The Jazz Age Many young people reacted to the trauma of

WWI by rejecting the values of their parents. During the Jazz Age, the rebellion was exemplified by a new type of woman-the flapper.

“The flapper awoke from her lethargy (tiredness) bobbed her hair, put on her choicest earrings and a great deal of audacity (boldness) and rouge, and went into the battle. She flirted because it was fun to flirt and…refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring…Mothers disapproved of their sons taking the Flapper to dances, to teas, to swim, and most of all to heart.”

-Zelda Fitzgerald flapper and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald

WWI shattered the sense of optimism that had grown in the West since the Enlightenment.

-Despair gripped survivors -Staggering costs of the war -In reaction, the world experienced

rapid changes.

I. Changes in Society After WWI A. The roaring twenties

1. The Jazz Age-millions of radios tuned to new sounds of jazz.

2. Louis Armstrong-Duke Ellington two of the great jazz musicians of their day.

3. Boom time for U.S.- Europeans embraced American culture.B. Women’s lives

1. Women won the vote in many countries after the war.2. Labor saving devices became common in the home. 3. Women pursued careers in many areas-from sports to the arts.

C. Reactions to the Jazz Age 1. Many people supported Prohibition- a ban

on alcohol. 2. 18th amendment ratified in 1919 –

Prohibition amendment. 3. In response-an explosion of organized

crime and speakeasies (illegal bars). 4. The amendment was repealed in 1933.

5. Fundamentalist movement began in early 1900s.

A. belief that all events in bible are literally true.

6. 1925-biology teacher John Scopes put on trial for teaching evolution.

a. Broke law in Tennessee that barred any teaching that went against the bible.

Clarence Darrow represented teacher-William Jennings Bryan-prosecution

b. He was found guilty-fined $100.00 c. Fundamentalists believed proceedings hurt

their cause.

D. The New Literature 1. A Loss of Faith

A. To many writers the war symbolized the morale breakdown of Western civilization.

T.S. Eliot-The Waste Land Earnest Hemingway-The Sun Also Rises F. Scott Fitzgerald-The Great Gatsby Gertrude Stein called them the lost generation. Referred to literary figures and their generation as

a whole.

E. The Harlem Renaissance1. Cultural awakening in Harlem

in the 1920s.2. African American writers and

artists expressed pride in their culture.

F. New Scientific Theories 1. Marie Curie and Radioactivity

A. Early 1890s-Polish born Curie and others studied radioactivity.

B. Proved atoms were not solid and indivisible.

2. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity A. German born Albert Einstein argued that measurements of space and time are not absolute. B. 1934-Using Curie’s and Einstein’s

theories, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi and others discovered atomic fission (splitting nuclei of atoms in two).

C. 1940s, Fermi, Oppenheimer and Teller created the atomic bomb.

G. Fleming discovers penicillan-1928 H. Austrian Sigmund Freud challenged

faith in reason. 1. Subconscious mind drives human

behavior 2. Pioneered psychoanalysis

A. Method of studying the mind and treating mental disorders

H. Modern Art and Architecture 1. Many western artists rejected traditional

styles of painting. Henri Matisse-bold, wild strokes of color,

distortions to produce works with strong emotions.

Pablo Picasso-Cubism

Abstract-Kadinsky

Dada movement-Artists believed there was no sense or truth in the world.

Art intended to shock and disturb. Jean Arp

Surrealism-attempted to show the workings of the subconscious mind. Rejected rational thought.

Salvador Dali