The Roaring Twenties

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920's, better known as, the roaring twenties. If you're like me and have been taking social studies over the summer for the past three years, the only thing you really remember about the 20's is flappers and prohibition (I'm sure Leonardo DiCaprio's face pops up in your memory as well). Before diving into this classic, I decided to re-educate myself on this era to greater understand the text, and to be able to recall more than just frilly dresses and a ban on alcohol. Without further ado, here's what I found...

The 1920's was an age of huge political and social change. For the first time more Americans were living in cities rather than farms.  On top of that economic growth was through the roof, the nation's total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929. America became a "consumer society", and people from coast to coast were able to buy the same goods, listen to the same music, and even use the same slang. Contrary to common belief, the 20's brought on more conflict than celebration, many American's weren't used to this new, urban, and sometimes racy culture that was quickly emerging.  

In 1919, the 18th Amendment of the Constitution banned all 'intoxicating liquors'.  On January 16th, 1920, the federal Volstead Act closed every bar, saloon, and tavern in the United States. As you can imagine people were not very happy, this act gave birth to illegal speakeasies controlled by bootleggers, racketeers, and other organized crime figures such as Al Capone. Aside from prohibition, the Ku Klux Klan gained many followers in the 1920's. There was also an anti-Communist 'Red Scare' in 1919 and 1920 that lead to a widespread anti-immigration hysteria. 

At this point in my research the 1920's weren't lookin' so hot. So I decided to look into the more musical and expressive side of the 20's. The jazz age gave younger generations a new type of freedom on the dance floor, that was sometimes seen as vulgar by the older generations (surprise, surprise). Some of the dance moves created include: the Charleston, the cake-walk, the black bottom, and the flea hop. In the 1920's many American's had extra money to spend, so they spent it on clothes, electrical appliances, and especially radios. By the end of the 20's more than 12 million households had a radio! This helped spread all the new fun musical culture the roaring twenties had to offer. 
I would like to thank history.com for enriching my knowledge on the 1920's, I couldn't have done it without you!  If you would like to learn more click on this link http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties

Nazi Propaganda vs. Maus

The Nazi propaganda poster, on the left, in German is promoting the NSDAP with an image of a happy perfect family. NSDAP stands for National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, for those of you that don't know German, it translates to National Socialist German Workers' Party. In simpler terms NSDAP is the Nazi party. The image on the right (cover picture of chapter five from Maus volume one) illustrates a family cramped in a cellar trying to hide from the Nazi's. 
The most apparent and significant difference in these two images is in the way each family is portrayed. To the left we see five people. A mom and a dad smiling while taking in the joy of their new born child. A little boy with blonde hair also admiring the baby, and a sweet little girl with golden hair and rosy cheeks, looking the viewers of the poster dead in the eye. Similarly, the image on the right also depicts five people. Three people in the center wrapped in blankets trying to stay warm, each one with eyes that look wearily to the floor. A man wearing a hat and coat standing in the back with this head angled toward the ground, and a somber black silhouette in the corner.
The Nazi propaganda poster deceives its audience by showing a happy perfect German family, when in reality it is promoting a party of racists and murderous people. A person walking down the street could take one glance at this poster and only see the family, not reading what it's actually about. The colored imaged, combined with smiling faces connotes joy and happiness. What if the same message was put onto the image from Maus? The meaning would be completely different, its connotation would shift dramatically from cheerful to depressed. Now that the poster gives off a sorrowful aura, an onlooker on the street will now connect the Nazi party with this image of a glum, miserable family.

Reading Beyond the Text

The majority of Maus, by Art Spiegelman, is chalked full of hidden meanings. One could spend hours analyzing a single page and still miss the main idea the author was trying to portray. On the contrary, one could notice things the author didn't even intend, that further enrich the story. The unique part about Maus is that the interpretations are endless. Have you ever heard the expression, "a picture speaks a thousand words?" Well, it's true. The images illustrated in Maus don't confine the reader to one meaning or idea, they stretch the readers understanding and comprehension of the text to form a variety of interpretations. 

For example, on page 114 of the first volume of Maus, the third frame might just look like a pocket watch and a window, but they are so much more. 

This single frame is loaded with hidden meanings. For instance, the thick black bars of the window resemble a prison cell. The pocket watch also looks like some sort of lock. The pocket watch is also attached to a chain. Now that we've noticed all of that, lets take it further. What are prison cells used for? Confinement, right? Well, maybe Spiegelman meant for the window to symbolize the nazi's detainment of the Jews. Why is it significant for the pocket watch to be on a chain? Well maybe it means that the Jews were chained in time, or that the nazi's kept tight reigns on the Jews lives. Maybe the pocket watch looks like a lock with no key because no one had found a solution to the Holocaust at that time. 

