Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essays about the history of flappers
Flapper in the 1920s
’to what extent has the image of the ‘flapper’ obscured the reality of life for american women in the 1920’s?’’
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essays about the history of flappers
Tremendous change was taking place in the United States during the 1920s. The 19th Amendment altered the roles of women by giving women the right to vote. By extension, the 19th Amendment allowed women to exercise more freedom and independence within society. This new found freedom influenced women and enabled them to modernize. Women started using more makeup, wearing shorter dresses that ended at the kneecap and cutting their hair short as an act of rebellion against society’s norms. Women also started to advance and expand their education so that they could go into a career of their own choosing. These modernized 1920s women were collectively known as the “flappers.” The 1920s was a time of mass consumerism, which eventually led to a rise …show more content…
Americans were excited to buy newly invented and mass produced time saving consumer appliances. Sales of electrical household appliances such as the refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, sewing machine and steam irons skyrocketed across America. Consumer businesses in the United States developed “installment plans” whereby a person pays a percentage of the cost for the item upfront, then that person pays an installment payment each month to keep the item until they eventually pay it off and own it. This installment plan was the earliest version of credit and allowed people to buy the new appliances they desired even though they didn’t have the full amount of money required for that purchase. Almost everyone in America wanted to modernize and buy these new consumer appliances. The convenience of the new time saving appliances allowed more leisure time for the average American citizen. This helped fuel the entertainment explosion that was taking place because the average American wanted to be entertained during this new found free time. In the 1920s entertainment had a very large role in the lifestyles of the American public. Entertainment in this era was largely comprised of movies, radio, music, magazines and …show more content…
The radio had the largest impact of any of the innovative consumer appliances that were created during the 1920s. Kay Gallant says, “ Sales of radios soared from $60 million in 1922 to $426 million in 1929. The first commercial radio station began broadcasting in 1919, and during the 1920s, the nation's airwaves were filled with musical variety shows and comedies” (Gallant). The record player known as the phonograph was a close second in entertainment value just behind the radio. In the 1920s the record player entered the average American’s life and impacted their musical entertainment choices. Peter Tschmuck says, “Piano sales actually drastically slumped as phonograph production rose from just 190,000 in 1923 to 5 million in 1929”(Tschmuck). However, it was the invention of the radio that transformed and revolutionized the music industry. Before radios, Americans had to go to a concert hall or purchase a phonograph in order to listen to the popular music. David Sarnoff founded the National Broadcast Company (NBC) in 1926 which changed radio listening forever. Americans could then listen to not only free of cost popular music in their own homes, but they could also listen to serial programs, performances of Shakespeare, sport broadcasts, news reports and weather reports. Unlike newspapers and magazines, radios delivered news and information much
From coast to coast people were reading the exploits of a new type of woman called flapper. Prior to World War 1 Victorian ideals still dictated the behavior of American women and girls. Frederick Lewis Allen describes the traditional role of women. Women were the guardians of morality. They were made of finer stuff than men. They were expected to act accordingly. Young girls must look forward in innocence to a romantic love match which would lead them to the altar and to living happily ever after. Until the right man came along they must allow no male to kiss them. Flappers did the opposite. Flappers danced the Charleston, kissed their boyfriends while they played golf and sat behind the wheels of fast cars. The liberated usually young female disdained the traditions of her mother and grandmother before her. Flappers would smoke and drink alcohol, she cut her hair and wore short dresses. They also changed their views on courtship rituals, marriage, and child rearing. With these they could have the same freedom as men could. The time period also saw a highly physical change in women’s lives like how they dressed and looked. For the first time in American history women could choose to be free from long hair and voluminous clothing. Before the women changed they wore very restrictive clothing consisting of long skirts with layers of petticoats over tightly laced corsets that produced an hourglass figure with wide hips and a narrow waist.
