Re: Honors Essay #3

In 1931, a journalist found the previous decade so awe-inspiring that he began to write a novel that was based on the era’s impression. His main characters were known as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” a higher class couple that could have resided in East Egg, New York. Traveling through the decade, Mr. and Mrs. Smith experienced the rise in parties, money, alcohol, art, and most of all- materialism. However, the general ideas of the couple were not, under any circumstance, the average American citizens. Many still lived in remote farms and towns that slowly began to show growth in their economy through paved roads, automobiles, and large corporations. A new era slowly crept up on Americans in the 1920s, and it soon became known as “The Roaring 20s.” While change came rapidly, so did the economical growth. Between 1922 and 1927 the economy grew by 7 percent a year. If the Roaring Twenties was defined by anything, it was industry, commerce, and materialism.
While American industrialization was taking over, 200,000 workers were being replaced with machines each year. This kept the labor force increasing at a rapid rate, which improved pay tremendously. Between 1919 and 1927, the average income climbed nearly $150 for each American. As the economy grew, more consumer products appeared: lighters, wristwatches, and more. However, as people gained more money and more consumer products were on the market, people put little of their earnings into the bank because they spent it frequently.
One job that was known as a “boom industry” was construction. Since many cities around the country were being “modernized” residential construction doubled. Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles, grew 2500 percent. Road construction improved the economy too by millions of dollars. In 1919, a few states proposed a tax on gas, which redefined the auto industry as well. By making more automobiles, many people began to travel which led to motels, restaurants, and gas stations.
New industries kept appearing which led America into the “Consumer Culture.” Advertisements, welfare, and credit opened up a new America and people began to favor materialism. People from the “Roaring Twenties” were often considered “The Lost Generation” because of materialism and because of the freedom people felt which often involved art, alcohol, parties, and going against the law. According to “Nation of Nations,” “Consumption was the key to prosperity, and increased consumption rested on two innovations: advertising to encourage people to buy, and credit to help them pay.” The fact that people kept spending, and not saving, led to a crash in the economy known as the Great Depression.
As we can see, change was inevitably there, and at the time America was transformed into a more industrial and materialistic country. Change defined the era by industry, commerce, and materialism. Change was a catalyst for the later Great Depression. Change was the Roaring Twenties.

Resources:
Nation of Nations: p. 682-689
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005846/The_1920/the1920.htm