The Not So Roaring Twenties

If you've ever seen the musical Chicago or the movie Untouchables, you might think life in the Roaring Twenties revolved around speakeasies and flappers, gambling houses and gangsters (Boardman 72; Stevenson 2). But, while those things were a very real part of the 1920s, there is a lot more in between what some people have called "a blank page in history" (Boardman 122). During the course of this virtual walkthrough of the 1920s, you will learn how the key events, major thinkers, art, and psychology of the time influenced arguably the greatest author of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald. You will examine in depth one of his lesser-known works, Tender Is the Night, and see how the culture of this unique decade came together to influence the psyche of a mentally ill character in the novel, Nicole. Finally, you will compare Fitzgerald's work with other works containing a similar theme, yet written during different eras, in order to think critically about those works in relation to their own time periods.