American Expatriates in Paris

The American expatriate movement began in the early 1920s, starting soon after WWI
ended in 1918. With the exchange rate in favor of the US dollar and the Eighteenth Amendment
hindering alcohol consumption, many Americans packed their bags and headed to Europe.
According to American author Gertrude Stein, Paris was where the twentieth century was
(Paris, France 29). In addition to the exchange rate and prohibition, WWI also drove many
Americans to what appeared to be the luxurious lifestyle of the expatriate community in France.
Many aspiring authors left for Paris hoping to find an environment suitable for writing about
their experiences in the aftermath of the war. The expatriate movement of the 1920s influenced
the American authors tremendously, and their motives for leaving the United States can be easily
uncovered through analysis of their writing. Their experiences are reflected in the characters they
created, and the authentic expatriate lifestyles are revealed through their stories.
In the aftermath of WWI, soldiers who had fought in the war began to alienate
themselves from American society. They had been scarred by what they experienced on the
warfront, and many soldiers began to withdraw from their everyday lives. It was difficult for
them to pick up where they had left off. They had lost a sense of purpose in their lives, and many
became disconnected from their family and friends. Those who fought in WWI felt that they had
lost a sense of self in the war, and they relocated to Paris hoping to get it back. Gertrude Stein
coined the phrase lost generation to describe the expatriate community in Paris who lost
themselves in the war and were looking to regain purpose in their lives (A Moveable Feast 61).
Several of the veterans that went to Paris were also aspiring authors. These men were
hoping to write the great American novel that would accurately depict what life was like after the
war in the 1920s. WWI would greatly influence their writing, especially that of Ernest
Hemingway. During WWI, Hemingway served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front. In

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Malcolm Cowleys book Exiles Return, he discusses the important lessons he learned while also
serving as an ambulance driver, such as courage, extravagance, and fatalism. However, he ends
with the most important lesson of all: it instilled into us what might be called a spectatorial
attitude (137-38). This observational approach towards life contributed to the soldiers loss of
purpose; they were living in the background. After returning home, soldiers no longer wanted to
take part in everyday life. This state of living greatly influenced the characters Hemingway
would later create in his stories.
Expatriate writers also left the United States because they needed to write about their
experiences at war and its effects on American society, but they were unable to do so while being
in their native country. In Gertrude Steins memoir Paris, France, she discusses the concept of a
writers place outside of home to write about home.
Everybody who writes is interested in living inside themselves in order to tell what is
inside themselves. That is why writers have to have two countries, the one where they
belong and the one in which they live really. The second one is romantic, it is separate
from themselves, it is not real but it is really there (18).
While Hemingway experienced the war on the Italian front, authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald never
saw the battlefield. Hemingway needed to get away in order to write about his experiences on the
warfront, whereas Fitzgerald moved to Paris in order to write about the effects war had on
American culture. They both incorporate the after effects of the war into their novels, as WWI
acts as a backdrop for many of their stories. Their characters also portray attitudes that were the
result of the war.
Another reason American writers left the United States was because the cultural focus
shifted towards industrialization. According to Cowley, the national destiny was being decided

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by middle-aged bankers and corporation executives, and these new leaders showed little interest
in books and ideas. Society became absorbed in producing more and working longer, leaving less
time for leisure. Aspiring writers felt like society had rejected them: The serious American
writers felt like strangers in their own land (486). Many writers also believed the countries
leaders were hypocrites, so they left and became part of the expatriate community in Paris.
The motives for the expatriate movement appear in the writings of Hemingway,
Fitzgerald, and Stein. Each author has a different perspective on these causes, and they all reflect
on what life was like in the aftermath of the war during the 1920s. While they might not be
explicated in the story, these themes are all actively at work in their writing.
Hemingways novel The Sun Also Rises illustrates the story of Jake Barnes, a young war
hero who suffered from a debilitating injury while fighting, hindering him from fulfilling a
relationship with his love, Lady Brett Ashley. When Brett first appears in the story, she arrives at
the dancing club on the Rue de la Montagne Sainte Genevive surrounded by men with newly
washed, wavy hair and manicured hands. Jake is incredibly jealous of them because they have
the ability to be with Brett, but they chose not to: I wanted to swing on one, any one, anything
to shatter that superior, simpering composure (28). Through Jakes character, Hemingway
portrays a soldier who has lost his sense of purpose in life and has had his masculinity taken
away from him. A relationship with Brett might have filled the emptiness he felt, but because he
physically cannot be with her, he is left with an inescapable void. He has lost all ambition and
spends the majority of the story searching to regain what he lost in the war.
What was supposed to make Jake an attractive and decorated war hero ironically stripped
him of his masculinity. To counteract this loss of manhood, Jake attends several bullfights in
Pamplona during the Festival of San Fermn. Many war veterans like Jake gravitated towards

