The 1920’s Thrown In Literary Works (anii 20 Transpusi In Lucrari Literare)

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The 1920’s Thrown In Literary Works (anii 20 Transpusi In Lucrari Literare)

Byadmin ianuarie 1, 2024

THE 1920'S THROWN IN LITERARY WORKS

ANII '20 TRANSPUȘI ÎN LUCRĂRI LITERARE

Table of contents

Introduction

The present paper work represents the results of all the years of study of the field of English litterature.

The role of this paper work is to present and analyse the American society as presented in two books of reference that inspired me during my years of study: The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises. This are wonderful books and it was a real pleasure to read them and then have the possibility to analyse them in the present paper.

In that time, many authors publushed their works and even got international recognition. Thus, there are some Nobel Prize winners of that time:

1920 Knut Hamsun, Norway

1921 Anatole France, France

1922 Jacinto Benavente, Spain

1923 William Butler Yeats

1924 Wladyslaw Reymont, Poland

1925 George Bernard Shaw, Ireland

1926 Grazia Deledda, Italy

1927 Henri Bergson, France

1928 Sigrid Undset, Norway

1929 Thomas Mann, Germany

1930 Sinclair Lewis, United States

Although the authors I have chosen are not Nobel Prize winners, their works are among the most influencial of that time and clearely defined that period.

This thesis starts with a short introduction to its subject, and then it presents a general overview of the Amerincan society in the 1920’s as presented in the two books chosen.

This first chapter of this paper deals with the description of the society of the 1920’s and of the events that influenced the most that period in the American History: the prohibition, the sexual revolution, the Jazz Age and the convulsion of the lost generation.

The second is like a ‘case study” – the period of the 1920’s as presented by Fitzgerald and Hemingway in their novels.

The third chapter is a short descriptions of the decadent society in the two books.

Morover, the paper also focuses on the important of the American Dream for the main characters of each book. They both desperately want something they can not have and they fight for that in a world that is alterated by the continuous changes of the era.

The Conclusions represent the last part of the present graduation thesis. This part contains all the conclusions drawn from the writing of this paper, as well as a brief presentation of the paper.

The present paper work ends with the presentation of the bibliographical works used during the documentation process.

Chapter 1

This first chapter of the present paper represents an introduction to the American way of life in the 1920’s. This chapter will provide a brief description of the Sexual Revolution, Prohibition, the Jazz Period and the “Lost Generation”. All these events changed the American culture forever and contributed the creation of today’s culture on the New Continent. This change allowed a relaxation of the social culture and it was marked by the rebellion of the young generation against the moral restrictions imposed in the past, restrictions that characterized the past generations. So, the American culture needed to reborn, and this “rebirth” took place in the 1920’s.

Sexual Revolution

This new type of revolution that occurred in the United States in the 1920’s refers mainly to the liberty of young people to have sexual intercourse before marriage. The Sexual Revolution was also a modality to enter a new era of “modern women” that are tired of the social impediments of that time. So, the traditional gender role was about to change forever.

During the 1920’s, women in the United States began to explore more their sexuality. They could even flirt for their own amusement that was seen as impossible from a social point of view up until then. This change in the behavior of American women brought a decline in the society.

The new woman was different from the ones that belonged to her mother or grandmother’s generation: she would feel free to explore the so called “free love” and question marriage:

Some historians have seen the 1920’s as the first sexual revolution of the twentieth century and the 1960’s as the second. What did the 1920’s sexual revolution consist of? The American feminist historian Linda Gordon explains that the 1920’s sexual revolution in America was specifically heterosexual. It was not a general loosening of sexual taboos, but only of those on marital heterosexual activity. […]At the same time, it altered the rules of heterosexual behavior For some “free love” meaning sexual intercourse outside marriage became a possibility. In America […] such “free love” was carried out in communities of bohemians and intellectuals in the immediate post-war period. […].(Jeffreys, p. 166).

In other words, this revolution was challenging and questioning the traditional behavior of women, by allowing them to experience a certain type of freedom, from a sexual point of view. This period of rebellion was a major battle in the generation war of that time. This revolution soon hit other parts of the world, including England. However, it is in the United States were its influence can be seen better.

This was the beginning of the emergence of feminism and female emancipation. The first women to be part of this sexual revolution were college students who had the courage to face society. One of the consequences of this sexual revolution was that there were more female students in the universities and colleges and this led to a new practice – dating in pairs

It was clear that in the 1920s, the sexual morality was facing a strong loosening, in all the layers of the American society. A survey conducted in 1939 showed that:

Only 26% of the [female] respondents born between 1880 and 1900 had had premarital sex as compared to 60% of those born after 1913. Another study that suggested increased sexual activity among unmarried women found a steady rise in the number of pregnant brides after 1900 (Spring, p. 68)

The best image that describes the typical woman of the 120s is the “flapper”. The new American woman was independent and emancipated. She would not take into account the opinions of the old generation and would do everything in order to feel good and proud to be a woman.

