Honors History Writing #3: The Roaring Twenties

During the 1920’s, America was in an uproar. But it wasn’t one of those unsightly and dangerously violent uproars; those were taken care of in the 1800’s. No, American citizens were finally beginning to settle down on the violence front and take care of something far more important than politics: themselves. Known by many as the Lost Generation, this time period was notorious for the amount of people that lost interest in things spiritual and personal, replacing them with more materialistic and worldly pleasures. However, through all of this nonchalance, many advances were made in literature and music that would have never come about if it weren’t for those who are fondly referred to as the Lost. Not only that, but the economy wouldn’t have boomed as it did if it weren’t for those big spending materialists.

In the 1920’s, many people felt very disillusioned because of the war that they called the Great War (now known as World War I). A great many authors wrote about this feeling, but some tried to capture it in a more satirical form, such as books like the Great Gatsby. Others, however, chose to be more transgressive and go against the rules of censorship towards taboo subjects. Poets like E. E. Cummings experimented with such subjects and even incorporated unorthodox punctuation and syntax. Many of the subjects covered in the Great Gatsby deal with being too rich to care or even have a conscience, while much of Cummings’ poetry deals with love and loss (although spending all that time to try and figure his poetry out is kind of time-consuming). The work and style of these authors allows us to get a glimpse into the minds of those who lived during the 1920’s.

But literature wasn’t the only thing growing in this era. Music was booming and becoming a huge affair in America. With the dawn of the Jazz Age, many people were beginning to cash in on their creative skills and write some new and exciting music. Much like the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950’s, a good number of people called the new jazz music that was being created ‘Devil’s music’, even though much of it just involved nonsense and was filled with fun lyrics that carried no real weight. There were some songs about hardship and suffering, but it could hardly be called music of the Devil. And for something that people were so quick to label as satanic, there certainly were a lot of companies that sprang up to capitalize on the success of such music. The 1920’s were when record companies really started becoming prevalent in the music business. Without the first few companies, none of what we know today in the music business would exist.

It’s actually not surprising at all that the economy went so well in the Roaring 20’s. Sure, there was the Great Depression in the early 30’s, but how could that have happened without some sort of boom in the economy prior? Thanks to the rich people who bought everything in sight to try and fill their empty lives, companies could continue to make money, thus stimulating the economy. Using the immigrants from other countries for cheap labor wasn’t out of the question either, and was, in fact, very common in the United States. People were interested in making their own lives feel more luxurious and continued to buy and buy and buy, which couldn’t be too bad for the economy—until it crashes.

All of these things changed drastically throughout the decade known as the Roaring 20’s. Music, literature, the economy…all changed for the better and continued to morph and grow, and will continue to grow as long as America keeps itself on its feet. Everything that happened in the 1920’s shaped America forever, and it was all thanks to a few visionaries who had nothing better to do than think about how terribly boring their lives were. To them, we are thankful.