The Great Gatsby Background Information
I. The Jazz Age, or The Roaring Twenties
The Jazz Age describes the period from 1918-1929, the years between the end of World War I and the
start of the Roaring Twenties; ending with the rise of the Great Depression, the traditional values and
morals of this age saw great decline while the America stock market soared. The focus of the elements
of this age, in some contrast with the Roaring Twenties, in historical and cultural studies, are somewhat
different, with a greater emphasis on all Modernism. Basically, people had a lot of money and were
looking for things to do with it.
This is a time period where leisure activities, such as baseball games, became popular social events
because, for the first time in US history, people had both money and time on their hands.
The age takes its name from F. Scott Fitzgerald and jazz music, which saw a tremendous surge in
popularity among many segments of society. Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period
are the public embrace of technological developments (typically seen as progress)—cars, air travel and
the telephone—as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture. Central
developments included Art Deco design and architecture. A great theme of the age was individualism
and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment in the wake of the misery, destruction
and perceived hypocrisy and waste of WWI and pre-war values.
II. The Eighteenth Amendment – Prohibition and Partying
Amendment XVIII (the Eighteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, along with the
Volstead Act (which defined "intoxicating liquors" excluding those used for religious purposes),
established Prohibition in the United States. It is notable as the only amendment to the United States
Constitution that has been repealed (by the Twenty-first Amendment). Equally notable, it is the only
amendment to the Constitution to take away freedoms, rather than ensuring them.
Prohibition meant that selling, transporting, and manufacturing of alcohol was illegal in the United
States.
The amendment was put into place to curb alcohol abuse which was considered by many to be leading
to the moral corruption of the country. While the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol was illegal
in the U.S., it was not illegal in surrounding countries. Distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and
the Caribbean flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or illegally
imported to the U.S. Chicago became known notoriously as a haven for disobeying Prohibition during
the time known as the “Roaring Twenties.” Many of Chicago's most notorious gangsters, including Al
Capone and his enemy Bugs Moran, made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales. Numerous
other crimes, including theft and murder, were directly linked to criminal activities in Chicago and
elsewhere in violation of prohibition.
The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution made millionaires out of bootleggers, and an
underground culture of revelry sprang up. Sprawling private parties managed to elude police notice, and
“speakeasies”—secret clubs that sold liquor—thrived. The chaos and violence of World War I left
America in a state of shock, and the generation that fought the war turned to wild and extravagant living
to compensate. The staid conservatism and timeworn values of the previous decade were turned on
their ear, as money, opulence, and exuberance became the order of the day.
III. Jazz Age Names and Facts
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Jazz music was popular and made musicians like Louis Armstrong famous
Babe Ruth became a household name
Mass production made items like the car and the television more affordable to the masses
The Lost Generation was a name given to a group of people who came out of WWI disillusioned
and cynical about the world.
The most popular dances were the fox trot, the Charleston, the waltz and the tango
Jack Dempsey won the heavyweight title in boxing
IV. Flappers
The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts,
bobbed their hair, listened to what was then considered unconventional music (jazz music) and flaunted
their disdain for what was then considered "decent" behavior. The flappers were seen as brash for
wearing excessive makeup, drinking hard liquor, treating sex in a more casual manner, smoking
cigarettes, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms.
Flapper dresses were straight and loose, leaving the arms bare and dropping the waistline to the hips.
Silk or Rayon stockings were held up by garters. Skirts rose to just below the knee by 1927, allowing
flashes of knee to be seen when a flapper danced or walked through a breeze, although the way they
danced made any long loose skirt flap up to show their knees. Flappers powdered or put rouge on their
knees to show them off when dancing
A bob is a short haircut in which a weighted area is left to fall between the ears and chin. It became
modern for women in the early 1920s, and in the 1970s it became popular as a men's style.
Extra Credit Opportunity
I will give a quiz pass (which means
you get to pick a quiz to skip) to
anyone willing to do a small Power
Point presentation on some
element of life in the 1920’s.
The options are Art, Music,
Fashion, Economics, Sports,
Leisure, Technology, and Slang
You may work with a partner, but
each topic may only be done once
in each class. To sign up for a topic
you must bring evidence that you
have begun to do some research.
The deadline to sign up is Monday.