synthesis week #3

This week was an exploration of the Flapper and her importance in the booming 20's. We looked at letters sent by Zelda Fitzgerald which gave us first hand accounts that could then be related to our character of Brett in the conclusion of The Sun Also Rises. In addition, we read works by Dorothy Parker that gave us great insight into the role of women and their respective men. All of these pieces were brought to visual perspective when we viewed clips from The Great Gatsby.
In viewing these works as a whole we are given this unique perspective of the same women that less than a decade before were nowhere near as promiscuous or sexually motivated. The works that we studied and the discussions we had as a class led us to an overwhelming sense of women's emerging freedoms. Zelda Fitzgerald even referred to her fellow Flappers as artists. Their art was to "be lovely, be an object." This object wasn't owned by any man nor was it necessarily owned by the individual. Rather, the young 1920's Flapper was a symbol of the times and the readings support this strongly.