Lost Generation And The Jazz Essay, Research Paper

THE LOST GENERATION AND THE JAZZ AGE IN THE WORKS OF HEMINGWAY AND FITZGERALD

The post-World War I coevals in America, where the war experiences left the state altered everlastingly and the people emotionally barren is normally referred to as the Lost Generation. More specifically, the term is used for a group of American authors who came of age during the war and established their literary reputes in the 1920 & # 8217 ; s. The term embraces Ernest Hemingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, e.e. Edward Estlin Cummingss and many other authors who made Paris the Centre of their literary activities in the 1920 & # 8217 ; s. Works of those authors represented the typical cast of the station war period, capturing the attitudes of the immature at that clip, greatly disillusioned and mercenary. The coevals was & # 8216 ; lost & # 8217 ; in the sense that its familial values of nationalism, honor, success and love were no longer relevant in the station war universe because of religious disaffection of America on the international scene. Even most basic impressions rooted in the American outlook, such as the American Dream, seemed to be devalued and no longer served as a way to follow for the immature. Hemingway and Fitzgerald, though exhausted much clip during their literary active life in Europe, still knew the exact strivings of the immature Americans and skillfully portrayed them in their plants.

& # 8216 ; The Great Gatsby & # 8217 ; by Francis Scott Fitzgerald shows the disenchantment and moral decomposition of the station war America every bit good as the promise and failure of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby, the immature, romantic American, is an incarnation of the American Dream: starting from nil, he additions a huge luck. However, his efforts to prosecute felicity through the American Dream terminal in a complete failure and eventually take him to tragic decease. Love as a value is no longer of import in the new universe & # 8211 ; though Gatsby loves Daisy and she seems to hold the same feeling for him, for the 2nd clip they fail to be together. The whole society, which is portrayed in the novel through Daisy and tom Buchanans, suffer from moral relativity & # 8211 ; steady and comfy life is placed above scruples, when they are faced with a calamity and a hard pick is to be made. The whole coevals perceived the universe in such a manner and the storyteller & # 8217 ; s position merely strengthens the consequence ; Nick Carraway & # 8217 ; s decency is more conspicuous in the indifferent and dishonorable universe and makes the contrast with the remainder of characters even sharper.

In Ernest Hemingway & # 8217 ; s & # 8216 ; The Sun Besides Rises & # 8217 ; the Lost Generation is shown as even more unemotional and dry, likely thanks to Hemingway & # 8217 ; s prose manner: short, simple sentences, from which all remark or emotional rhetoric have been eliminated. The chief characters of the novel, portrayed through understatements and simpleness of words, take the life typical for immature American authors at the station war clip. Their being was limited to traveling out, imbibing, speaking about trifles and looking for pleasance in love personal businesss ; by agencies of this morally equivocal life they sought flight from religious disaffection. Again, the pre war values of love and religion were devalued, they had small relevancy if compared with the incredible graduated table of force and the atrociousnesss of the war. Reading between the lines it can be noticed that all chief characters are afraid of concluding solutions ; Brett Ashley is moving against her feeling for Jake, Cohn is flying from his long-time lover Francis, Mike is detecting his fianc vitamin E acquiring involved in one matter after another. Searching for the significance of life, they are all afraid of happening it. In the same manner as Fitzgerald, Hemingway leaves some solution by conveying in the positive character, once more in the function of the storyteller. Jake Barnes is the lone 1 who realises the truth: & # 8216 ; You can & # 8217 ; t acquire off from yourself by traveling from one topographic point to another & # 8217 ; . To last in such a universe, one must act good in the alone, losing conflict with life to demo & # 8216 ; grace under force per unit area & # 8217 ; , and that is precisely the manner of Jake.

The Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age was by all means a period of disruptive alteration. New tendencies entered about all countries of life and they were non limited to the immature. Good province of economic system and productiveness additions brought most Americans up to at least a modest degree of comfort. New consumer goods & # 8211 ; wirelesss, phones, refrige

rators and above all the motor auto, which plays the cardinal function in ‘The Great Gatsby’ – made life easier. The reverberations of alterations in this period make a good background for the thoughts presented in the plants of Fitzgerald and Hemingway.