Before the war, the Gibson girl was in fashion. This meant women would always try to be and look perfect. It was the time of La Belle Epoque, when women wore corsets in order to have an hourglass figure. These women had to go through tremendous efforts in order to comply to this trend, particularity because at that time, a thin waist mean around 45 cm. Moreover, women were not allowed to date, but their new husband was chosen by their families.

Bun soon, this was about to disappear and make room for a new type of woman- the flapper. The American sexual transformation created this new woman that cut her hair and began wearing shorter shirts, in order to attract the look of men. The new generation of women introduced a new set of values that would better suit their needs and desires.

In 2011, Jennifer Rosenberg wrote that: “In the 1920s, a new woman was born. She smoked, drank, danced, and voted. She cut her hair, wore make-up, and went to petting parties. She was giddy and took risks. She was a flapper.”

Women also became more open towards discussions about sex and the new era also offered them the possibility to be protected against undesired pregnancy or other sexually transmitted diseases. One other factor that contributed to the success of this revolutions that was seen as an evolution, was the contraception. Women of the 1920s, thanks to Margaret Sanger, were now able to enjoy “free love” with fewer risks.

Margaret Sanger promoted birth control as a way for women to control their femininity. She supported this movement of women and made everything she could in order to protect them from unwanted pregnancies. She offered sex counseling and she even founded the American Birth control League.

The introduction of the pill and other contraceptives meant women could have control over their bodies and decisions, and this was no longer the task of men. Sanger and birth control helped move the sexual revolution further and faster.

The use of contraceptives also allowed women to gain a certain equality in the bedroom. The satisfaction of women would come first in the bedroom, and their partners now started to understand they both had equal rights to sexual satisfaction. Contraceptives also transformed sex from an activity whose main purpose was procreation, in a pleasant activity, the expression of the new woman with no inhibitions.

No inhibitions also meant rebellious actions. Many young women began to smoke, for example. One of the most beautiful descriptions of such an action, as well as the way it is perceived by the old generation, is depicted in the book Me and my Flapper Daughters:

I was sure my girls had never experimented with a hip-pocket flask, flirted with other women's husbands, or smoked cigarettes. My wife entertained the same smug delusion, and was saying something like that out loud at the dinner table one day. And then she began to talk about other girls.

"They tell me that that Purvis girl has cigarette parties at her home," remarked my wife.

She was saying it for the benefit of Elizabeth, who runs somewhat with the Purvis girl. Elizabeth was regarding her mother with curious eyes. She made no reply to her mother, but turning to me, right there at the table, she said: "Dad, let's see your cigarettes."

Without the slightest suspicion of what was forthcoming, I threw Elizabeth my cigarettes. She withdrew a fag from the package, tapped it on the back of her left hand, inserted it between her lips, reached over and took my lighted cigarette from my mouth, lit her own cigarette and blew airy rings toward the ceiling.

My wife nearly fell out of her chair, and I might have fallen out of mine if I hadn't been momentarily stunned. (Saunders, p. 27)

This sexual revolution in the United States appeared in the same time with other events that molded the American Society. These events will be presented further in this paper.

Prohibition

Prohibition represent the period when it was forbidden to sell or produce any kind of alcohol. The 18th Amendment of the Constitution introduced prohibition in an attempt to protect the American society. The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act was adopted in order to support this amendment.

The 18th Amendment stipulated that:

SECTION 1.

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 2.

The Congress and the several states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

SECTION 3.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the Congress.

This amendment was the only one, in the history of the United States that was repealed, in 1933, by the introduction of the 21st Amendment, that stipulated, in its theree section, that prohibition was over:

SECTION 1.

The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

SECTION 2.

The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 3.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the Congress.

But why was it iolation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 3.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the Congress.

But why was it necessary to prohibit alcohol? According to historians, there were four main reasons: national mood, it was practical, respected religion and it was moral. The national mood refers to the fact that after America entered the war in 1917, people began drinking more and more alcohol, thus damaging the image of the American society. The ban on alcohol was also seen as very practical because it allowed the boost of grains, particularly barley. It was also moral and religious, because it would have been wrong to have a good time and drink alcohol while others were fighting a war, not to mention that it was against God’s will.

So, the prohibition took effect in 1920. It is also worth noting that women had a great influence in the conducting of this “experiment”. They were supporters of prohibitions, thinking it would protect the health of their husbands, as well as their children that would be kept at bay from the effects of abuse of alcohol.

