In response to Eulogy on the Flapper by Zelda Fitzgerald
Flappers were early revolutionaries. They wanted to eliminate double standards, and redefine the role of women in American society. The young girls of the twenties experimented sexually and socially and revolted against the perceptions of how a girl should be. By adopting a look of short hair that was deemed masculine, raising hem-lines and wearing makeup, they redefined what femininity was.. Flappers ultimately chose to please themselves, instead of their fathers or husbands, and did so by voting, taking the job of their choice, dressing the way they liked, and doing whatever they pleased. The flappers embodied the modern age, changing how women were seen. Without knowing it, they were activists for women’s rights, and rebelled by breaking through what was seen as tradition.
Flappers were early revolutionaries. They wanted to eliminate double standards, and redefine the role of women in American society. The young girls of the twenties experimented sexually and socially and revolted against the perceptions of how a girl should be. By adopting a look of short hair that was deemed masculine, raising hem-lines and wearing makeup, they redefined what femininity was.. Flappers ultimately chose to please themselves, instead of their fathers or husbands, and did so by voting, taking the job of their choice, dressing the way they liked, and doing whatever they pleased. The flappers embodied the modern age, changing how women were seen. Without knowing it, they were activists for women’s rights, and rebelled by breaking through what was seen as tradition.
By the choice to please solely themselves, the Flappers set the ideals for early feminism. They openly drank alcohol in spite of the Prohibition, smoked cigarettes, had casual sex, and wore makeup and short dresses. Flapperdom was seen as immoral, brash and liberal in what was a mostly conservative time. While enjoying the social standards set, they also had paying jobs, which changed the social status for women at the time, as working was seen as unusual for women. They were no longer required to stay at home; they were able to go out and provide the way men could. While they were not seen as equal to men, the way that the Flappers defied what was expected of women changed how women would be viewed, and what they would continue to fight for.
Zelda Fitzgerald was a woman who embodied the ideals and lifestyle of the flapper.. In the late 1910’s, when she was a teenager, she smoked cigarettes, drank the alcohol that was offered to her, spent an improper amount of time with boys, and attracted attention; she was seen and heard. Over the course of her life, she loved art, and pursued writing, dancing and painting. In her artistic freedom, Fitzgerald uses the rebellious women in her essay, Eulogy on the Flapper to demonstrate early feminist ideals by describing the Flappers revolutionary actions, and later showed the downfall of the movement and ideology.
Fitzgerald describes the thoughts of the early Flappers in the introductory section of her eulogy. She claims, “The Flapper awoke from her lethargy of sub-deb-ism, bobbed her hair, put on her choicest pair of earrings and a great deal of audacity and rouge, and went into battle. She flirted because it was fun to flirt, and wore a one piece bathing suit because she had a good figure; she covered her face with powder and paint because she didn’t need it and she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring. She was conscious that the things she did were the things she had always wanted to do.” This paints a vivid picture of the early flappers; rebellious, new-fangled and revolutionary. Their battle was against the generations before them, and the social restraints put on them. Because of this, they strayed from the way women acted in the generations before; the Flapper’s acts of rebellion started the fight for women’s rights, even if it did begin simply as a rebellious phase for young women.
Although Flapperdom was popular among young women, “Mothers disapproved of their sons taking the Flapper to dances to teas, to swim, and most of all, to heart.”, Fitzgerald illustrates how the older generations viewed the Flappers. The younger generation was perceived as improper by the preceding generations, but were necessary to change the perceptions of their own and the future generations of American women.
The death of early feminism ideology begins with the downfall of Flapperdom. Fitzgerald critically discusses how, “...the new flappers galumping along in unfastened galoshes are striving not to do what is pleasant and what to please, but simply trying to out do the founders of the Honorable Order of Flappers: to outdo everything. Flapperdom has become a game; it is no longer a philosophy.” Fitzgerald calls out mainstream Flappers by writing that they are no longer fighting with each other for the sake of a movement, but fighting against each other to see who could be the better Flapper. The commentary made when said that it has become a game shows the shift in the ideology that the young women made; it was no longer about rebelling, or crushing double standards; it was about who was better at being a “Flapper”.
Early feminist ideals existing in the original movement were being eradicated by the same young women that established them. Disillusionment and the goal to be the best “flapper” ultimately led to the downfall of the movement; “It’s affects on the Flappers I have known have simply been to crystallize their ambitious desires and give form to their code of living so that they can come home and live happily ever after afterwards”. The girls began to live like Flappers for a short while until they were tired of it; then they would return home, work demeaning jobs and marry the boys whose mothers approved of them. Flapping had become mainstream and insignificant, not furthering the initial ideas of the movement.Additionally, the young began to abuse their youth, and“the strongest cry against Flapperdom is that it [was] making the youth of the country cynical. It [was]making them intelligent and teaching them to capitalize their natural resources and get their money’s worth. They [were] merely applying business methods to being young.” The young women were no longer contributing to society in progressive ways; the Flappers were done with allowing others to believe in the things that made the country progressive, such as the feminist ideals they threw into motion.
The death of the Flapper signified an end of an era. The philosophy began as a movement that shook older generations, defied social expectations, and changed the precepts that girls had about how they had to be. Flapperdom became a competition and an unoriginal concept. Something that started as a cry against conformity, evolved into the reestablishment of gender roles. While the original flappers like Zelda Fitzgerald felt like her ideals were lost and the philosophy and original purpose was ultimately forgotten, the flapper paved the way for the women who continued to fight for women’s rights, even after 19th Amendment passed, setting a precedent for the feminists that are fighting today.1.) "Flappers [ushistory.org]." 2008. 15 Mar. 2016 <http://www.ushistory.org/us/46d.asp>
2.) "Flappers and the Roaring 20's - www - The Dandy." 2011. 15 Mar. 2016 <http://www.thedandy.org/home/flappers-and-the-roaring-20-s>
3.)The Legend of Zelda (Sayre Fitzgerald) | Follow the ... - PBS." 2012. 15 Mar. 2016 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/elpaso_201102A12.html>
