Flapper: The Women Who Made America Modern

Superior Essays
Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern

Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern is a book of nicely compiled historical accounts about the women, and some men, that have shaped America into the culture we see today. Joshua Zeitz, the author of the book, has presented to his readers a minute accounting of these women’s lives; to bring to us, in a better correlation, of how the Flapper era was born, and how it came to die, through the behavior of these American women in their daily lives and what cause and effect, if any, it played in shaping America to what she is today. Readers will get a glimpse of the Flapper era in an almost romanticized
…show more content…
The first part, truly gathers the reader’s attention through stories of how life was changing in the 1920s. Youth of the Victorian Era did not impress their parents with the lewd ways of conducting themselves and that resulted in pushback from the elders of the Victorian Era. The main point in the first part of the book was meticulously written to show the reader’s that the sexual experiences for women of the Flapper era had changed drastically from the women of the Victorian Era and the main woman featured in the first part is Zelda Sayre; we know her more as Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald, but more on that later. The author explains that Zelda’s father is an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court along with being one of Montgomery’s leading citizens; however Zelda would prove to be a handful of disappointment to his persona. Zelda demonstrated her wild child ways by wearing too much make-up, frolicking with boys in the backseat of their cars, undermining authority at home and school and delighting in scandalous behavior, all to get the town gossiping. Zelda would sneak out of her bedroom window at night and spend a few hours involved in necking, petting and drinking in the backseat of cars. She would be seen riding on the back of a motorcycle with her arms around her admirer, bobbed hair, skirts raised to the knees, smoking and kissing them goodnight. …show more content…
The author writes in such a way that the reader truly understands the life line of Chanel. Coco was born in 1893 and after her mother dies of pneumonia, her father whom was a drifter, left Coco and her, two sisters and two brothers at the mercy of charity. The boys were sent off to work farms, and the girls were sent to an orphanage. Coco always dreamed of a more exciting life, so she fabricated an interesting story made from complete embellishments to give her background more flare. After leaving the orphanage at eighteen, she was accepted at Notre Dame boarding school as a charity case basis. She took a job at a local milliner and on the weekends she made extra money as a tailor; that is where she met Etienne Balsan the youngest heir of a wealthy textile baron. Etienne quickly introduced Coco into his extravagant lifestyle; were she completed fit in with ease. However, she quickly donned the men’s attire as she wanted to participate in their activities, not wear feathers, silk and lace. She was very content on being Etienne’s mistress and his friends play pal. Coco soon discovered her hidden talent; she began decorating simple straw and felt hats. Ladies at the horse races quickly bought her wares to complement their afternoon attire. She asked Etienne for a loan to start

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Flapper By Zeitz Summary

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The flapper was a sexually confident feminine ideal brought to life in the turn of the 1920’s. Zelda Sayre was a southern woman who stayed out late at dance halls and movie theatres with men, and most referred to her as “the prototype” of American Flapper. She eventually married Scott Fitzgerald, and Fitzgerald deemed Sayre his muse. Lois Long was a sassy New Yorker who grasped ideas for her column from the nightlife of the city. Coco Chanel was a designer.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Yet, even though American sexuality had changed in the 1920's, i am glad to see that tradition of marriage has continued to remain the same. The Flappers did have a strong impact for women comfortably expressing their own sexual desires / freedom publicly. Rukaya, were their other reasons as to why the Flappers were often judged so many times? The Flappers did in fact show a sense of freedom and sexuality for women all over the world. Why did younger women of the 1920's challenge instead of accept traditional norms?…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Flapper Book Review

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Zeitz gives intuition into the many women who created the image of the flapper which includes Zelda Fitzgerald ( wife of Scott Fitzgerald), Coco Chanel ( a French fashion designer), and Lois Long( the writer of the New Yorker). However, Zelda Fitzgerald was the person whose story was written in the first chapter of this book. So, this book is mostly focused about her life and what was her role in making the america modern. Zelda was the most charming and beautiful girl of that era. Zeitz pictured the…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fads In The 1920's

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1920s: Fads and Trends Fads in the 1920s were ways to forget the horrific memories of the war and live a new life. Games and Contests • One of the first fads was the ancient Chinese game, Mahjong but by 1927, it got old. • The new fad that replaced Mahjong was the crossword puzzle.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1920s Flappers Essay

