The Flapper Influence on Fitzgerald's Writing

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The Flapper Influence The era of the 1920s had a significant role in creating identity of the characters in the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Among various influences that his writing had, the flapper woman played a large part in shaping many female characters. The term “flapper” was used to describe young women at an awkward age, and an awkward age it was in the Roaring Twenties. Their appearance, behavior and the rebellion of their old fashioned mother's Victorian views affected the identity of many female characters in Fitzgerald's work. In The Great Gatsby, Nick describes Myrtle's sister, Catherine, the first time he sees her at the party in Chapter Two. Catherine is said to have been “...a slender, worldly girl of about thirty, with a solid, sticky bob of red hair, and a complexion powdered milky white” with drawn on eyebrows after she had plucked them off (The Great Gatsby 30). During the 1920s, many women had taken on this flapper appearance. The term “flapper” began in England to describe girls of an awkward age, who were “lovely, expensive and about nineteen” (“Flappers”). In the work of Fitzgerald, Catherine along with many other women such as Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle, Bernice and Judy, had attained this youthful, boyish look inspired by French designers. These styles would give women a youthful, boyish look as they would bob their hair, shorten the hems of their skirts and wear loose fitting tops that would not constrict air passages (“Fashion in the 1920s”). Many women also began to cover their faces with pounds of cosmetics (“Flappers”). Prior the 1920s, Victorian women had grown their hair very long. It was not until the mid 1910s when dancer Irene Bell chopped off her hair so it would not fall in her face when she dance when she adapted a new style known as the “Castle Bob” (“History of the Bob Haircut”). This style did not become popular until the

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