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watching the bullfights because they offered the thrill of death without having to fight on the
warfront or worry about being injured. Jake idolizes the bullfighters and believes that they are
the only people who ever lead fulfilled lives: Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except
bullfighters (18). Hemingway depicts a man who is desperate to regain what he lost in the war,
even though it is inevitable that he will fail. Like Jake, Hemingways character Harold Krebs in
Soldiers Home is struggling to regain his sense of self he lost in WWI.
Harold Krebs served as a Marine during WWI, and although what he witnessed is never
explicitly stated in the story, it is apparent that he was deeply affected by what he experienced on
the battlefield. At the time of his return home in 1919, the greeting of war heroes was over
(Soldiers Home 111). He began exaggerating his war experiences in order to get people to
listen to him, which developed in him distaste for himself and the war. This disgust caused him
to become a recluse, and he wanted to live along without consequences (113). He kept to
himself, practicing the clarinet and reading. Dating no longer interested him either: [women]
were too complicated (112). His sister Helen is the only person he has affection for. A man who
should have been a celebrated soldier was now an outsider in his society. Krebs had developed
what Cowley referred to as a spectatorial attitude. He no longer wanted to participate in
everyday life; he was living in the background.
Hemingway also wrote stories that were even less explicit about the war than The Sun
Also Rises and Soldiers Home. In one of his earliest short stories Big Two-Hearted River, he
employs an analogy between a trout-fishing trip and his experiences at war. No backstory is
given on the main character Nick Adams, but the narrator does state that trout fishing brought
back all the old feeling (164). While it can be inferred that the story is set post-WWI, there is
only one clear reference to any sort of war occurring: He had started many grasshoppers from

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the dust. They were all black (165). These black grasshoppers carry what has happened to
them in the past, much like Nick carries emotional baggage from the war.
Hemingway also makes a comparison between Nick and the trout swimming in the water.
In the first part of the story, the trout changed their positions by quick angles, only to hold
steady in the fast water again (163). As Nick is watching the fish, [his] heart tightened as the
trout moved (164). The trout continue to swim steadily against the current, and Nick recognizes
a sort of strength in these fish. They sometimes have to quickly change positions, but they
continue to hold on. As time passes, like the river passes over the fish, Nick must mentally steady
himself and remain calm, not letting the emotions from the war overwhelm him. However,
sometimes Nick cannot control his emotions, and they become too much to handle. When he
goes fishing in the second part of the story, he is no longer in control of the situation; the fish
will fight him back. After losing a battle to the biggest one [he] ever heard of, he stopped
fishing and sat down on the logs: he did not want to rush his sensations any (177). Although
Nick is no longer experiencing the battlefield, some ordinary activities, such as fishing, trigger
the same emotions as war. That does not mean, however, that he should give up fishing
altogether. He must continue to be steady and stay strong like the trout swimming against the
current.
Unlike Hemingway, American author F. Scott Fitzgerald never saw any action on the
battlefield during WWI. The war ended before he was ever deployed, hindering him from writing
about the war firsthand. Many of his stories focused more on the loss of purpose in the aftermath
of WWI and on the less glamorous sides of expatriate life in Paris. Although these themes may
not be explicated in the surface narrative of the stories, they are discussed in Babylon
Revisited, One Trip Abroad, and Tender is the Night.

