The Hollywood Interpretation Of The Urban America

For a majority of Earth’s history, its populous has been free to roam and live off of the land, maintaining a balance between the habitat and its inhabitants. However, as technology develops the earth is placed at an even bigger disequilibrium. In the places where massive sequoias reigned, high-rise apartments now stand. Just as water rushed through rivers, cars drive down streets. The populants of Earth continue to innovate, industrialize,and urbanize, but at what cost?

E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime is a story involving certain characters, each trying to find his or her place in America. Doctorow focus’s on many themes throughout the novel, however, one theme that he gives to the reader from the very beginning of the novel is the American dream. Many characters throughout the novel individually take diverse journeys in order to fulfill what they might describe as “The American Dream.” Throughout Ragtime several characters venture upon momentous journeys whether they be sensible or unwise, in order to try and achieve their personal pursuit of the American dream.

All through United States history our country has encountered numerous prosperous time periods where our general public as a whole has changed in a positive way. One particular decade that gainfully effected our nation was the nineteen twenties, which can likewise be alluded to as the Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age. The Jazz Age Positively affected American life and society because people were into this new style of music, jazz. Numerous other innovations during this period also changed the minds of the U.S. individuals, which basically modified the nations norms and ethics. It will become obvious how jazz music impacted life during the economically bloated roaring twenties. This paper will also talk about how music, movies, literature, vehicles, fashion, crime and new ethics brought about the Jazz Age, which basically could be named the most prominent, socially successful decade in United States history.

The Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on immigration to the United States. Many immigrants were suffering from poverty or religious and political oppression so when industrialization began, it attracted immigrants to come live in America. The new innovation of manufacturing and machines led to the need for more workers. Therefore, this was a huge economic opportunity in the U.S. for immigrants. They worked primarily factory jobs or in industry, while living in big cities. From living in poor conditions, the city was quite a change to adapt to. However, most migrants did not plan on settling down for too long. About half of them “returned to their country of origin” once they earned enough money to buy land or improve their lives (523). However, good

During the 20th century, the people of America had to adjust to new desires, lifestyles, and the new materialistic economy. After entering World War I, the aftermath included false positives that in the end, turned out to be complete negatives. Citizens of America possessed materialistic beliefs that led to disappointments. African Americans were confronted by atrocious social conditions. The frustrations faced by many Americans living in the 1920s, included the desires for materialistic possessions in hopes of contentment, the aspirations for freedom and the dignified need for racial equality, are all elucidated in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Winter Dreams”, and both poems, “Democracy” by Langston Hughes and “The White House” by Claude Mckay.

Claude McKay and Langston Hughes were both prominent African American Men in the Harlem Renaissance of the early 1900s. As such, they have received their fair share of the racism prevalent during this time period. Their concerns with this issue are addressed in McKay’s “America” and Hughes’ “I, Too, Sing America.” Both poets show disregard for the treatment they receive but still desire for an America in which African American prejudice does not exist. However, McKay conveys his vision of a bleak, foreboding fate for blacks while Hughes displays his confidence that America will have a hopeful future in which he is treated as an equal.

Tindall, George Brown and Shi, David Emory. America: A Narrative History. Vol 2, 8th ed. WW Norton:New York, 2010.

E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime is a work of historical fiction that uniquely allows both fictional and historical characters to take part in events that depict life in early 20th-century America. Various historical figures are interconnected to one another and described throughout the text including Emma Goldman, Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, Harry Kendall Thaw, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and Harry Houdini.

In the late 1800s there was a series of events that led to the poverty of many and the wealth of few, this was known as the Gilded Age. The aspects of the rich and the poor were different due to that they lived different lifestyles. The rich lived in palatial mansions and the poor lived in tenements. The tenements that the poor lived in were not in great conditions, there were tenements that had no windows and others that had little or no plumbing or heating. The rich lived in big palatial mansions which were very luxurious and were located in exclusive neighborhoods.

In Chapter 2 of the text “Slavery, Emancipation, and Class formation in colonial and Early National New York” explores the centrality of slave labor and race to the development of class relations in colonial and early national New York City. In the 1600’s slave labor was noted as the central point to New York’s colonial economy and to the survival of European culture. The North colonial economy relied more heavily on slavery for free laborer than Manhattan. As a result of the slave era African American males and females became to central force and the foundation of New Yorkers ‘slave economy. Between 1600 and 1738 the slave population

The time in which this story occurs— the 1920s— is vital to the plot. Dubbed “The Roaring ‘20s,” this period is notorious for glamorizing lifestyles centered around materialism, gluttony, and self-absorption. The early 20th century brought about extreme social and political changes that influenced the lifestyles and attitudes of the public.

Chapter 21 of “A History of the United States” brings America into the roaring twenties. This chapter explores the collapse of the stock market and the prolonged depression that followed. Also, in this chapter we see the rise of Hollywood and the emergence of jazz age. Other important aspects of the chapter include women’s right after the struggle for suffrage. Chapter 21 begins by telling the reader a story of a barber from Los Angles.

In 1920s, America undergoes a period of cultural and social revolution. After the shocks by the chaos and violence of WWI, with a burst of economy which brought unprecedented levels of prosperity to the country, the generation turned into a lifestyle of wild and extravagant. Both published in 1925, the time when the jazz age at it’s peak, “The great Gatsby” by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald and “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemingway depict the fragmentation of the soared society by narrating the experience of characters.

From the story-telling of the Native Americans to the more recent contemporary artists, they all have something in common: they represent their era in a way that it is sure to never be forgotten. There have been a multitude of time periods that were written about by knowledgeable authors. A decade that has been depicted well by several artists is the “roaring 20s”. One author in particular, F. Scott Fitzgerald, began developing his writing career in the ‘20s and wrote multiple novels based off of American culture during that time period; one of his most popular being The Great Gatsby. His stories represented this era in both a positive and negative way and included a major theme of money and social statuses.

Up until the late 1900?s, the American populace on the whole had assumed a very optimistic view of American history. Glossing over disgraceful events, emphasizing the brighter points in our history, our culture has attempted to ignore the obvious fact that we have had, and still have, our fair share of problems. In Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow unabashedly exposes some of the worst aspects of American life in our more recent history. Doctorow doesn?t hold back anything, providing detailed examples of human cruelty and sacrifice, and the evolution of American society. While critiquing American society was not the sole purpose of his novel, Doctorow does expose and examine many issues that people tended to ignore like