Emerging out of World War One was a very difficult time for the citizens of America, especially for the youth. After losing almost everything, including their lives, to the war, the frivolous ways of the “Flaming Youth” as they were often called, gave a welcome relief to devastation. Nothing seemed too irrational (Pendergast). A social revolution resulted, causing a massive shift in American culture. The culture of the “Victorian Era” is a sharp contrast to that of the “Roaring Twenties”; instead of the conservative ways of the Victorian Era, women wore loose hanging dresses and people led a life of smoking, drinking, and dancing until dawn. This all, however, masked the underlying sadness of the 1920s. As stated by the theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, “the wealthy of the 1920s …show more content…
It did, nonetheless, commence with a rough start with an “economic recession in 1921.” It was very short, however, and had ended in 18 months (“Business” Scott). After this, American wealth had “more than doubled between 1920 and 1929” (Staff). As a result, incomes also rose, allowing them to buy “big ticket consumer items like cars, fridges, washing machines, pianos, vacuum cleaners, furniture, and radios” (“Business” Scott). People started paying on credit, or installment buying, which is a method of payment in which down payment is made and a little more is paid each month. This increased consumer debt considerably, however. To make easy profits, people invested in the stock market (“Business” Scott). However, “when stock prices eventually slumped, many investors had to lower their stock prices even further, leading to the Stock Market crash of October 1929.” “The magical prosperity [of the 1920s] vanished almost overnight as people lost confidence .... Despite everything that governments could do, America ... slipped into a harsh depression that only ended ten years later with the start of World War II” (“Business”