THE ROARING TWENTIES and THE GREAT GATSBY

THE ROARING TWENTIES and THE GREAT GATSBY

Essential Questions • How do people in different social classes interact with one another? • Is it possible to be whatever and whoever you want to be in America? • What is the true nature of love? Is it possible to make someone love you?

GATSBY Information • Author: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD • Year: 1925 • Genre: MODERNIST NOVEL • Point of View: FIRST PERSON (DETACHED)

“THE ROARING TWENTIES” – Historical Background • World War I (1914-1918) • Time of chaos, destruction Tanks – armored warfare Trench warfare (“stalemating”) Gas warfare

Post-war period • Trauma of dealing with “Great War” • Desire to escape • ISOLATIONISM • Time of great FUN, AMUSEMENT, SELF-ABSORPTION • As ECONOMY grows, MORALITY declines • Examples: 1980’s Wall Street

MAJOR CHANGES IN EVERYDAY LIFE • Military technologies  Civilian life • Mass production – automation • Automobiles – Model T • Automobile industry spawns other “side industries: • GAS STATIONS • MOTELS • HIGHWAYS

Cultural Changes of the1920’s • RADIO • “Golden Age” of radio, similar to TV today

Movies • Originally silent black and white • Called “movies” because the pictures moved • Added sound, became “talkies”

Music • “Jazz Age” (a term invented by Fitzgerald himself) • Jazz = “sophisticated and hip, but morally corrupting and rebellious” • Many jazz artists were minorities – not appreciated by White establishment • Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, W.C. Handy (blues)

Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington Statue of W.C. Handy in Memphis

Literature – “Harlem Renaissance” Langston Hughes (far left) Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God Claude McKay Home to Harlem

Marcus Garvey Dorothy West Richard Wright

Social: DANCE • Extravagant dances, dance contests • “Breakaway” • “Charleston” • “Lindy Hop”

Role of Women • 1920 – 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage) Men lost in WWI – women work to replace income Flappers – “new breed of women”

Flappers

Flappers • Short skirts, short hair • Listened to jazz • Flaunted “traditional” gender roles • Acted “unwomanly” by older standards • Wore makeup • Drank hard liquor • Smoked • Played sports (golf – Babe Didrickson Zaharias)

PROHIBITION • Probably the single most important influence on behavior of people in the 20’s • 18th Amendment (VOLSTEAD ACT)– banned sale or consumption of liquor in U.S. • Intention: Limit social ills caused by drinking

“Prohibition: The Noble Experiment”

Actual Consequences of Prohibition • Rise of organized crime • Al Capone, Hymie Weiss, Chicago mobsters, etc. • Bootlegging • Moonshine, “bathtub gin” • Fortunes made – Kennedy’s, etc.

Speakeasies

Actual Effects of Prohibition • Political corruption • Police payoffs in return for protection • Non-raiding of speakeasies • Flouting of laws • More “fun” to drink because it was illegal • Allure of danger

Immigration • American attitude toward immigration: XENOPHOBIA

1924 - President Coolidge signs Immigration Act • Most European immigrants banned and all Asians banned entirely

Sports • Rise of American spectator sports • Golden age of baseball

Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney, 1926 “The Long Count” • Horse racing • Boxing • College football • Tennis, golf Leatherheads, 2008 So-called “Four Horsemen” of Notre Dame Man o’ War, 1920 Belmont and Preakness winner

Economy of the 1920’s • Huge boom in the stock market • Corporate stockholders made tons of money • “Laissez-faire” economic policies • Low taxes on corporations • Tremendous profits • Excess, greed, wealth

So how did it all end? • Prices continued to rise • Greed of owners went unchecked by federal government • System eventually collapsed Workers flood Wall Street in a panic on October 29, 1929

“Black Tuesday” – 10/29/29 • Complete crash of stock market • Worldwide depression, millions of people out of work • Brings Roaring 20’s to abrupt end

The Great Depression – 1930’s

Aftermath • 1933 – Prohibition repealed (21st Amendment) • 1941 – World War II

THE ROARING TWENTIES and THE GREAT GATSBY