Dorothy Parker Research Paper

The 20th century held many challenges and endeavours. From World War I to the Vietnam War it was a time of hostility and violence. Despite these hardships, the 20th century also made it possible for some of the most important events that changed the world. Without the invention of the television or the cell phone, where would the world be today? All these changes from an old world to a new world gave the opportunity for literature to blossom. Many 20th century writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway have written novels that would be considered classics of English literature. Poets such as Robert Frost or Maya Angelou created masterpieces that are still read and loved by many. But one specific poet who isn't as famous as Frost …show more content…
Her father was a prosperous Jewish businessman and her mother was of Scottish descent. Raised in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Parker lived an unfortunate childhood. When she was four, her mother passed away. When her father remarried to a devotional Catholic woman, she too died when Parker was a small child. Martin Rothschild, her uncle, died on the Titanic in 1912 and her father died in the following year. Forced by her Catholic stepmother, Parker went to the Blessed Sacrament Convent School to then get expelled at the age of fourteen. After this incident, she was put into an all girls boarding school. At this boarding school, Parker’s Jewish traits stood out from the rest of the students making her an outsider. To cope with her feeling of isolation, she developed a satirical sense of humor. Her witty and mordant character is what made her such a fascination to people of the 20th century. Parker graduated from the boarding school in 1911 to then move to a New York City boarding house. During her stay, Parker wrote poems and began selling them to a variety of magazines. She was hired by Vogue as a copywriter but she soon got the attention of Frank Crowninshield, the editor of Vanity Fair. She received a job as a writer and her works began appearing in the sophisticated magazine. Parker became well-known because of her new job, even meeting and befriending other writers such as Harold Ross, who would soon fund the New Yorker magazine, or James Thurber, a well known cartoonist and writer. Every week or so, Parker would meet with her newly made writer friends at the Algonquin Hotel for lunch, and discuss and commentate on topics they couldn’t wait to insult or call out. This conversation was broadcasted to the public and it became known as the Algonquin Round Tables. Through the Round Tables, Parker was able to say what was on her mind without shame. This was important at the time