Sixteenth Amendment- Authorization of an Income Tax – Progressives thought this would slow down the rising wealth of the richest Americans by using a sliding or progressive scale where the wealthier would pay more into the system. In 1907, Roosevelt supported the tax but it took two years until his Successor, Taft endorsed the constitutional amendment for the tax. The Sixteenth Amendment was finally ratified by the states in 1913. The origin of the income tax came William J Bryan in 1894 to help redistribute wealth and then from Roosevelt and his dedication to reform of corporations. I agree with an income tax to pay for all of our government systems and departments, but I believe there was a misfire with “redistributing wealth.” The redistribution is seen in welfare systems whereby individuals receive money to live. This is meant to be a temporary assistance, but sadly, most that are in the system are stuck due to lack of assistance in learning how to escape poverty. There are a lot of government funded programs, but there is no general help system to help lift people up and stay up, so there continues a cycle of
The flappers that existed in this age set the way for modern feminists. Flappers were being seen as large advocates for movements supporting women’s rights. This was because as well as taking part in specific social activities, they also started to have an effect on the amount of women with jobs because of their engagement in employment. By defying the traditional roles of women in the U.S., flappers inspired many women to get jobs and support themselves, making females a more important part of American society. They were also somewhat active in politics because they supported women’s rights as well as voting. However, flappers were also seen as defying traditional gender stereotypes, and modesty. Donna Bonthuis also stated that by the time she was in high school, girls were allowed to wear pants for casual occasions. The effects that flappers had on women and working were also relevant to Donna’s life. “My mother would usually give me and my sister work to do on the weekends. We mowed the lawn, clipped weeds...We washed dishes. We got a dishwasher when I was a teenager, but it hardly ever worked. It always leaked or shut off.” The fact that teenage girls were being put to hard labor in the years following the 1920s could be attributed to the changes the flappers made in the world of working
... fewer children was stressed to the patriarchal, consumerist society. The roaring twenties were a consumerist and capitalist age for America, and the liberalization of women occurred naturally as the younger generation was born into the new age of Freudian sexuality, however the flapper as a symbol for young women is incorrect. Out of proportion, and unfounded the flapper was a consumerist to exploit a rising cultural market. Women gained the right to their bodies, as America gained the right to its profit.
America was on fire during the period of excitement. These new inventions were making home life easier for women and more enjoyable for the men. Not only were American families buying these new trinkets but they also started purchasing stock in companies at an increased rate. A commodity that was available before the war but not readily accessed, now became as high as seven million Americans buying and owning company stock after the First World War. With the purchase of automobiles, washing machines, and stock families were still not making enough to keep up. Even though the wage market had increased, the need for fancy things made it almost impossible for a family to have enough money left over to survive. This demand for the goods but not enough money produced a technique used by manufactures to bring in more customers, consumer credit. Today this method of shopping is used by every American everywhere at some point in their lives. Consumer credit is what is known today as a payment plan. A buying strategy that we all use today, payments, actually came about in the decade after World War I.
Some people hated this idea of the Flapper and they blamed the war for these women’s new behaviors. After World War I, young women and young girls started to act free and go against their families. “Some people in society blamed the war for triggering this rebellion of youth and they claimed it had upset the balance of the sexes and, in particular, confuse women of their role in society and where they truly belonged” (Grouley 63). Some people hated the idea of the flappers and these women had become. These women, the flappers, in the 1920s felt free after the 19th amendment was passed. “Since the early twentieth century, the sexual habits of these American women had changed in profound ways” (Zeitz 21). Flappers drank, partied, and had romantic evenings with men. All of which were illegal for women. In addition, they were an embarrassment to society and they were able to get away with anything. “Flappers were a disgrace to society because they were lazy-pleasure seekers who were only interested in drinking, partying, and flirting” (Dipalo 1). For instance, Flappers went to clubs, drank, and hung out with men and were too lazy to do anything. Therefore, one consequence of the war was the creation of a new woman and this led to a movement like no other.
