Flapper Dream Analysis - 1477 Words

Winter Dreams and the Emptiness of the Flapper Lifestyle During the 1920s, there was a massive increase in the post-war economy, and with it came luxuries and technologies that many Americans had never seen before. The changing cultural climate brought with it drastic changes in the ideals and morals of the youth because they had become disillusioned with their parents morals and lifestyles following World War 1. Interestingly, the disillusionment that the youth of America felt towards their parents way of living brought about the first real generation gap. History remembers the time of this generation gap as the Jazz Age, and its culture quickly became enamored with the idea of being young and living for today.†¦show more content†¦Accordingly, Fitzgerald uses the characters in â€Å"Winter Dreams† as a warning to his generation about how the irresponsibility and emptiness of the wild lifestyle of the 1920s could lead to their downfall. In â€Å"Winter Dreams,† the character of Judy Jones represents the flapper lifestyle and the spirit of the 1920s. One parallel between her and the flappers comes in the form of her disregard for the customs of the previous generation, which Fitzgerald illustrates through her flippancy towards Mr. Hendrick on the golf course. Her remark â€Å"Did I bounce into the rough?† shows that she does not have the manners to be distraught over hitting someone with a golf ball and that she has the flapper trait of disregard for the customs and morals of previous generations (Fitzgerald 3). Furthermore, Mr. Hendrick’s remark that â€Å"all she needs is to be turned up and spanked for six months and then to be married off to an old-fashioned cavalry captain,† embodies the disenchantment that Hartt 3 previous generations felt towards the current one (Fitzgerald 3). By showcasing the mutual disapproval between Mr. Hendrick and Judy, Fitzgerald demonstrates the generation gap in which, â€Å"older Americans squabbled with their children andShow MoreRelatedFshore Pirate By Scott Fitzgerald Essay2086 Words   |  9 PagesI define as an aristocratic product of rebellion in the 1920s, but I am not convinced that Ardita is what a historicist would refer to as a flapper. By definition, a flapper was a woman that openly rejected traditional societal norms in the 1920 s to grasp more from life than what was offered to their Victorian predecessors. From my understanding, flappers were women that fought against traditional expectations to destroy the hypocritical double-standard placed on women by the male dominated societyRead More Fitzgerald and Short Story Writing Essay1370 Words   |  6 Pagessuch as â€Å"Winter Dreams†, â€Å"The Rich Boy†, â€Å"‘The Sensible Thing’†, and â€Å"Absolution† (Bruccoli xvii). Fitzgerald even referred to â€Å"Winter Dreams† as â€Å"a sort of first 1st draft of the Gat sby idea† (qtd. in Mangum, 64). If Fitzgerald used material from a story in a novel, he would not reprint the original story, for fear of being criticized for recycling material. For example, the scene in The Great Gatsby where Gatsby marvels at Daisy’s house originally appeared in â€Å"Winter Dreams† as Dexter’s reactionRead MoreThe American Nightmare2241 Words   |  9 Pagesother person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again† (Fitzgerald 6). In The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway, was describing his neighbor’s goal of marrying a woman named Daisy. Gatsby, however, did not realize the futility of his dream which ended up costing him his life. The Great Gatsby was written by Fitzgerald in 1925 and takes place in the summer of 1922. The belief that anyone could get rich through hard work was still alive at the time and is evident in the novel as both GatsbyRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgeralds Personl Influences on The Great Gatsby1762 Words   |  7 Pagesterms, Fitzgerald was like Nick because of how he was educated, and their liking of their new life style, and he was similar to Gatsby because of their idolization of the rich. Jay Gatsby, or James Gatz was a man who wanted to pursue the American Dream, to work hard and get ahead. All of this was to impress the woman that he was in love with, Daisy Fay. Nick Carraway is made narrator of the novel. He is inclined to reserve all judgements of all people, which is why Fitzgerald made him the narratorRead MoreMisogynist Role Of Women In The Great Gatsby1024 Words   |  5 PagesIn the 1920’s women in America had new freedom as the ways of life came around with the emergence of flappers and women were allowed to vote, but men still treated them with misogynist ways. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the misogynist ways of men in America and how the ideas of women’s freedom was a dream instead of a reality. An an alysis of the female characters reveals the misogyny of women in America during the 1920’s. The symbolism of Daisy’s name of being controlledRead MoreThe Sensible Thing, by F. Scott Fitzgerald1643 Words   |  7 Pagescommon subject matter in his stories. Believing that Fitzgerald, participating in these social functions would enhance his career as a writer by becoming well-known in the wealthy society, he and Zelda aspired to be accepted as equals of the rich flappers (Bruccoli 147). Emphasizing the contrasts between metropolitan qualities and rural innocence characterizes the criticism of setting in Fitzgeralds writings. Robert Roulston considers that throughout the works of Fitzgerald, two discreet attitudesRead MoreOld Money Trumps New Money: Understand how Old Wealth Works1434 Words   |  6 Pagesprominent and wealthy, worked and capitalized on the ignorance of world. Some choose a darker means of economic gain, while others insisted on legitimate monopoly over the masses. It’s a choice to develop a way to support the role that is crafted by a dream or vision that wants to be reached by the individual, to be prosperous â€Å"by any means necessary†. The old and wealthy in the film have three things in common; power, fun and money. When new money chases after old money in love, old money remains whileRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby2385 Words   |  10 Pagesthe school. In 1909, Fitzgerald published his first story. At the age s of fifteen to seventeen he attended the Newman School, it was a Catholic prep school, in New Jersey. There he met Father Sigourney Fay, who encouraged Fitzgerald to follow his dreams as a writer. (Werlock, Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Facts On File Companion to the American Novel). Moreover, Fitzgerald was the class of 1917 in Princeton, but due to an unfortunate ending to his relationship with Ginevra King, his social habitsRead MoreThe Between Female And Female Roles3586 Words   |  15 Pagesfeminine and majorly sexualised culture the gap between what it is to be male and female is prominent. De Beauvoir, (1949) believes that this culture is designed from a young age describing that a young girl who plays with, dresses and cuddles dolls dreams of this lifestyle for herself and inversely thinks of herself as a doll. In the 1970’s, psychologist Sandra Bem argued that psychological androgyny and the extent to which a person crosses sex-typed standards of desirable behaviour has importantRead MoreFeminine Mystique12173 Words   |  49 Pageswage discrimination, and segregation into female-only jobs such as teaching and nursing. Women made little headway over the next decade, despite the hoopla about the emancipated new woman of the twenties. Behind the stereotype of the smart-talking flapper with her cigarette, bobbed hair, and boyish clothes, traditional ideas about women and their proper roles prevailed in the labor marketplace. In 1920, 23 percent of women worked; by 1930, the figure was only 24 percent. Access to the professions increased