In the 1920 & # 8217 ; s leisure activities became more of import as a consequence of the freshly acquired wealth. Professional athleticss boomed and the rapid growing of tabloid newspapers, magazines, films and wirelesss enabled 1000000s to portion in the exciting universe of flappers and wind music. This easy life style, traveling to film theaters, dining out, afternoon drinks, and above all epicurean parties is really background to the narrative of Jay Gatsby. The scene in the Gatsby & # 8217 ; s garden epitomizes the Jazz Age. The topographic point all glistening with richness, copiousness of nutrient, drinks, visible radiation, wind music, autos with invitees hotfooting to and fro, it all makes the whole scene expression opulently. Characteristically, the topographic point is crowded, but yet empty: there is tonss of intoxicant, laughter, & # 8216 ; enthusiastic meeting between adult females who ne’er knew each other & # 8217 ; s names & # 8217 ; and someway forced enjoyment. There is no topographic point for existent feelings of friendly relationship or true joy of life. What was important, it was precisely the purpose of Gatsby to throw such popular, impersonal parties, to which cipher needed invitation. Old traditional signifiers of socialization, with their courtesy and manners failed into limbo. The chase of amusement seemed to cover emotional amour propre and internal strivings. The new Americans visibly rebelled against what they viewed as unsuccessful, outmoded pre war conventions and attitudes.

The Jazz Age brought, apart from economic roar and what followed, the new outlook and fresh mentality on societal functions. Womans at that clip, holding won the right to vote in 1920, demanded to be recognised as adult male & # 8217 ; s equal in all countries. They adopted a masculine expression, cutting their hair and abandoning girdles, they drank and smoked in public and were more unfastened about sex. This construct of the & # 8216 ; new adult female & # 8217 ; is brought into & # 8216 ; The Sun Besides Rises & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; lady Brett Ashley absolutely suits the image of new emancipated female. She chooses spouses for herself, pull stringsing them, she drinks with work forces as if she was one of them, and refuses to turn her hair long. The same type is Jordan Baker from & # 8216 ; The Great Gatsby & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; an chesty, clean miss, looking down on work forces and their feelings.

On the darker side, there was xenophobic atmosphere in the station war isolated America and the resurgence of the racialist Ku Klux Klan. During the early 1920 & # 8217 ; s the Klan achieved a big rank and gained control of, or influence over many metropoliss and province authoritiess. The racist attitude of Americans is shown through words of Tom Buchanan in & # 8216 ; The Great Gatsby & # 8217 ; ; his deepest strong belief is that a Negro will ne’er be able to drive a auto. He avidly reads & # 8216 ; The Rise of the Coloured Empires & # 8217 ; and his comments about the book are rather familiar to the reader born after World War II: & # 8216 ; The thought is if we don & # 8217 ; t look out the white race will be & # 8211 ; will be absolutely submerged. This thought is that we are Nordics. It is up to us who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will take control of things & # 8217 ; .

Another characteristic and influential factor, which left the grade on societal life in America in the 1920 & # 8217 ; s was the Prohibition. This was besides noteworthy as devaluation of people & # 8217 ; s trust in righteousness of authorities actions. Another authorization failed to be of import to people. Millions of otherwise observant citizens drank prohibited intoxicant, motivating the growing of organised offense. Curiously plenty, Fitzgerald mentions prohibition merely in the connexion with Gatsby & # 8217 ; s bootlegging ; it seems there is no job with acquiring illegal spirits in East America, even for great and fabulous parties.

In decision, both & # 8216 ; The Sun Besides Rises & # 8217 ; and & # 8216 ; The Great Gatsby & # 8217 ; are someway summarizing the Jazz Age, with its beginnings and atmosphere. Many new societal tendencies give an accurate background to the actions of supporters, to some extent explain their outlook and life styles. This new universe, affecting battle with the war injury, new values, or possibly the deficiency of any values explain why Gertrude Stein called the station war people & # 8216 ; a lost coevals & # 8217 ; and why this comment became popular on the topographic point. Young Americans felt she was absolutely right, as their coevals had to cover with many inquiries and insecurity brought by the new universe.