preview

What Are The Changes In The 1920's

Decent Essays

After the war, the American people made the change from "old" ways to "new" ways. Many factors, such as new technology, fundamentalism, new looks and church led to tension between the old and the new. The 1920s were a time of conflicting viewpoints between traditional behaviors and new and changing attitudes. New technology in the 1920s attributed to the change. Inventions such as the radio helped improve communication. Court trials, conventions, and meetings were broadcasted. Electrical appliances improved homes. In 1922, Sinclair Lewis wrote, "These standard advertised wares- toothpastes, socks, tires, cameras, instantaneous hot-water heaters – were his symbols and proofs of excellence, at first the signs, then the substitutes, for joy …show more content…

Henry Ford was credited the most for the automobile. His assembly line made Model T was inexpensive and therefore was more available to the "common man." New technology attributed to the new attitudes and demands. One of the most changes was the "new look" for young women. The Flapper Era entered America. Ladies did the unthinkable in cutting their long hair to chin length bobs, smoking, wearing shorter dresses and even engaging in premarital sex. Traditional women were horrified at these loose morals and daring behavior. They pushed to stop the women reformers who pushed for legalized birth control. They spoke against the sensual behavior of young women. At this time marriage decreased and divorce increased because women became more independent Another source of tension was the difference in religious beliefs among people. A new way of thinking called Modernism emerged in which people took a slightly more critical look at the Bible. The people claimed to believe in the theory of evolution as opposed to the seven-day Creation story of Genesis. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, denounced this as blasphemy. These traditionalists took the word of the Bible as exact and literal. Nowhere was the conflict between these two parties more highlighted than in the Scopes Trial in Tennessee. John Scopes, a schoolteacher, had been arrested for teaching the theory of evolution to his students. He was eventually convicted (but later

Get Access