However, even though the main purpose of the prohibition was to protect the American people, it soon failed. The main reason it failed was because it managed to create the exact opposite reaction it was intended for: people began drinking more and search for all kinds of loopholes in legislation in order to produce more alcohol. This was obvious was going to happen, due to the renown love of Americans for wine:

There was a time in America when liquor was regarded as Godțs gift to mankind and a panacea for almost every type of ailment. […] The going price of a muscular slave was twenty gallons of whiskey; farmers found whiskey distillers gave them a far better price for grain then millers; and the “good creature of God” – aqua vitae, the very stuff of life – was food, medicine, and, even more than in Europe, the indispensable lubricant for civilized, enjoyable social intercourse.

From the time they were born, Americans acquired a taste for liquor: as babies, their bottles were laced with rum to keep them “pacified”; later, “able-bodied men, and women, too, for that matter, seldom went more than a few hours without a drink”(Behr, p. 1).

Even Abraham Lincoln, who was born in 1809, remembers that as a child:

First opened his eyes upon the stage of existence, we found intoxicating liquor, recognized by every body, used by every body, and repudiated by nobody. It commonly entered into the first draught of the infant, and the last draught of the dying man”(in Blumenthal, p. 14)

So, Americans loved alcohol and were used to take it for granted. The moment it was no longer legal, they started to find ways to get it and found a flaw in the 18th Amendment: it was illegal only to manufacture, sell and transport “intoxicating beverages”, not to own or consume. Moreover, pharmacists were allowed to gibe whiskey by prescription for different kinds of diseases. As a result, one in three men became a pharmacist.

In addition to this, Americans started producing wine at home, taking advantage from the fact that the recipe for it was available everywhere. So, “t he law that was meant to stop Americans from drinking was instead turning many of them into experts on how to make it.” These illegal beverages were available for the public in underground drinking establishments called “speakeasies”.

The rise and fall of this social experiment known as Prohibition has as main characters the gangsters that became millionaires during that time, due to the fact that they were the main providers of illegal beverages.

One of the best known gangsters of that era is Al Capone who featured a lot of films, also known as “Public enemy no 1”:

Though Al Capone lived in the realm of flesh and blood, for most Americans he existed only as a cultural invention. […] Bya all accounts, he was a man who welcomed the timelight and worked constantly to manipulate public perceptions. This was the concern that lay behind his famous formulation of contradictory labels for him and his most notorious activity – racketeer or businessman, bootlegging or hospitality (Ruth, p. 119).

In conclusion, the only think Prohibition did was to harm even more the American society that was already suffering from the devastating consequences of war. Apart from the consequences on the individuals, there were also economic consequences. Before Prohibition, many states impose heavy taxes on liquor, but after prohibition their budgets suffered a lot. At the national level, Prohibition cost the federal government a total of $11 billion in lost tax revenue, while costing over $300 million to enforce. So, it was clearly not a good idea to impose this ban from the first place.

Jazz Age

This period is defined by TheFreeDictionnary as “the period between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Depression during which jazz became popular”. In other words, it is the period that coincided with Prohibition and the sexual revolution and shaped the American society.

The popular music in the 1920s was jazz music. Prohibition and Sexual Revolution went hand in hand with this new type of music. In order to show this relationship between these three elements, there was also a famous song that appeared in 1925:

Flappers are we

Flappers and fly and free.

Never too slow

All on the go

Petting parties with the smarties.

Dizzy with dangerous glee

Puritans knock us

Because the way we’re clad.

Preachers all mock us

Because we’re not bad.

Most flippant young flappers are we!(Shaw, p. 4)

The 1920’s saw a break with the traditional set-up in America. The Great War had destroyed old perceived social conventions and new ones developed. For example, as previously debated in this paper, the young set themselves free, especially the young women. They shocked the older generation with their behavior and clothes.

The ”Roaring Twenties”, as is often referred to, made reference to a combination of African and European music that won the hearts of the Americans of that time. F. Scott Fitzgerald is to one that coined this term.

The catholic Telegraph described this music as:

The music is sensuous, the female is only half dressed and the motions may not be described in a family newspaper. Suffice it to say that there are certain houses appropriate for such dances but these houses have been closed by law.

In 1922, in the Outlook magazine, a young woman tries to explain this phenomenon:

Most of us, under the present system of modern education, are further advanced and more thoroughly developed mentally, physically, and vocationally than were our parents at our age. … We have learned to take for granted conveniences, and many luxuries, which not so many years ago were as yet undreamed of. [But] the war tore away our spiritual foundations and challenged our faith. We are struggling to regain our equilibrium. … The emotions are frequently in a state of upheaval, struggling with one another for supremacy.

Jazz music was mostly played by black people, in cultural centers such as New York or Chicago. Some famous black artists of the time were Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie.

The 1920’s brought cultural change in America, as well as a consumer society. It was a time of nonconformists.

