The Fitzgerald Flapper Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Fitzgerald Flapper Which came first, the flapper or the Fitzgerald flapper? This question may prove as difficult as its proverbial counterpart. But it is a question well worth asking in an effort to examine the flapper, a cultural icon of the 1920s. This new cleaning woman heralded an end to the traditional Victorian woman, as well as the relatively new Gibson girl. But where did she come from? And what was Fitzgeralds contribution to the creation of such(prenominal) an icon? Fitzgeralds short story Bernice Bobs Her Hair and novel This emplacement of heaven will be utilize to make such an assessment. Finally, one must(prenominal) ask how the flapper, in turn, contributed to Fitzgeralds career, for the good and the bad. Although the flapper may have guaranteed the success of This Side of Paradise and earned Fitzgerald the position of spokesman for a generation, it may have also stifled the progression of his work and confused critics for years to come.First, it would be assistive to establish a working explanation of the flapper, prior to Fitzgerald. Coined in England, the flapper was used to describe a somewhat awkward, fledgling-type girl, in the throws of budding womanhood (Flappers in the hollering Twenties). She is still learning how to move in her body, gangling and thin. Another source puts forth a very different definition of the flapper. This definition, found in Mrs. Stratton of Oak Knoll asserts that a flapper is English bait for a society girl who has made her debut and hasnt found a husband (F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary). She is an old maid of sorts, gone to seed. The first of these cardinal definitions seems the more likely origin of the Fitzgerald flapper.Prior to World War I, most(prenominal) women in the America still behaved and dr... ...e to adapt to a writers changing objectives. flora CitedBruccoli, Matthew J. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York, NY Scribner, 1989 Bryer, Jacks on. The Critical Reputation of F. Scott Fitzgerald A Bibliographical Study. regular army Archon Books, 1967 Fryer, Sarah Beebe. Fitzgeralds New Women Harbingers of Change. Ann Arbor and London UMI Research Press, 1988. Kitch, Carolyn. The Girl on the clip Cover. Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press, 2001 Prigozy, Ruth. The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald. UK and USA Cambridge University Press, 2002 Flappers in the Roaring Twenties. www.about.com.http//history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa022201a.htm F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary University of South Carolina. www.sc.edu. January 2002. www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html