The Roaring Twenties Research Paper

The period known as the Roaring Twenties, also called the Jazz Age, is a social era ranging from the years 1920-1929. These years began at the end of the First World War and wrapped up just before the Great Depression hit America..Early modern literature illustrates the change of lifestyles and morals of people in America during the social era of the Roaring Twenties.

These years were a time of social and political change in America. During this period, the wealth of America was higher than it had ever been. This wealth was a result of World War I. America was one of the only economies that was not destroyed by the war (Mendum 1).The people were more prosperous and wealthier than they had ever been. This good-fortune brought about an attitude of materialism in the people and made America a “consumer society” (“The Roaring Twenties” 1).

Because of the boom in wealth, American people had extra money to spend on new luxurious inventions of the 1920s. Some of these inventions were home appliances like the electric refrigerator, ready to buy store clothing, and radios. The most important consumer product during the Roaring Twenties was the car. By the end of the era, for every five Americans there was one car on the

road. The low prices of cars caused a boom in the economy by making businesses like service stations and motels necessary (“The Roaring Twenties” 1-2).
During the time period of the Roaring Twenties, men and women of the higher class of American people enjoyed wild parties, alcoholism, lust, and energy-filled days (Schultz 1).
Many young people lived a partying lifestyle. Drinking and smoking became popular things to do instead of something that was frowned upon. The Twenties were a time of rebellion. People did the wrong things simply because it was something different than anyone had ever done before. People were trying something new.
Although called the Roaring Twenties, the 1920s are also called the Jazz Age because of the influx of jazz music during this time. A pastime many young people enjoyed during this era was going to a local club to listen to jazz music and dance. Many well-known dances became popular during this time period. The Charleston, the cake walk, and the flea hop were among some favorites. Many older people rejected the jazz music. They said the music was vulgar and morally wrong, but the young people, with rebellion blazing in their hearts, loved the freedom the music and dancing gave them (“The Roaring Twenties” 2).
Perhaps the most iconic symbol of the twenties is the flapper.

A flapper is a young woman with a short haircut who wore short skirts, drank, smoked, and talked in a very unladylike manner. The flapper is the embodiment of the change in people during this time period. Before the 1920s women were to know their place and to do exactly what was expected of them. They were to be polite, kind, and mostly quiet housewives. The flappers though, rebelled against the ideals of their parents generation and became very crude young women with their own ideas. This change in women came from their new freedoms that came in the 1920s. The most notable freedom came from the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which gave women the right to vote (“The Roaring Twenties”

1).
The changes that came about during the Roaring Twenties brought about a moral decay on the people of America. Because of their new found wealth, many people became lazy and no longer wanted to work to earn a living, but they wanted to party and squander away their money on worthless things like alcohol and cigarettes. People became materialistic. They wanted to acquire more wealth and possessions that made their lives easier. Family, friends, and honest- living were no longer priorities to the average person. Instead the priority was to get more. The new rising generation felt freedoms like they had never known before, but these freedoms made them callous to the old, simple ways of life.
Not only were the people influenced by the social changes in America during the Roaring Twenties, but the literature was as well. New writing styles and techniques came about due to these changes. Through many literary pieces written during the Twenties, we are able to better understand the era. There were many themes of the literature written during the 1920s. The most common theme was a “boundless” lifestyle for the characters of a literary work. Other themes include: scandalous lifestyles, the effect of war on humanity, and appearance versus reality (Schultz 1-2). Many authors, such as: Langston Hughes, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, have helped to make clear the attitudes of the people and themes of the time in their works.
Langston Hughes was an African American poet who became famous during the Roaring Twenties. Hughes became a voice for an African American movement that also took place during the ‘20s called the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was famous for his Jazz Poetry. To write his poems, Hughes would often collaborate with Jazz musicians. The poet loved Jazz music Realizing how much the people of the Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age enjoyed the music, Hughes perfected the jazz poem. His poems often included syncopated rhythms, jive language, or looser phrasing to mimic the improvisatory nature of jazz (Gross 1). His poetry reflected the music of the era and help to show just how fun the music was and why the people enjoyed it so much. The poetry also showed the difference in the rhythms and lyrics from years past.One of his most famous jazz poem is called “The Weary Blues.” This poems sounds like the verse of a jazz song, and it has similar rhythm to that of a jazz tune.
One of the most noticeable characteristics of the literature written during the Roaring Twenties was the desire to “make it new.” Authors desire to write about things that had never been acceptable in society before. These included immoral activities including: drinking, smoking, and sexual concerns. The subject matter and style of literature changed. Characters, plots, and settings were made to be a life-like as possible, and were therefore dabbling in immorality (Hargrove 1). Examples of this are evident in the characters Quentin and Caddy in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and Gatsby and Daisy in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
William Faulkner was an American author who became famous in the 1920s for his realistic works. Faulkner excelled in making the morality of his characters match that of the real people alive during the 1920s. Many immoral choices were made by his characters. In his famous book The Sound of the Fury, his characters are immoral. They commit numerous immoral acts, but the characters show no remorse for their sins. You can see this when the character Quentin says, “I’m bad and I’m going to hell, and I don’t care (Faulkner 235).” Faulkner showed examples of how people in the ‘20s lived their lives through his characters. They live only to please themselves, and they do not care about how it will affect the rest of their lives.
Faulkner, in his writing, mostly criticizes the decade’s materialism. He showed, through the character of Jason, the love of money. Faulkner shows the emptiness that chasing material things will bring (Hargrove 1). The people of the Roaring Twenties also lived this way. Materialism brought laziness and crime to Faulkner’s characters and also brought those things to America during the 1920s.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is probably the most well known authors of the Jazz Age (Schultz 1). His beloved novel The Great Gatsby is the perfect example of life in the decade of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald shows the weaknesses in American society, the loss of moral ideals, and materialism in his novel. Fitzgerald uses his novel’s plot and characters to show how callous and morally irresponsible people became during the Roaring Twenties.
The Great Gatsby’s Jay Gatsby is the epitome of the disillusionment of the ideas of the people of the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby loves the character Daisy, and He would do anything to get her to love him back. Gatsby meets Daisy as a young man but then leaves to go to war. When he comes back she is married to the rich Tom Buchanan. Gatsby immediately begins illegally acquiring a handsome wealth to try to in Daisy back. He tries to win her back by throwing extravagant parties. This idea that money would bring Gatsby happiness shows how the people of America felt during the 1920s. Ultimately, Gatsby’s quest ended in tragedy, and he was never truly happy (Fitzgerald 160). This shows the fatal flaw of the Roaring Twenties. Money, music, and worldly thing will never bring true fulfillment (“F. Scott Fitzgerald” 2).

Literature of the Roaring Twenties reflected the moral and social changes which the American people went through. These changes ultimately caused a moral decay in the entire nation. People became lazy and only cared about self-glorification. Langston Hughes, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrate the moral ruin caused by materialism in the Roaring Twenties in their works.