Cars also gave young people the freedom to go where they pleased and do what they wanted.The automobile quickly became the symbol of the new America. Although Americans did not invent the car, they certainly perfected it. Much of the credit for this feat went to Ford and his assembly-line method, which transformed the car from a luxury item into a necessity for modern society. Some pundits even called the cars “bedrooms on wheels”, taking into account the sexual freedom of the young people

But what many young people wanted to do most was dance: the Charleston, the cakewalk, the black bottom, the flea hop. Jazz bands played at dance halls like the Savoy in New York City and the Aragon in Chicago; radio stations and phonograph records carried their tunes to listeners across the nation.

Ogren argues that:

Clubs like Chicago’s club Alabam or Harlem’s famed Cotton Club flourished when sophisticated urbanites consumed good music, food, and drink and danced to the latest musical fad. These establishments were often tied to bootlegging rings, like Al Capone’s, and as a consequence many performers found themselves on a gangster’s payroll. Jazz was immediately associated with the carnal pleasures of the cabaret. (Ogren, p. 5)

Some older people objected to jazz music’s vulgarity and depravity and to the moral disasters it supposedly inspired, but many in the younger generation loved the freedom they felt on the dance floor.

The success of Jazz was encouraged by the transmission of this type of music at the radio, starting with 1922. Jazz included: improvisation, syncopation, rhytm, blue notes, melody (the tune) and harmony:

Jazz music is all about improvisation – there is a method to the mayhem. When listening to jazz, consider each of the above elements. Pay attention to how the musicians interact with one another through what they play, looking for differences in each relationship. You may also find it useful to identify the melody of the piece being played and listen for it throughout the song. Take note of the way the soloist and the accompanying musicians weave notes together in harmony

The Lost Generation

The lost generation refers to American writers that emigrated because they thought the American society was no longer fitting the reality they were used to. Their vision of the old times was no longer in line with this intolerant new age, the age of jazz, flappers and illegal wine.

The phrase “Lost Generation” refers to a group of prolific writers in the post- World War 1 era. The term was coined by Gertrude Stein, and applies specifically to those who left the United States to take part of the literary culture of cities such as Paris and London during the 1920’s.

The “Lost Generation” writers were skeptical about traditional forms of literature and art and welcomed new forms. They were also generally disillusioned by the large number of lives lost during the Great War and they also rejected many social norms with regards to behavior, morality and gender roles. In their quest to find the meaning of life after the destruction of war, these writers gave us a number of wonderful works of literature.

 Some of the most significant authors that belong to this generation are:

Ernest Hemingway

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ezra Pound –

Sherwood Anderson

Waldo Peirce

Sylvia Beach

Gertrude Stein

John Dos Passos

E.E. Cummings

Archibald MacLeish

Hart Crane

T.S. Eliot

The most prominent works written at that time are:

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Waste Land- T.S. Eliot

The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway

Babbitt- Sinclair Lewis

The Sound and the Fury- William Faulkner

The Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway

All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque

The Roaring twenties came to an end with the arrival of the Great Depression. However, this period influenced a lot the American society and the literature of that time, too. The writers that were members of the last generation hated the materialism that seemed to have become the most important then. However, they liked drinking and day-dreaming. They were young idealists in search of the meaning of life who moved to Paris in order to be more inspired.

Some of the greatest literary works were written at that time. Their work seems dominated by futility and despair and the belief that there will be no further progress for the human kind. This mood of despair is described by F. S. Fitzgerald in This Side of Paradise, describing a generation that found "all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken."

The members of the lost generation also wrote about the flappers and their influence on other young women, for example as in Bernice bobs her hair, by F. S. Fitzgerald:

Bernice stood on the curb and looked at the sign, Sevier Barber Shop. It was a guillotine, indeed, and the hangman was the first barber, who, attired in a white coat and smoking a cigarette, leaded nonchalantly against the first chair… Would they blindfold her? No, but hey would tie a white cloth round her neck lest any of her blood- nonsense – hair should get on her clothes…

With her chin in the air she crossed the sidewalk, pushed open the swinging screen-door, and giving not a glance to the uproarious, riotous row that occupied the waiting bench, went up to the first barber.

“I want you to bob my hair”

The first barber’s mouth slid somewhat open. His cigarette dropped to the floor.

“Huh?”

“My hair – bob it!”

Twenty minutes later the barber swung her round face to the mirror, and she flinched at the damage that had been wrought. Her hair was not curly, and now it lay in lank lifeless blocks on both sides of her suddenly pale face. It was ugly as sin- she had known it would be ugly as sin. Her face’s chief charm had been a Madonna –like simplicity. Now that was gone and she was- well, frightfully mediocre –not stagy; only ridiculous, like a Greenwich Villager who had left her spectacles at home. (in O’Neal, p. 29)

The Lost Generation did not trust the American traditions and the old way of life. They criticized materialism and the thirst for money and loved art and new ideas. For them, Europe was far more sophisticated and refined.

