began dressing and
Consumerism rapidly swept through American Society throughout the 1920’s. This wave of new innovation caused people to buy new and expensive products, such as the washing machine and the radio; however, most did not have the income to afford these devices. So installment plans came about and because of this people began to go into debt. Another huge source of debt came with over speculation, as people who could not afford stock themselves bought it on margin. The 1920’s became all about appearance and throwing caution to the winds when it came to expenses.
The 1920s were the first years of the new, modern America, with a growing consumer society and new ideas and rules. America saw many changes throughout this decade, including but not limited to social, economic and political changes. Throughout this time, new values were made with the growth of new forms of entertainment and education. After the Progressive Era, the ideas of political figures changed with a new focus on conservative politics and less labor issues. With the new ability for people to buy other products than basic needs, their money went to new inventions, causing new industries to grow.
The 1920s and the 1950s were times of substantial growth and economic prosperity. The two decades led to historical breakthroughs as well as setbacks; they are imperative to the history of the United States. Consumerism and innovations had a large role throughout the time periods. While the decades were similar in heightened consumerism, they each affected Americans and their ideology regarding freedom differently.
Commonly referred to as the “Roarin’ 20s” the era of the American 1920s experienced several radical changes, in several aspects. Societal, political, and economical changes were seen throughout the nation, for better and worse. Many groups seemingly thrived during this time while many were trying to advocate for change and equality. Regardless, the impact of the 20s is still seen today, as everything that came from the era greatly influenced the nation we have today.
The 1920s carried much change in society. Some of these changes were more rights for women, jazz music, and prohibition. The people of the 1920s were disillusioned by society lacking in idealism and vision, sense of personal alienation, and Americans were obsessed with materialism and outmoded moral values (The Roaring Twenties).Cultural changes were strongly influenced by the destruction of World War I ending 1918. America needed to recover and with it youth rebelled against the norms of the older generations.
Flapper: “The woman of the 1920’s boldly asserted her right to dance, drink, smoke, and to work. Her own property, to live free of strictures that governed her mother's generation. Since the beginning of time society has changed drastically, with some years seeming to differ more than others. Although three time periods that seem to stand out to me are the 1920’s era, 1980’s, and 21st century. All three time periods the United states have grown and made our nation what it is today.
The decade of the 1920s is often characterized as years of economic growth and prosperity. After World War I and the post-wartime recession, which had struck the United States when veterans returned home and defense contracts were terminated, the American community was ready to move forward and prospects seemed promising. Unemployment rates fell as low as 3 percent, prices remained stable, and the gross national product (GNP) increased by 43 percent from 1922 to 1929. Americans enjoyed their electrified homes, family cars, and new consumer goods; they bought a lot and looked ahead with optimism (698).
A truly unique American mass culture saw its creation in the 1920’s where radio shows and movies could be shared all over the country and more Americans were living in cities than ever before. The creation of mass culture in America could be seen as a side effect of all of these new technologies and societal differences that took place in the 20s. Time space compression also had a large effect on mass culture as well. In the 20s because of the creation of new technologies. people could now communicate throughout the country and develop their own similar culture.
Extended Essay: American dream in the USA of the 1920’s, as depicted by “The Great Gatsby” by F. S. Fitzgerald Introduction The modern American literature is a topic as broad as it can be; there is, however, one novel which often appears as the one called “the greatest American novel of all times”. The novel in question is “The great Gatsby”, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and published in April of 1925. [1] There are a number of reasons for why it is deemed so special, with its’ current position in modern pop culture and status of a classic, compulsory for every reader. One of the major causes is the layered meaning, which leaves whole lot of room for interpretation.
The criminalization of Prostitution has not decreased or stopped its prevalence in the U.S; in fact, all it has done is added more risk factors to the profession. Humans have exchanged money and goods for sex, for thousands of years. In fact, prostitution is one of the worlds oldest professions. Prostitution is even depicted in texts as early as the bible. Exchanging money for sex was never frowned upon until recently, when in the early 20th century, U.S Health Officials blamed them for transmitting diseases.
