Marissa Huth

Dr. Rowley

Honors 1000--section 517

8 October 2017

The Life of Ester Larkin

Ester had lived her whole life in rural Michigan. She was content. She had done all she thought
she needed to do. She found a husband, a farmhand named Jimmy Larkin that she had grown
up with just a couple streets away.

Ester and Jimmy lived a simple life. The new technological luxuries that people had in the cities
had not yet come to the country. Although the city they lived in had paved streets, municipal
electricity and water systems, telephone systems, streetlights, and sewage systems, they didnt
have the luxuries that urban homes possessed like running water, indoor plumbing, and
electricity (Reinhardt). Ester had never experienced these modern luxuries, so she was never
bothered by the fact she didnt have them.

In fact, Ester didnt worry about much. She subscribed to the idea that the man of the house
should make all of the decisions and provide financially for the family, and that her only role as a
women was to keep the house clean, to cook, and to have children. Another reason she didnt
worry about much was because Jimmy did his best to keep her from finding out that his job was
in jeopardy.

It came as no surprise to Jimmy when his boss was forced to fire him1. To Ester, however, it
came as quite a shock. Prior to him officially losing his job, Jimmy tried to warm Ester up to the
idea of the two of them moving to the city of Detroit. However, Ester was always against the
idea. She was a very conservative women and didnt want to be surrounded by flappers, ethnic
people, and negroes. The country is definitely where Ester felt she belonged.

When Jimmy lost his job, he told Ester that they have no other option than to move to Detroit
because the city offered him more secure employment and better pay (Plea for rural life).
Ester, believing that she has no real voice in her marriage, followed him to the city. What helped
convince her too was that Jimmy had already found a job as an auto repair man in the
classifieds of a newspaper ("Classified Ad 5 -- no Title").

With that, the decision was made and the couple was off to Detroit.

1
In the 1920s many farmers were falling into debt because of the falling farm prices and the need to
purchase expensive machinery (Ushistory.org). So a lot of farms that employed non family had to
downsize.
Ester and Jimmy moved into a tiny apartment and spent the majority of their savings on the cost
of moving and futuristic appliances such as an electric refrigerator, a radio, a washing machine,
and a vacuum cleaner2.

Esters new neighbor, a flapper, welcomed the two to the building with open arms. Ester
became very uncomfortable with this woman when she discovered that she was unmarried and
afforded her rent by working. The lifestyle of this woman appalled Ester, and she was hoping
that interacting with such people could be avoided altogether. Even worse was when Ester
watched her leave the building at what she believed to be an ungodly hour wearing a short
dress and a cloche3 (Jailer-Chamberlain). Ester hated the lifestyle of the flappe. She thought
that such women prefer[ed] ignorance to truth and were not bothered by their consciences
(Special to The Free Press and Chicago Tribune). She truly believed these women had no
redeeming qualities. From her point of view, the sole purpose of these women was to have a
good time (Simon). Needless to say, Ester and her neighbor did not become friends and the
only talking Ester did with her after that was a quick hello and the insincere how are you
doing when they encountered each other in the hallway.

What bothered Ester even more than being surrounded by flappers was that she lived in a city
filled with ethnic people and negroes. She hated walking to the grocery store and having to pass
all different kinds of people. What she found particularly awful was that, while shopping, she
occasionally saw someone who wasnt white or a native-born American.

It took Ester a long time to adjust to city life. Owning a vacuum cleaner and a washing machine
made housework much easier and less strenuous for her (History.com staff). However, it
resulted in her having large amounts of free time. With Jimmy gone all day, Ester didnt know
what to do with all this time and soon became bored and discontent. It didnt help that all of her
neighbors repulsed her in someway.

Once Ester found a Protestant church that she liked, and her and Jimmy attended at least once
a week. She finally found a group of like minded people to spend her time with. This group of
women shared the exact same views as Ester, and were all members of the Women of the Ku
Klux Klan (WKKK)4. Soon after befriending this group of woman, Ester decided to join the
WKKK.

Ester didnt think that women had any place in politics until she joined the WKKK. She soon
began to see having a right to vote as an opportunity to help solidify the political power of

2
The buying of these new appliances shows the shift towards consumer culture that occurred in the
1920s
3
A cloche is a tight fitting flapper hat that covered her bobbed hair and was pulled down low over her
forehead (Jailer-Chamberlain).
4
The womens Klan was an autonomous organization not just an extension of the male Ku Klux Klan
(KKK). The Klanswomen used the KKKs call for white supremacy and interpreted it in a gender specific
way and used it to protect women and children by preserving traditional home and family life (Blee).
whites and native-born citizens5 (Blee). Additionally, being apart of the WKKK gave Ester a
platform to express her views. Her and her fellow members oppose[d] immigration [and] racial
equality (Blee). Ester finally became more content with city life after finding a crowd she could
fit in with.

Ester not only changed in the way that she viewed politics, she also began to dress differently.
Following her friends leads, she eventually bobbed her hair and began wearing dresses that
were slightly shorter. She had succumbed to the fashion styles of the flapper, without actually
becoming one6.

Moving to the city was never something Ester wanted, or choose, to do. Rather, moving was
something she was forced to do after her husband lost his job on the farm. Adjusting to the new
technologies that city life gave her took some time but was something she became very
appreciative of. Ester continued to hate flappers with a passion, but after living in the city for a
while, she eventually decided to dress in a fashion that was made popular by the flappers. She
also never warmed up to her neighbors, though she did find a group of friends through her
church. It was because of these friends that she became an active member in the WKKK. It took
a while, but Ester had finally become happy with her life in the city.

5
This was not a belief held by the majority of woman. Most woman who wanted the right to vote were just
trying to achieve gender equality (Blee).
6
In the 1920s most women were not truly flappers, however, as the fashion style became popularized
most women did dress in the flapper style.
 Works Cited

Blee, Kathleen M. "Women in the 1920S' Ku Klux Klan Movement." Feminist Studies, vol. 17,
no. 1, Spring 91, p. 57. EBSCOhost,
proxy.lib.wayne.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ahl&
AN=9108192133&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

History.com Staff. "The Roaring Twenties." History.com, A+E Networks, 2010,

www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017

Jailer-Chamberlain, Mildred. "Flappers in Fashion the 1920s." Antiques & Collecting Magazine
09 2003: 24-30. ProQuest. Web. 10 Oct. 2017 .

"PLEA FOR RURAL LIFE." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 10. Jul 22 1900. ProQuest.
Web. 4 Oct. 2017 .

Reinhardt, Claudia. "Farm Life: Introduction." Livinghistoryfarm.org, www.livinghistoryfarm.org/

farminginthe20s/life_01.htm. Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.

Ushistory.org. "The Farming Problem." Ushistory.org, www.ushistory.org/us/49c.asp. Accessed

9 Oct. 2017.

Simon, Linda. "The Original "It" Girl: Flappers Took the Country by Storm in the Roaring
'20S and Then Suddenly Vanished. Or Did They?." Smithsonian, vol. 48, no. 5, Sept. 2017,
pp. 9-11. EBSCOhost,
proxy.lib.wayne.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ahl&
AN=124817887&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Special to The Free Press and,Chicago Tribune. "'Flappers' Lack Conscience, Says N. Y.
Professor." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 7. Jan 30 1922. ProQuest. Web. 4 Oct. 2017 .