CHAPTER 2

2.1 The roaring 20’s in The Great Gatsby

The book 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald presents topics that were important, controversial and interesting in the America of the 1920. At the end of World War I, the United States enjoyed the "roaring 20s," a period of unprecedented prosperity marred by corruption, bootlegging, and the carelessness of the very rich. Enter Nick Carraway, the narrator of Jay Gatsby's tragic history with which Fitzgerald exposes the hypocrisy of the American Dream while also espousing the richness of the human condition and the value of ideals The critics of that time said that:

The best of his books […] was The Great Gatsby. When it was published in 1925 this ironic tale of life on Long Island at a time when gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession (according to the exponents of Mr. Fitzgerald’s school of writers), it received critical acclaim. In it Mr. Fitzgerald was at his best, which was, according to John Chamberlain, ‘his ability to catch… the flavor of a period, the fragrance of a night, a snatch of old song, in a phrase.’(Bruccoli, p. 4)

The novel presents the American Dream in a corrupt period of the United States.

The American Dream is an ideal that depicted frequently in the American literature. The definition of this American Dream is not quite certain. Some argue that it is “a quest for wealth, prosperity and generally a high position in society”. Other people argue that “it is nothing else but the act of settling down, having a family, being able to provide for them, and basically having a good life”.

The novel talks about the decay of morals and values, as well as about the modern society. At that time, money and materialism were the most important assets. Another interesting fact of the American society depicted in this novel is the difference between the rich and the poor, exemplified by the differences between Gatsby and the Wilsons, as well as the West Egg and the Valley of Ashes. Moreover, the Western United States is presented as having a traditional view, whereas the Eastern United States is more inclined to value money.

Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music — epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night — resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals

This novel also depicts the differences between the new world – the one in which money are the centre of the Universe – symbolized by the West Egg, and the East Egg, symbolizing the ancient world, the world in which there are not enough money.

For the American society, the period of the 1920’s was one of degradation of moral values and corruption. The sexual revolution and the prohibitions were the consequences of this degradation that revealed itself after the end of the World War One. One of the most important social symbols in the 1920s is cars. Gatsby had five cars. He gives one to Nick and the other one is the car which kills Myrtle:

At nine o’clock, one morning late in July Gatsby’s gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three noted horn.(Fitzgerald, p. 69)

The parties that Gatsby held every week in the summer were a symbol of the carelessness of the time. Gatsby would hide in the house while the 'guests', most of whom were not even invited, would party, eat and drink until the early hours of the morning without even meeting the guest or even knowing who he was:

I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited—they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island and somehow they ended up at Gatsby’s door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.( Fitzgerald, p. 45)

Another quote about the parties refers to the way the guests devour the endless supply of food and never give a thought as to who gave it to them:

Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York—every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves. There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour, if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb. (Fitzgerald, p. 43)

This is also a symbol; it relates the 'pulpless halves' to the rather 'empty' guests, soulless people obsessed by image and wealth, a corruption of the American Dream.

Another sign of the fall of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is the way Gatsby makes his money. Gatsby gets his fortune through the illegal sale of alcohol ('bootlegging'). The sale of alcohol was prohibited in the United States in the 1920s. Gatsby came from the western United States where there was 'old money.' There he met Dan Cody who taught him how to 'bootleg.' As Gatsby became richer he moved to West Egg in New York.

Gatsby's house is a rather artificial place, the house was originally built to impress Daisy with his so-called wealth, and this is a sign of a corrupt way of 'winning' love through money and wealth.

Daisy has an affair with Gatsby; Gatsby then gets concerned that Daisy does not tell Tom about her affair with him in chapter six. Eventually Daisy tells Tom about her affair with Jay Gatsby. The climax of the story comes when Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy never loved him. The fall of the American Dream and corruption is also evident in the position and treatment of children in the story, Daisy and Tom's daughter, Pammy, is treated as an object to show off rather than a child to love. "The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress."

The Great Gatsby shows us the way people will fall into the hands of money, greed and power and get involved in illegal activities to get where they want and what they want. This book is a perfect example of the fall of the American Dream in the 1920s.

Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals.

When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy.

2.2 The roaring 20’s in The Sun Also Rises

The corruption of the American Dream was expressed in The Sun Also Rises in many ways, the first of which is a failing prospect for a relationship. When Jake tries to convince Brett to marry him, she turns him down, saying that their marriage would only result in her cheating on him. One of the most integral parts of the American Dream is the pursuit of happiness, which can include marrying the one you love. The fact that their marriage would be degraded, and thus Jake's happiness as well, conveys that his American Dream is not quite reality.