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Flappers were women during the 1920’s that challenge the social norm by cutting their hair, changing their makeup, and dressing more provocatively. the flappers of the 1920s were kind of a beginning of a change in the life of women. There was a leftover of women in Britain this was caused by the loss of many men to the war. In this time women was done with their old way of lifestyle so that is why they started doing there own thing . They went for more beauty modern things and ditched what they believed to be a traditional way of life which that is why they started dressing more provocatively.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Known for its fast paced lifestyle, experimentation, and break in traditions, the ‘Roaring Twenties’ produced ideals and technology that changed America forever. One of the many prominent features of the early 20th century was the emergence of the “flapper,” women who deviated from the traditional Victorian female standards at the time. These women often bobbed their hair, wore short dresses and skirts, and took on many characteristics that had only been deemed appropriate for men. The passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920 granted women the right to vote, allowing them a direct interaction with politics for the first time. To highlight their independence, women also began taking jobs in the workforce as well as attending college.…

    • 1503 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Flappers In 1920s

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages

    With the new look of these women, came new values in this century. Some of the Flappers slang were "I have to go see a man about a dog" meaning buying whisky and a "handcuff" or "manacle" was a wedding ring. Petting Parties was where women would be kissing men in public. They started to have an open playing field towards premarital sex, which is defined has “sexual activity practiced by persons who are unmarried.” This is where birth control was first introduced.…

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Flappers during the 1920’S Prior to the devastating period of The Great Depression, a new breed of rebellious young women arose. Women during the 1920’s were more aware more than ever that they should live their life in equality and freedom, rather than in a restrictive lifestyle. The so called ‘’Flappers’’ were going against the rules, challenging and refusing the traditional expectation for women and revolutionizing the fashion of 1920’s. Before the 20’s women wore long, plain dresses. Stayed home, cooked, cleaned, and were the perfect housewives.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    They finally had reached the triumph of the women’s suffrage movement. Since 1920, women have found themselves new lifestyles within their daily lives, entertainment, and both economic and political areas. With their new sexual freedom, women defied their old lives and began getting bobbed haircuts, wearing short skirts, and partook in public smoking and drinking. Women could now smoke for pleasure while just recently, in 1904, a woman had been arrested for smoking in public. The term “flapper” quickly became the epitome of the new and change personal freedom.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many new ideas and states of living were formed. The 1920s presented the “New Woman” which came with many changes in women 's lives. Probably the most notable would be the term “flapper”, a young woman who bobbed her hair, smoked, drank, wore short skirts and used bad language which directly resembled Myrtle Wilson. Woman were portrayed differently in this decade and the lifestyle of the upper class was one of scandal and disloyalty. Another important development of the time was the birth of mass culture.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    INTRODUCTION This paper is about Marie Antoinette being au courant. Marie Antoinette, a former princess of Austria who was transformed into an extravagant French queen. Her destiny was to marry Louis-Auguste at the age of fourteen after which she ruled France and learned to fashion herself; thus, spending too much. However, she never troubled to ask or wonder who was paying for the luxuries she took for granted.…

    • 2490 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    1920s Fashion Essay

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    Freedoms such as being able to vote, express them-selves, and gain a sense of respect from others. Not only was fashion a piece of material back in the 1920’s, but also a form of movement. With the turn of the decade and fashion, women were able to speak for them-selves whether their voices were seen or heard as negative or positive. The Flapper image became negative for the elders but the image allowed young women to be able to grow out of that stage into mature women. Wanting to move out due to their parent’s constant lectures on how to live their lives caused the women to rebel and move out of their homes resulting in search of jobs to be able to support them-selves financially.…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Brilliant Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Modernism In The 1920s

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The “new woman” was a term to describe the evolving class of women in the 1920s and how they challenged gender norms and traditions. Women of the 1920s demanded equal rights to men, which established many state and national laws such as getting their right to vote with the 19th amendment and equal wages.. In addition to their demand for women’s rights, they also challenged gender norms, so, many young women “...drank gin cocktails, smoked cigarettes, and wore skimpy dresses and dangly necklaces. “(Roark, Pg.760), which was not considered to be the right way for women to act compared to the traditional expectations of women. For the new class of women that appeared in the 1920s, the “flapper” was a common name that was associated with young women who challenged gender norms by using their increased wages to purchase trendy unorthodox clothing and dance to jazz.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The drastic reform of the women’s role can be credited to the new type of woman; the Flapper. Flappers reconstructed the image of a woman in a scandalous fashion which ultimately led to the change of women’s perspectives on how they should fit into society. The change of perspectives…

    • 1466 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Monsieur Lantin believes his wife to be the greatest woman on earth, from cleaning, to cooking, and everything else he is happily married. He says, “She governed his household with such clever economy that they seemed to live in luxury.” There was too much luxury in fact but he blindly trusted her like some happy husbands would do. He only had two issues with his wife, her love for theater and her taste in fake jewelry. Jewelry is an immediate death sentence in Maupassant short stories and stays true in this one.…

    • 1323 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays