Download PDFResearch Methods
The timeline of my analysis is from 1920 through 1939, which represents a dominant culture born of capitalist, economic prosperity in the 1920s, known as the “Roaring 20s” or the “Jazz Age,” followed by the greatest economic adversity in United States history, known as the Great Depression. To build an accurate display of evidence, comments were pulled from at least two Defender and Tribune articles from each decade, with a requirement for the articles to use the word “individualism” or “individualistic.” By searching each newspapers’ archival database with the term “individualism,” I located a vast array of articles about the topic. Thus, in the below “Evidence and Discussion” section, I present and highlight pieces of information about political ideologies and arguments about individualism. Using manipulative silences to analyze the discourse, supposed implications of individualism are divided due to conflicting truths. With a critical approach, the essay will explore the historical narrative discussed in the Defender, which develops an argument against the Tribune. It cannot be proven if the Defender intended to develop an argument against the Tribune or other prominent Chicago newspapers.