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February 08, 2006
"The Adding Machine"
Rice, The Adding Machine (1923) -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
"Daisy: Look at the flowers! Ain't they just perfect! Why, you'd think they was artificial, wouldn't you?"
This quote perfectly captures the modern era that began in the 1920s. If it seems like I spend a lot of time talking about the culture of the 1920s, it's because I'm taking a special topics in U.S. history class right now that focuses entirely on the Roaring Twenties.
Our modern consumer culture really began in the 1920s with an economic boom and the explosion of mass media. Industrialization and urbanization created a ginormous middle class - for the first time in history a significant percentage of the population had actual disposable income. So America shook off the cobwebs of World War I by going on a 10-year orgy of consumer spending. This quote from Daisy points out how exactly how insane America had gone for luxury goods. After all, fake flowers do not exactly warm the heart. But in Daisy's mind, artificial flowers are a marvel simply because they are a material good. She's fascinated by them because they are something that can be bought. This fascination with ---STUFF--- is really the beginning of the modern era.
It's also interesting tha Daisy's name is, well, Daisy - the flower that symbolizes pastoral innocence and simplicity. Daisy, like the rest of 1920s America, rejected the beauty that exists in simplicity. 1920s America was more interesting in purchasing power than in real worth, and this quote symbolizes that perfectly.
Posted by MeganRitter at February 8, 2006 12:01 AM
Comments
I agree with your point, "this fascination with ---STUFF--- is really the beginning of the modern era." I mean think about it, in the 20s "stuff" was becoming readily more avaliable, not just little stuff either, but things like cars and washing machines, and it was able to be bought by all walks of people, through financing. Do you think that the "rejected beauty" of simplicity is still going on today, has it modified in any way shape or form? Just fodder for thought.
Posted by: Michelle Redmond at February 13, 2006 06:55 PM