Context Flashcards
Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
Born in Minnesota to traditional Southern father and Irish aristocrat mother
Upper-middle class but father frequently struggled with employment
Felt financially isolated
“Poor boys shouldn’t think of marrying rich girls” about his relationship with Ginerva King.
Struggled achieving American dream and was turned down by future wife
After literary success Zelda and him marry
Rocky marriage of arguments and drinking
Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia and put in an institution where she later passed
The American Dream
Belief that anyone regardless of who they are can attain their own success
New Developments in the 1920s
Decade of change
Average Americans owned cars, telephones and radios
Decade of consumerism and consumption
Economic prosperity after WWI also leads to harsh conditions for working class
Seen in valley of ashes in novel
Rise of Wolf Street
Prohibition and Organised Crime
World War I lead to the favour of prohibition due to the extra barley that could be saved for food
Era began in 1920
Some states refused
Speakeasies flourished
Secret distilleries continued and people made homemade wine
Due to this bootlegging and gang violence rose
Thousands died due to tainted liquor
Illegal drinking became more popular
The Jazz Age
Jazz music and dance thrived throughout Us distracting people from WWI and II
‘Roaring Twenties’
Vibrant colours were used
Jazz was fast paced, heavily syncopated and often improvised
Birthplace- New Orleans, Louisiana from Black-American communities
Some older generations saw this as a “vulgarity” and “moral disasters”
Changing Role of Women
Before war women were housewives or receptionists
Throughout war they did military jobs and worked in factories
After war men could no longer claim superiority over women
“Flappers” - women from west in 20s, who wore short skirts, bobbed hair, listened to jazz, rebelled against social norms, drank and smoked in public
Modernism
Movement which affected literature, music, art and architecture
Prevalent in late 19th and early 20th centuries
Development of modern industrial societies
Rapid growth of cities
Horror of WWI
Many modernists rejected religion
Chaos
Pessimistic
Unstable
Loss of faith
Collapse of morality/values
Confused sense of identity and place in world