The Sun Also Rises is a love story. Even the most casual reader recognizes that Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley share a profound mutual attraction. They love one another deeply, and their carnal desire for each other is fierce. The problem: Jake has been wounded in the war in such a way that sexual intercourse is now impossible for him. Significantly, the particular nature of his wound has not ruled out desire, just its satisfaction. (It seems that he has lost his penis but not his testicles.) Therefore, being near Brett is agony for Jake. He could probably satisfy her sexually, and he may have done so during the period referred to when they attempted a relationship:

Rendered impotent by a war injury, he is unable to consummate a sexual relationship and, it is implied, is therefore not wholly a man. The war has literally interfered with his manhood. However, in light of his physical impotence, it becomes critical to note that while Jake cannot be intimate with a woman, by being enlisted as narrator, he is made capable of intimacy through the revelation of his thoughts, feelings, and observations. In other words, his character suggests that intimacy may also be, or must be, redefined in the modern world as more than mere sexuality.

The members of the “lost generation” no longer feel like citizens of the U.S.. This means they have distanced themselves and broken away from the American dream.

You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see. You hang around cafés. (Hemingway, p. 60)

This line, as well as other similar ones, are part of the conversation between the characters of this novel, thus, the the corruption of the American Dream becomes more personal.

The title means the sun is setting on the American Dream, in that they describe the false hopes, happiness's, and struggles that people go through in their attempt to achieve the American Dream. Moreover, according to some critics, the title could also mean the circularity of money:

Patrick Morrow […] lists 142 direct references to money and 71 further references to things being bought. “Monetary references,” says Morrow, reminding us of Earl Rovit’s position, “reveal not only a vertical, hierarchical objective correlative to character morality, but also constant circular, senseless and frustrating motion by the characters… Hemingway even puts on this metaphor [of circularity] with his constant reference to rounds of drinks. Money establishes the moral dimension of The Sun Also Rises as circular; the novel’s title might suggest the same.(Peter, p. 131)

By the end of the novel, the reader realizes that the corruption of the American Dream shows that Lost Generation is not succeeding, but is going in the opposite direction, away form the promises of happiness and fulfillment of the America Dream:

I know it's awfully hard. But remember, it's for literature. We all ought to make sacrifices for literature. Look at me. I'm going to England without a protest. All for literature. We must all help young writers. Don't you think so, Jake?(Hemingway, 26)

The American Dream is a significant theme in The Sun Also Rises. The novel talks about the pursuit of happiness that is part of the American Dream. It is also presenting the idea of seizing opportunities and truly living life, also key elements in achieving the Dream, next in line with having dreams and ambition.

The American Dream helps to describe the journey through life of the characters, a journey in which some strive for meaning and fulfillment, while others drink and distance themselves from their own version of the American Dream. The materialism of the American Dream helps to commemorate the extravagant lifestyles of the Lost Generation in the novel:

An important theme of the novel concerns the replacement of religious faith with earthly materialism. Jake insists that some people still have faith, yet he himself can be disturbingly preoccupied with material values (Tyler, 52)

This materialism can be noted in this quote from the novel:

I thought I had paid for everything. Not like the woman pays and pays and pays. No idea of retribution or punishment. Just exchange of values. You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid some way for everything that was any good. I paid my way into enough things that I liked, so that I had a good time. Either you paid by learning about them, or by experience, or by taking chances, or by money. Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it. You could get your money's worth. The world was a good place to buy in. It seemed like a fine philosophy. In five years, I thought, it will seem just as silly as all the other fine philosophies I've had.(Hemingway, p. 78)

The story that Hemingway told was one of hopelessness, of trials, and of rejection. It talks about the emptiness of the Lost Generation characters in the novel, and how it persisted even as they attempted to drink and party it away. The conversation between the characters is a reflection of the main theme of the novel, the fact that the characters have an aimless and futile live:

It is important to note that Hemingway never explicitly states that Jake and his friends’ lives are aimless, or that this aimlessness is a result of the war. Instead, he implies these ideas through his portrayal of the characters’ emotional and mental lives.

In conclusion, both novels and both authors have relied on the American Dream in order to portrait the society of the 1920’s in America. In the Great Gatsby, the American Dream is depicted presenting the actions and the inner sufferings of Gatsby, whereas in The Sun Also Rises, the American society is described by the presentation of the Lost Generation that lacks ambition and has no future direction.

CHAPTER 3

Society in The Sun Also Rises and the Great Gatsby

The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby are similar and different in so many ways. The Sun Also Rises was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1926, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald a year earlier, in 1925. Both books were published post World War I, during the 1920’s. An interesting fact is that Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises was published only a year after F. Scott Fitzgerald published his work, The Great Gatsby. Both were written around the same time and portray the same themes, characters and concepts and the search for the American Dream.