 All of the assumptions I've just made about the text could be intentional, or they could not. It's up to the reader to challenge the text and always look for different angles. 

Leave a comment down below of anything you may have noticed from this single frame. Remember, the possibilities are endless!

Creative Writing

As a Pisces, I am artistic, musical, and intuitive. I know some people might think horoscopes and astrological signs are a bunch of baloney, but I happen to think otherwise.

On whatever device you are on right now, open another tab and look up your astrological sign. Read your strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and see if any of them are true to you.

Are you a passionate and creative Leo?

An independent and progressive Aquarius?

A loyal, hardworking Virgo?

According to my zodiac sign, Pisces, I am creative and enjoy freedom to do what I want. When it comes to my writing I feel the same way. In class this week we had a brief discussion on how ‘writing requires no template’. All throughout my years as student I have been told how to write. One intro. Three body paragraphs. One conclusion. This standard form of writing is so ingrained in the mind of students that it is often hard for them to stray away from it. When told to write expressively, many students are at a loss. This box we have been confined to as young writers gets harder and harder to break out of as we write more structurally and concretely.  

In the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman (an Aquarius) he illustrates his father’s memories of the holocaust in a way never quite seen before. In the frame shown below, Spiegelman's father says that it would “take many books” (12) to explain his life during the war. Maus creates a movie on paper for the reader, depicting life during the holocaust. This non-traditional way of displaying the events of the war does Spiegelman's father’s story justice.

Now I’m not saying that we should have no structure. Of course we need some sort of  template when writing research papers and others works of that nature.

       Creative writing is not for everyone. What if you’re a Taurus and you’re practical and like structure? Or you’re a Scorpio and love factual evidence? Then so be it!

      Every once in awhile it is good to be pushed out of your comfort zone. But when it comes down to it, writing is all about expressing who YOU are. Yes, there might be a template to follow, but your writing style will always be personal to you.

We might all have two hands and ten fingers, but everyone one of our finger prints leaves a different mark (super cheesy but you get the point).

Surrealism

As our routine Friday vocab quiz approached, I began preparing by looking up the various literary terms and their meanings. Usually this process is rather dry, but this week as I was monotonously typing the terms into google one definition caught my eye! Surrealism.
The definitions I found blew my mind. I'm not sure if I was just delusional from lack of sleep, or genuinely mind blown by this word's meaning. Let me show you some of the descriptions I found, leave me a comment down below if you were just as mind boggled.

"A 20th century avant garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example irrational juxtaposition of images" (en.oxforddictionaries.com).

"Integrate the confused realms of imagination and reality" (Literarydevices.net).

Whoa. 'Potential of the unconscious mind' what does that mean!? 'Confused realms of imagination and reality' what's that suppose to mean?! After a few minutes of staring at these descriptions, my curiosity got the best of me and I began researching art and literature pertaining to surrealism. Here's what I found in the art department...

Most of you have probably seen this painting before. The Persistence of Time by Salvador Dali is one of the most famous examples of surrealism. The landscape in the background is of Dali's home region of Catalonia, Spain. Dali states that this painting was made "'to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality.' There is, however, a nod to the real: the distant golden cliffs are those on the coast of Catalonia, Dali's home" (MoMA.org). I interpreted this as Dali making the statement that even the most familiar places can become alien to us in time. Dali also juxtaposes the ideas of soft and hard. The soft melting clocks contrast with the sharp hard cliffs in the foreground.

Next we have a surreal poems called "A Season in Hell" by Arthur Rimbaud.

"A while back, if I remember right, my life was long party were all hearts were open
wide, where all wines kept flowing.
One night, I sat Beauty down on my lap. -and I found her galling.- And I roughed her up.
I armed myself against justice.
I ran away. O witches, O misery, O hatred, my treasure's been turned over to you!"

In these first few lines of the poem, the images illustrated are irrational and contradictory. Rimbaud depicts a life of luxury with a beautiful women, then suddenly runs away shouting about witches and misery. If you were unsure the word 'galling' translates to annoying. So basically Rimbaud is in paradise with this gorgeous woman, but then realizes she's annoying, and he now she's her as a witch (whatta guy). Any way, because of the way the way this poem juxtaposes joyousness and misery it is said to be one of the best surreal poems out there.

I hope you now feel a little more knowledgeable about the ever-so-fascinating world of surrealism! Thanks for reading!