The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. This victory helped women continue changing gender roles in the United States. “Flapper” fashion for women was considered to be
Radios allowed for the United States to be more united. Automobiles allowed for more efficient transportation. Motion pictures were rising. Female dancers also known as flappers expressed the changes in women. Radios, refrigeratorrs, automobiles, motionpictures, female dancers, this was the roaring twenties; what a lot of people consider when they think of the American dream. Hidden, however, beneath the surface was hypocracy, failure, debt- all things leading up to the stock market crash in 1929 that not too many people talk about. This time period marked legacies such as the empowerment of women, government’s push towards normalcy, and buisness become the main focus for the people.
The radio industry thrived during this time period, resulting in a growth from a few hundred thousand radio sets in 1921 to nearly 10 million in 1928 (King). Families relied on radios to provide entertainment through music and stories as well as information that was important in terms of politics and war. This reliance on the radio did not only affect the radio industry in the 1920s, but also changed the radio industry for future generations. Without the Radio Renaissance, radios very well could have been a lost technology and a lost industry. While the radio industry boomed, the television was just in its infancy during the 1920s. The television was invented in 1927, but it did not see a rise in popularity until years later (Cooley). At that time, the idea that television would take over the entertainment industry did not cross the minds of many people, but it would later overshadow the influence of radio and become one of America’s main transportations of media and information. These new ways to spread information created a new, smaller world because people around the country and the earth could now participate in the same television and radio shows, giving them a sense of interconnectedness. As new technology flooded into American homes, it continued to evolve and progress, making the lives of housewives much easier and their housework less time
The 1920’s in the United States was identified as the Roaring Twenties for its exuberant and dynamic characteristics. It was a time of economic prosperity that allowed individuals to pursue an unrestricted lifestyle. The new styles of clothing and dancing that arose encouraged young women to abandon traditional standards. According to Gilder Lehrman, “The 1920’s heralded a dramatic break between America’s past and future.” There was not one single event that contributed to the adjustment of society, but many social changes and influences as well. Though this decade is commonly known for the prohibition of alcohol, the flapper women were a major component of the culture at the time. As stated by B. DiPaolo, “In the early 20th century, a new
Although many women donned the new outfits and flouted tradition, the flapper was more an image of rebellious youth than a widespread reality; it didn’t affect the attitudes and values of many young people. During the 1920’s, morals loosened only so far. Traditionalist in churches and schools protested the new casual dances and women’s acceptance of smoking and drinking.
In the 1920s, flappers were an important figure. They defined the new, modern woman of the twentieth century dominating the American cultural scene. All American women didn’t emulate to the flapper model. Women began changing their behavior, language, and fashion. They also began encouraging social freedoms for women after World War I.
Many women took out to challenge the traditional views in the 1920s. After World War I, women’s contribution to the war helped them to successfully advocate for their right to vote. They became more assertive and contributed more to American politics and set out to claim more freedoms to their life. Many rejected the “Cult of Domesticity” and explored new work opportunities. They also fought against traditional standard by dressing and socializing more liberally. The flapper style came out
The Roaring 1920s was a time where people were living the American dream. Many people called it the “age of excess” because it was the first time in American history that people could afford to buy in abundance and anything they pleased. The 20’s was affected by many inventions and new entertainment that American’s were adapting to. The movies and radio were some of the most influential industries of the twenties. They helped spread information faster, inspire people’s fashion and aspirations, and were they kickstarter for the entertainment and media industries today.
After World War I, the society of the United States became prosperous. People enjoyed their lives by entertaining and spending enormously. Technology developed and peace and prosperity existed. For instance, the first radio station in the United States was established in 1920, named KDKA. Additionally, automobile became popular and changed the transportation system significantly. However, there were many hidden yet potential issues behind such prosperity. Agriculture didn’t benefit as much as technology did because electricity was not universally spread in the non-urban areas of the United States during 1920s. Later in the decade, people also gradually stopped purchasing automobiles and other big electric appliances made in factories because most of the consumers could only afford a small amount of expensive goods; therefore, prices for durable goods kept falling. These problems surfaced in October late 1920s and led to the Great Depression that started when the stock market crashed in 1929. The Great