UNIVERSIDADE DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA FACULTADE DE FILOLOXÍA Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas Not for Old Fogies: A Look at the Flapper in Fitzgerald’s Literary Production Traballo de Fin de Grao escrito por Aitana Castro Coego Baixo a dirección de Patricia Fra López Curso Académico 2018/1019 2 UNIVERSIDADE DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA FACULTADE DE FILOLOXÍA Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas Not for Old Fogies: A Look at the Flapper in Fitzgerald’s Literary Production Traballo de Fin de Grao escrito por Aitana Castro Coego Baixo a dirección de Patricia Fra López Curso Académico 2018/1019 3 Table of Contents 1. Summary 4 2. Introduction 5 3. Historical Context: North America after the First World War 8 3.1 The Figure of the Flapper 14 4. The Flapper in Fitzgerald’s Literary Production 26 4.1 The Great Gatsby 28 4.2 Flappers and Philosophers 38 4.3 All the Sad Young Men 49 5. Conclusion: End of the Flapper Era 55 6. Works Cited 57 4 1. Summary 5 2. Introduction Once the sad days of World War I were gone, thousands of North American citizens rushed headlong into the upcoming era: The Roaring Twenties. The United States were launched towards an upswing of economic prosperity, which translated into social and cultural changes. As the 1920’s began, these shifts became particularly important for the development of the new role of women in society. Empowerment, financial independence and sexual liberation were some of the objectives to achieve by a section of the female community. Along these lines and as a way of self-expression, ‘women embraced the new freedoms, cutting their hair, applying makeup, and tossing out dowdy fashions of the past for shorter skirts and slinkier more formfitting attire’ (Time-Life 11). All in all, the nature and aesthetics of the New Woman of the 1920’s were a source of inspiration for many writers and authors of the decade. The most outstanding literary figure of this period is undoubtedly Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Thanks to the publication of his novel The Great Gatsby (1925), the author became part of the history of North American literature as the ‘premier analyst of the American Flapper’ and ‘spokesperson of the Jazz Age’ (Zeitz 29). Precisely, this dissertation will focus on the literary production of F. Scott Fitzgerald for two reasons: on the one hand, because his literary characters were based on real life people that faithfully show the reality of the decade; and, on the other hand, because his short stories opened up the Flapper lifestyle to the general public. Additionally, throughout these years in my degree, less attention has been paid to study the female characters, than the male protagonists, in Fitzgerald’s literary production. Therefore, the main objective will be to analyze three books written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, paying attention to the female characters in order to get a deeper insight into the figure of the Flapper in 6 his literary production. The aim of this analysis is to have a broader understanding in the situation of the New American Woman of the 1920’s represented through the flappers of Fitzgerald’s stories. The literary works chosen for this purpose have been: two collections of short stories titled Flappers and Philosophers (1920) and All the Sad Young Men (1926); and, the novel The Great Gatsby (1925). These books have been selected because they clearly show the different types of female characters included in Fitzgerald’s literary production. Moreover, in the case of the novel, the flapper-like women happen to be the most complex within his authoring. The theoretical framework and, therefore, the historical context of this dissertation are based on three studies titled The 1920’s: American Popular Culture Through History (2004), TIME-LINE: The Roaring 20’s (2017) and Flapper: a Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern (2007). The three literary works include an useful approach to the history of the decade and help to develop a wider perspective on American culture. Additionally, some concepts developed by Sarah Beebe Fryer on her study titled Fitzgerald’s New Women: Harbingers of Change (1988) will be used, in order to analyze the female figures from Fitzgerald’s books. This dissertation is divided into three main sections. The first of them corresponds to the historical framework, in which the main events that took place after World War I are explained. In addition, within this section there is a subcategory that focuses on the figure of the Flapper and the historical context of the 1920s in the United States. Appearance, manners and lifestyle are some of the aspects explained and expanded in this subdivision. The crux of second part of this study deals with the analysis of the above-mentioned literary works, paying special attention to female 7 characters, particularly, to those corresponding to the figure of the Flapper. Lastly, the main conclusions extracted from this dissertation will be explained on a separate chapter. Recent studies show that the figure of the Flapper is still a prominent subject of discussion. One of the main issues concerning these women is the question of their physical appearance and what it represented. Carolyn Mair suggests in her book The Psychology of Fashion (2018), that as women became more liberated during the 1920’s, they discarded their restrictive clothing and adopted the androgynous flapper style (Mair 9). This could mean that they expressed themselves through fashion, and that their sense of style was based on their desire to differentiate themselves from others. Thereby, many historians and authors agree that fashion has a direct link to the various attitudes of women because not every woman followed the flapper trend (Johnson 2). Indeed, this divided women according to their economic, cultural and social position; something that the flapper-type of women took advantage of in order to dress and act outside the social norms of the previous decade (Johnson 2). 8 3. Historical Context: North America after the First World War Before focusing on the Roaring 20’s and the figure of the Flapper, it is crucial to acknowledge the post-war situation of the United States. The end of the First World War brought many changes that affected Americans in all levels: economic, political and sociological. Therefore, knowing the historical context will enhance our understanding of the circumstances in which the figure of the Flapper emerged. From an economic point of view, the end of the First World War developed into a serious economic recession: increase in unemployment and decrease in consumption. This was a very short period, because in 1922 the manufacturing industries started to produce automobiles, radios and other consumer goods (Drowne and Huber 5). These early successes may also deal with the creation of the ‘buy now, pay later’ plans, which allowed most American families to pay a few dollars a month for all sort of consumer goods (Drowne and Huber 5). In general terms, it can be defined as a way to enable families to pay for certain commodities that they could not afford otherwise. This economic flexibility translated into a greater number of sales and therefore, the increase of employment opportunities. However, not all Americans reaped the benefits: farmers, textile workers, coal miners and small merchants were put aside by the growth of larger companies such as automobile manufacturer Ford (Drowne and Huber 6). This new system favoured large companies which obtained great benefits during this period. There is a strong connection between the economic and the political changes that took place after World War I. As it was previously mentioned, the lives of most Americans improved as a result of mass production and technological advancements 9 but, other forces influenced the ordinary everyday life (Drowne and Huber 7). Among the concerns of many citizens in the United States were Communism and the racial tensions with the African American community, which led to violent clashes between people of different races, religions and political beliefs (Drowne and Huber 7). One of the main events related to Communism was the Red Scare, which was considered a public hysteria among most Americans who feared the arrival of Communism in the United States (Schmidt 300). Remarkably, this is related to the Wall Street explosion on September 16th of 1920, in which thirty-eight people died and consequently, the blame fell on Communists (Drowne and Huber 7). This increased the tensions between both groups and spread fear among Americans. An even greater source of concern was related with the racial and ethnic differences between white Native Americans and African Americans. It was the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920’s which aggravated the already strained race relations in the United States (Drowne and Huber 10). Despite the fact that the group was already formed it was not until the 1920’s that it obtained great and rapid growth. Consequently, it is not surprising that within a few years it had established a minimal presence in more than 1,000 communities throughout the nation (McVeigh 13). The upshot of this radicalization could be the foundation of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914 by Marcus Garvey (Cronon 62). During the 1920’s thousands of African Americans joined these and other Black Nationalist organizations to celebrate race pride and racial self-determination (Drowne and Huber 12). Many of these organizations helped most African American families, who were tired of their situation and racial discrimination. As a form of self-definition the term New Negro became popular during the 1920's. Many African Americans saw themselves as New Negros since many of them escaped racial conventions and fought 10 for a more egalitarian future.