The Roaring Twenties By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The roaring 20’s was an astounding time in the history of the United States of America. Many authors published novels, poems, and other works of literature to show their readers what it would be like to experience this time frame. Some examples of these works include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. Both of these pieces of literature include literary elements to appeal to the reader’s senses and imagination. A prevalent theme that has been found in works of the roaring 20’s is the wealth that someone may or may not achieve. Literary elements such as figurative language, irony, and symbolism are profound in both The Great Gatsby and “Harlem”, adding depth to both literature works.

The roaring twenties is a time cemented in American history because of the ideas of prosperity that permeated daily life. World War One was complete, and citizens were excited at the new world superpower they had become. Electricity filled urban homes and new commodities, like the radio, made waves. Overall, happiness filled the masses and brought most to ever-increasing levels of hope for the future. This prosperity-aligned culture is famously tied to one book in particular- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Written in the 1920s, Fitzgerald’s tale of glamour and money culture creates a dramatic perspective of the American Dream through the use of pessimist Nick Carraway. While the idea of The American Dream, and the appreciation thereof,

The 1920s was a distinctive time in American history set between World War I and the Great Depression. In 1931 an author named Frederick Lewis Allen published a contemporary history on the 1920s titled Only Yesterday in which he describes what it was truly like during that historical time. It was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, that really captured the carefree time known as the roaring twenties. The Great Gatsby reflects America in the twenties because it portrayed various characteristics of what it was really like in the 1920s.

The USA in the 1920s is remembered as the ‘Roaring Twenties’, an age of new life, of hedonism and opportunity following the horrors the Great War. The decade is synonymous with wealth, materialism and unprecedented freedom. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby provides an insight into the exciting and prosperous lives of the American people as they embark on the limitless potential of the American Dream and therefore it conveys a picture of 1920s American society. With

Fitzgerald superbly describes the era due to the fact that he himself lived a life of grandeur, he married his wife Zelda Sayre in 1920 and had a “raucous honeymoon in New York City’s famous Biltmore Hotel” (F. Scott Fitzgerald: An American Icon). Soon after the wedding, they rose significantly on the social scene of New York. Fitzgerald originated from St. Paul’s, Minnesota, he attended Princeton University and was a great writer from an early age, he enlisted in the Navy during The Great War. Five years into his highly dysfunctional marriage he conceived one of America’s most significant works of literature. The splendid story Fitzgerald composed closely mirrored his own life, it is because of this that he was able to accurately depict the feelings and behavior of an era. Many sought pleasure through the form of materialism and happily indulged in the vices of mankind, Fitzgerald beautifully captures this all whilst enduring personal hardships of his own. He lived the life of a sensualist, just like the characters he wrote about in his magnum opus. Fitzgerald’s participation in setting the atmosphere of the decade and embodying the Roaring Twenties is the gift that he has bestowed to American literature, without it there wouldn’t be a text that can as precisely sum up some of America’s greatest years. Another major literary figure in the 1920s, though they had their differences, was a close friend of Fitzgerald nonetheless.

The 1920’s, also known as the “Jazz Age” or the “Roaring Twenties”, was a time of decadence. The “Roaring Twenties” was common with constant variation in diplomatic, ethnic, and religious standards. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby as an account for the unstable time of egotistic pursuits of wealth and satisfaction.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once stated,“The parties were bigger, the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper” (“30 Famous The Great Gatsby Quotes”). The time after the war known as the Roaring Twenties harbored change for not only the economy but for the people also. Credit materialized, becoming available for citizens to use on new products such as the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine which allotted more time for the people to have to themselves. The 1920s, a time of celebration and prosperity, eventually ended as a result of a sudden economic crash, because of the effects from the times.

The Roaring Twenties were a time of wild enjoyment, loud music and booming economy. In 1920, for the first time in American history, more

The 1920s gained its nickname, The Roaring Twenties from its wild and carefree lifestyle. The extensive wealth of the time filled most nights with parties, dancing, crazy antics, and illegal alcohol. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, encompassed all of the aspects listed above. Not only did the book express the exciting side of the Twenties, it also expressed lack of morality of the time. According to The Great Gatsby, this lack of morality stemmed from the focus on material items, drinking, and dreaming.

The 1920s is the decade in American history known as the “roaring twenties.” Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of life in the 1920s. Booming parties, prominence, fresh fashion trends, and the excess of alcohol are all aspects of life in the “roaring twenties.”

“In a decade that roared with social amends” it was often referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Two famous literature pieces are very similar connecting key events and issues from this time period. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Ken Allen’s “Roaring Twenties” both utilize conflict, foil and symbolism to help the readers acknowledge the influence of class and money over the characters during the Roaring Twenties.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, ‘’who was not only part of the irresponsible and extravagant life of The Roaring Twenties, but he also helped named this era, The Jazz Age with his novels.’’(Mescal Evler 587) The Roaring Twenties gave people the opportunity to become wealthy. Many people at the time of this era were making a lot of money and partying. Fitzgerald most well-known novel, The Great Gatsby, was based on The Roaring Twenties. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald makes us wonder and speculate whether the pursuit of wealth is a noble aspect of life or does it lead to corruption and shower greed upon an individual.

“The Roaring Twenties” was a good era for many people, although it did have it’s rough and difficult times.

Considered as the defining work of the 1920s, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1925, when America was just coming out of one of the most violent wars in the nation’s history. World War 1 had taken the lives of many young people who fought and sacrificed for our country on another continent. The war left many families without fathers, sons, and husbands. The 1920s is an era filled with rich and dazzling history, where Americans experienced changes in lifestyle from music to rebellion against the United States government. Those that are born into that era grew up in a more carefree, extravagant environment that would affect their interactions with others as well as their attitudes about themselves and societal

The Roaring Twenties was a time renowned for partying, drinking, and a time without war. F. Scott Fitzgerald is just one of the many writers during this time to write about such times. Fitzgerald, however, is an author that defined this era also known as the Jazz Age. Known for novels such as The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and The Beautiful and the Damned, and many short stories, Fitzgerald is described by famousauthors.org as “one of the greatest writers American soil has produced in the 20th century. F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. He had an amazing writing career driven by an interesting personal life. His death and legacy cut his career short and we still celebrate him now.