SECTION II — HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE ROARING TWENTIES

What characterized the U.S. economy from 1916-1920?

Worst inflation in U.S. history—prices rose 80%.

How did the early 1920s economy shift?

A brief recession transitioned into booming prosperity.

What fueled consumer culture in the 1920s?

Cars, motels, radios, and home appliances.

How did automobile ownership change in the 1920s?

It tripled, enabling the flashy, dangerous cars symbolized in The Great Gatsby.

What demographic milestone occurred in 1920?

For the first time, over half of Americans lived in cities.

What was the Great Migration?

Mass movement of African Americans to Northern cities such as Harlem, Chicago, and Detroit.

What major cultural movement emerged from Harlem?

The Harlem Renaissance.

How large was the immigrant population in early 20th-century America?

About 45% of Americans were immigrants or children of immigrants.

What forms did racism and nativism take in the 1920s?

KKK resurgence, redlining, and restrictive immigration laws.

What did the Eighteenth Amendment and Volstead Act ban?

Manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol (not drinking).

How did Prohibition shape culture and literature?

Bootlegging became iconic, including in The Great Gatsby.

Why is alcohol still everywhere in 1920s literature?

People widely ignored Prohibition and kept drinking.

What did the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) guarantee?

Universal women's right to vote.

What social shifts accompanied early feminism?

New gender roles, autonomy, and sexual/social revolutions.

Who symbolized women's new independence in the 1920s?

The Flapper—bobbed hair, short skirts, jazz clubs, freedom.

Which writers explored new gender roles?

Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, Helene Johnson.

What themes defined feminist literature?

Marriage, sexuality, independence, critiques of patriarchy.

Why did Harlem become a major arts center?

Great Migration + support from activists like W.E.B. Du Bois.

Who were major Harlem Renaissance figures?

Langston Hughes, Sterling A. Brown, Georgia Douglas Johnson.

How did jazz evolve?

From blues, ragtime, marching bands, and gospel; artists include Armstrong and Ellington.

How did literature respond to jazz and blues?

Rhythmic poetry, folk influences, new portrayals of Black life.

What's ironic about The Great Gatsby being a "Jazz Age novel"?

It includes almost no Black characters and barely any jazz.

What inspired the Modernist movement?

WWI trauma, technological change, Freud's psychology, and urbanization.

What was Modernism's core goal?

To 'make it new.'

What are key characteristics of Modernist writing?

Fragmentation, symbolism, nonlinear structures, colloquial voices, experimental forms.

Who were major Modernist authors?

Eliot, Stein, Hemingway, Faulkner, Woolf, Dos Passos.

How does Fitzgerald relate to Modernism?

Less experimental in form, but deeply explores alienation and disillusionment.