These books were both significant and well known books for the American society because they both deal with a story line containing a main character chasing the American Dream. For each of these main characters, the American Dream is different, yet both books wonderfully describe the society of that time and the aspirations of the young generation of the 1920’s.

The stories are distinct in the fact that The Sun Also Rises takes place in Paris, France and The Great Gatsby takes place in the United States. Both have differences, but both deal with mainly the same ideas. The American dream that both Jake and Gatsby chase is represented by the women they want

This proves that both Hemingway and Fitzgerald have been motivated by the factors that were occurring during the time of “roaring 20’s” described in the previous chapters. The stories are similar and yet different. The Great Gatsby describes the American Society, with all its extravagant parties and with all the money thrown away, as well as the decadent society of that time, while The Sun Also Rises describes the tumultuous life of the Lost Generation, a generation of young writers in search for inspiration on the European continent.. Hemingway was inspired to write his after he visited France. :

Two significant historical events influenced the novel. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment granted suffrage to American women. Post WWI images of the liberated ‘new woman” are relevant for understanding both Brett and Frances Clyne. Also the famous “Monkey Trial” of 1975 upheld Creationism and banned John T. Scopes from teaching evolution in Tennessee. Religion and nature are important themes in the novel, figuring most prominently in the trout-fishing scene and the humorous banter between Jake and Bill (Bloom, p 14)

Moreover, the women in both stories are what both characters desire the most, but they can’t have – they are their American Dream. These women represent modernisty in the sense that they are unlike the other women in this period in history. They should have been more family oriented and very strict in their behavior. However, Brett Ashley and Daisy are quite the opposite. Both were very promiscuous even when they had no business to be because they were married:

Much of the criticism of The Great Gatsby considers the roles and portrayals of woman in the book. Much of the action of the novel leading to strange or unruly behavior by men is instigated- actively or passively- by women. Gatsby’s desire and fortune-craving are inspired by Daisy. Daisy also charms Nick before repelling him and changing his understanding of the world he has encountered. Myrtle and Daisy both work on Tom in different ways, and George Wilson is more attached to his wife, and more vulnerable to her loss, than he things, while Tom emerges as protective of Daisy. (Bloom: p. 37)

The character Jake Barnes, from The Sun Also Rises, and Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, are both seeking the American Dream. Gatsby is a rich man who has earned every penny to his name, though not through the best known methods. Gatsby has a lot of successand has pretty much everything anyone would one. However, he is not happy because he wants the beautiful Daisy, who, years ago, promised to marry him and wait on him. Unfortunately, Daisy is now a married woman. At first, Daisy wants to be just friends and this drives Gatsby crazy because he cannot have what he wants.

In The Sun also Rises, Jake Barnes, the main character, is a World War I veteran. He comes back from the war with a tragic wound which doesn’t allow him to have sexual intercourse. Jake is a journalist and has pretty much everything he needs because he is financially doing well and doesn’t have many worries, except for one thing in particular: Jake longs for Brett Ashley. He strives to do what he must to have her, but he never gets her:

Brett was damned good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy's. She started all that. She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey.(Hemingway: p. 12)

The similarities between the two characters are easy to see while both are chasing “The American Dream” in a society that has drifted apart from its values and moral standars.

The Sun Also Rises presents the society of certain people that feel unconfident and confused after experiencing a war, thus changing their lives forever. For men, their lives have changed due to the fact that they returned from war and their meaning of life has slowly decayed and changed. Due to the fact that men had to live together for so long during war, in the newly formed society, the disgust towards homosexuals grew stronger and stronger:

I was very angry. Somehow they always made me angry. I know they are supposed to be amusing, and you should be tolerant, but I wanted to swing on one, any one, anything to shatter that superior, simpering composure. Instead, I walked down the street and had a beer at the bar at the next Bal. (Hemingway: 11)

Jake starts to build up a homophobic reaction towards them that depicts his masculine “security.” However, for women, they are not sure what they want, either they go out with lots of men or they feel confused of whom to date. This story takes place in different cities of the world.

On the other hand, The Great Gatsby is about a man that has lost his meaning of the American Dream. Gatsby wants money fast, so he starts working with the mafia and earns money the bad way. He does this in order to impress everyone, especially the girl of his dreams, Daisy.

In The Sun Also Rises, the main characters attended war and after that, they decided to travel the world to start from scratchThe author tries to describe the unsecurity of the period, as well as the fact that the men who came back from the wor feel uncomfortable in this new world were women were known as accessories and men thought they could play with them without caring how women could feel.

