Brooke Brust
Mr. Jennings
AP Lang and Comp 5th
February 7, 2014
The 1920s
Freewrite: What were the 1920s like in America
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Jazz music popular
New technology
Big business-industrial
Materialism rise-concern for spiritualism and drop in morals
Considered the “Golden Age”
Women not equal to men in pay, station
Summaries:
“The Flapper” written by Myrtle Heilman in 1922 defends the flappers as normal women in their
modern day society. Flappers wear short skirts and hairstyles because their just following the fashion.
Their type of dress is not new compared to historical figures like Eve (from the bible) and Cleopatra, and
Joan of Arc. Flappers don’t cause men to do evil and shouldn’t be put down because of her spirit.
The cover of Life Magazine from 1927 shows a woman driving a car on her own with pieces of
the car falling out of it. A police man stands to the side covering his ears from the big ruckus she is
making. It shows the steps women are taking to bring themselves upwards in society as causing issues.
Response:
The texts, “The Flapper” by Myrtle Heilman, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the
cover of the Life Magazine help confirm parts of my view of the 1920s. I had written that women were
not equal to men in pay or station, and the Life Magazine cover show that women, although on the rise,
were having issues in society. The picture showed parts flying out of the car that the woman was trying
to drive for herself. Women were working up in society, but not quite there as seen by the parts flying
everywhere and the man to the side covering his ears. I also wrote of a materialism rise that caused
concern for spiritualism and drop in morals. The concern for morals caused a defensive result in the
article “The Flapper.” Heilman defends “flappers” as normal woman following the fashion of her time.
This defense resulted from many offenders who believed flappers were immoral and was leading men
into “evil.” As for what was written about new technology, The Great Gatsby shows examples of the
new technology that was used in the 1920s. In the novel characters mention going to the movies and
use automobiles, both newly invented and on the rise in that decade. This use of new technology, rise
in concern of morality, and inequality of woman all help depict, but not fully render, the age of the
1920s.