Skip to main content

Prosperity in the 1920s


While I was reading “Will the real Nick Carraway please come out?” (which I found funny since it sounded exactly like Eminem’s “Slim Shady”) I found quite interesting how the writer included details that I didn’t even notice could be evidence of Nick being homosexual, and other characters being in that community.  For example, the two girls that “looked alike, talked alike, and dressed alike” were lesbians.  When I first read that passage, I didn’t even think that that was the case.  Nick’s way of characterizing and describing certain males in the novel is what makes it ambiguous.  At the in Tom and Myrtle’s apartment, when Nick and McKee meet, it’s clear he may be gay. They were in bed together, so it’s possible something sexual had occurred.  He referred to McKee as “a pale, feminine man” and “shrill, languid, handsome, and horrible”.  He characterizes McKee in a feminine sense, and his wife in a more masculine sense, which he does with females throughout the novel.  He characterizes men he meets more feminine in order to feel more manly to himself, while he characterizes women more masculine because that’s the only way he can force himself to like them (Jordan).

The “Roaring Twenties” was a time of prosperity and rejecting traditional moral standards of that time.  During the age of prohibition, gay culture flourished.  Masquerade balls, more known as “drag balls” had brought in more than 7,000 different people—gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight.  There was progressively a more visible presence of men that weren’t conforming to genders and were engaged in sexual relations with other men.  Social reformers would call “male sex perverts,” which featured female impersonators in theaters/nightclubs.  In the 1920s, gay men had established a presence in Harlem, and the first lesbian enclaves had appeared there.  Unfortunately, this wasn't long-lasting.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Polite Speech

We tend to say things we do not mean in order to make ourselves appear as a good person, like “let’s keep in touch” and “it’s nice to meet you.”   It is not always clear whether we are actually pleased to meet someone, or just do not want to come off as rude.   In the course of saying things we do not truly mean, the expressions that we use become meaningless.   As a society, we care too much about the way others perceive us.   We would rather say something such as “how are you” instead of being transparent.   We create this fake, forced, first impression because we are trying so hard to appear “perfect.”   We then continue being “polite” because we do not want to be labeled as a bad person.   However, we are labeled as a good person if we say, “sure, we can definitely meet up,” even though you most likely won’t.   I am not saying we should stop being polite because it is something we do everyday and it would be silly to stop doing it. ...
2 comments
Read more

Because Of Him

Everything we ever did was for him.   While we were robbed of our girlhoods, everything was gifted to him on a silver platter.   Our lives revolved around him, constantly.   When he was tired, we made his bed.   When he was hungry, we cooked for him.   When he was bored, we entertained him.   And what do we get in return for our constant beck and call? Nothing.   We get nothing.   She is the most educated out of all of us, but she cannot work because of him.   We make fake flowers for a living.   She obtained a job as a maid in order to escape from them.   She met a man and secretly held a relationship with him, but it was all destroyed because of him.   It was the only thing that allowed her to escape but men like him destroyed her freedom.   We kept it locked inside for too long, and now we revolt.   He barely remembered that day; the most important one.   The day I found the twig with the maple leaf...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trail of Tears

  When trying to find an episode of the American Life, I wanted to find a story that was not at the top which would have probably been already picked, so I chose the Trail of Tears. In the episode, two Cherokee sisters Sarah and Amy Vowell recount their experience of driving through the Trail of Tears. Another reason I chose this particular episode is that Native American and Indigenous history overall greatly interests me and have not been educated on the Trail of Tears all that much. I can say without hesitation that the American school system has failed me in the way that I learn more about my country’s history in my AP English class than history at all. I also believe that I should not have to wait until college to hear the real, raw story—the story that Sarah and Amy know all too well. One thing that I learned from this episode is the horrific events that Sarah and Amy’s ancestors had to experience has resulted in generational trauma, yet they are conflicted. They feel a nee...
Post a Comment
Read more