In The Great Gatsby, the main characters also attended. After their return, the decadent socity starts to take shape. Gatsby starts making money with the mafia in order to host big parties so that people could adore him for his big parties. Gatsby’s American Dream was symbolized as a green light and his American dream was to have Daisy. For the characters in Fitzgerald’s story idolize women as trophies or accessories:

In both stories, the reader may notice how characters and society is decaying. Due to a post-war society, characters feel unsafe and unconfident with each other. The reader may also notice how the story rotates around parties. In The Great Gatsby, the rich people partied in different houses, showing off. But in The Sun Also Rises, characters jump from bar to bar being unsure of what they actually want. Men play a big part in the plot, due to now knowing what they want.

In The Great Gatsby, the author alienates people who were not rich. The fortunre was very important for people in that time. The Sun Also Rises alienates homosexuals. The reader can notice this because the characters are very sexually disgusted when talking about homosexuals.

In conclusion, both books depict almost the same society with events taking place in the same time, but in different places – New York and Paris. Even if they may appear different, both books describe the struggle of the lost generation and the decaying of the American society that puts money and position first.

Conclusions

The paper dealted with the presentation of the American society’s decline after the World War I ended. Prohibition was a social experiment that failed and managed to worsen the society, as well as to show the dark face of the American people. By trying to ban alcohol, the American government succeeded to turn every American men in a beverage expert. Along with prohibition, the mafia made its way into the 1920’s society, thus helping those in search of quick money.

The Sexual Revolution was the event that allowed women to freely experience “free love”. This was the era of the emancipated woman, that behaved as she wished, regardless of the consequences and the critics of the others.

The Lost Generation represents the artists that felt the society decaying and decided to leave it for onother city in Europe. All these events took place on the rhythm of jazz.

The reason I have chosen The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises for my graduation paper is that these books beautifully describe the period of the roaring twenties. The authors lived in those times, so they have a first hand experience of what it meant to be an artist of the 1920’s.

All the three chapters of this paper are concentrated on the issue of the American Dream, the objective of every American of that time. For some, the American Dream means money, for others, is love. However, it can not be said that the pursuit of this dream had a happy ending. Neither of the protagonist achieaves his goals.

So, in conclusion, the period of the 1920’s was very tumultuous and full of changes in perspective and behavior. The generation of that time lived a period of no worries and filles with parties. The society is decadent and filthy due to the fact that the moral values are not respected.

Bibliography

BOOKS

Bloom, Harold, Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, Infobase Publishing, New York, 2007

Bloom, Harold, The Great Gatsby, Infobase Publishing, New York, 2006

Bruccoli, Matthew, New Essays on The Great Gatsby, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985

Behr, Edward, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America, Skyshore Publishing, New York, 1996

Hays, Peter, The Critical Reception of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, , Camden House, New York, 2011

Jeffreys, Sheila, The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality, 1880-1830, Spinifex Press, , Melbourne, 1997

Lincoln, Abraham, in Blumenthal, Karen, Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, Macmillan, London, 2011

Ogren, Kathy, The Jazz Revolution: Twenties America and the Meaning of Jazz, Oxford University Press, New York, 1989,

O’Neal, Michael, America in the 1920’s, Infobase Publishing, New York, 2006

Shaw, Arnold, The Jazz Age, Popular Music in the 1920’s, Oxford University Press. Oxford, 1989.

Spring, Joel, Images of the American Life: A History of Ideological Management in Schools, Movies, Radio and Television, Sunny Press, Albany, 1992,

Tyler, Lisa, [anonimizat] to Ernest Hemingway, Greenwood Publishing Group,

Tuth, David, Inventing the Public Enemy: The Gangster in American Cutlure, 1918- 1934, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1996

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Bibliography

BOOKS

Bloom, Harold, Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, , 2007

Bloom, Harold, The Great Gatsby, , 2006

Bruccoli, Matthew, New Essays on The Great Gatsby, Press, , 1985

Behr, Edward, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed , , 1996

Hays, Peter, The Critical Reception of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, , Camden House, , 2011

Jeffreys, Sheila, The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality, 1880-1830, Spinifex Press, , , 1997

Lincoln, Abraham, in Blumenthal, Karen, Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, Macmillan, , 2011

Ogren, Kathy, The Jazz Revolution: Twenties and the Meaning of Jazz, Press, , 1989,

O’Neal, Michael, America in the 1920’s, , 2006

Shaw, , The Jazz Age, Popular Music in the 1920’s, Oxford University Press. , 1989.

Spring, Joel, Images of the American Life: A History of Ideological Management in Schools, Movies, Radio and Television, Sunny Press, , 1992,

Tyler, Lisa, [anonimizat] to Ernest Hemingway, Greenwood Publishing Group,

Tuth, David, Inventing the Public Enemy: The Gangster in American Cutlure, 1918- 1934, The of Press, , 1996