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In Babylon Revisited, Fitzgerald illustrates the story of a young man desperate to
reclaim his honor that was lost because of alcoholism. As a recovering alcoholic attempting to
regain custody of his daughter Honoria, Charlie Wales struggles between doing what is right for
his daughter and the temptation of a life full of booze and partying. He was sucked into the
glamorous expatriate lifestyle, putting his wife and child on the backburner. He lost them both,
returned to America, and went back to Paris in hopes of regaining what he lost. While Charlie
possesses qualities that suggest he has recovered and will be a responsible guardian for Honoria,
he ultimately loses the battle to get his daughter back. He finds himself at the Ritz Bar at the end
of the story, contemplating whether or not it was just a matter of financial stability: He thought
rather angrily that this was just moneyhe had given so many people money (633). He
believes he could have given her the life he owed her, but he fails to regain the part of himself he
lost in Paris.
Fitzgerald once again depicts the darker side of expatriate life in the short story One Trip
Abroad. This story follows the lives of Nicole and Nelson Kelly, a newly married American
expatriate couple who have recently inherited half a million dollars. Like Hemingways Big
Two Hearted River, WWI is not explicitly mentioned in the story, but it is implied in the very
beginning: the locusts were coming northflying silently and in straight lines (One Trip
Abroad 577). This line conjures up the image of an army marching together in unison, much
like the soldiers fighting in WWI did on the way to the battlefield. The swarm of locusts attacked
the passengers riding the bus eating everything in their path, just as an army destroys
everything in their path without question to take down an enemy.
Throughout the story, Nelson is sucked into the temptations of expatriate life that Charlie
Wales fell victim to in Babylon Revisited. In Part 1 of the story, the Kellys go to see Ouled

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Nals, where upon the raised dais two pale brown children of perhaps fourteen were taking off
their cotton dresses (581). When Nicole gets up to leave, Nelson asks her to stay. Nelson also
begins to take to alcohol more frequently: [he] found himself quite as tempted to drink at these
small dinners as in the more frankly rowdy world (590). While he does not become a drunk, he
does not stop partying after the birth of their son. One of the drinking partners Nelson befriends,
Count Chiki Sarolai, moves into their apartment when Nicole goes to the hospital to give birth:
an arrangement of which Nicole didnt approve, since they were inclined to drink together
(591). It is not until Chiki throws a party and plans to pay for it with the Kellys money does
Nelson realize that he has been taken advantage of.
As the story progresses, there is an obvious decline in the Kellys marriage as well as a
moral and physical decline in both characters individually. They are unable to see what kind of
people they have become until the end of the story when they recognize themselves in the
phantom couple that is frequently spotted during their travels. Their decline is represented
through the Doppelgnger device Fitzgerald employs. In the beginning of the story, the young
couple is described as charming. However, this couple transforms dramatically by the end.
Nicole describes the woman as a terrible egoist, and Nelson describes the man as having a face
so weak and self-indulgent that its almost mean (596). The Kellys eventually realize the
phantom couple mirrors whom they have become, but it is not until the very end of the story.
While the expatriate lifestyle appears to be glamorous on the surface, it can easily transform
people for the worst.
Fitzgerald flocked to Paris in order to write about American culture in the aftermath of
the war, and traveling to Paris allowed him to observe as an outsider. In his tragic novel Tender
is the Night, he analyzes and reflects on the cultural phenomenon known as daddys girl, an

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American taboo that originated in the early 1900s. Rosemary Hoyt, a young American actress
visiting the Riviera with her mother, is recognized by a group of people on the beach because of
her role in the ironically titled movie Daddys Girl. She is lacking a father figure in the story
and is highly attached to her mother. In the beginning of the story, Rosemary is described as an
innocent young girl: Her body hovered delicately on the last edge of childhood (4). However,
the relationship that develops between her and Dick reveals that Rosemary is not as innocent as
she appears to be. Hollywood created an unrealistic depiction of her personality and made it
seem real. This romance that ensues shatters the image of the American sweetheart Hollywood
made her out to be.
In Book 2 of the novel, the meaning of Daddys Girl changes drastically. What
appeared to be an ironic mockery on Rosemarys unusual attachment to her mother turned out to
be the root of Nicoles schizophrenia. Fitzgerald reveals the darker side of the taboo, uncovering
the truth about Nicoles past with her father: After her mother died when she was little she used
to come into my bed every morning, sometimes shed sleep in my bed (129). Rosemarys
relationship with her mother is contrasted against Nicole and her fathers. While they are
incredibly different, both of the relationships are not what they appear to be on the surface.
Although WWI is not a major plot point in Tender is the Night, there are several mentions
of its effects on society sprinkled throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, a group of
gold-star muzzers is spotted near Dick and company at a restaurant in Paris. These women, the
Gold Star Mothers, were visiting the places their sons had died in the war. Tommy Barbans
character also spoke of war often. He is a professional soldier, and he would fight in any army
for almost any cause without caring so long as [hes] well treated (30). His destructive
personality is what ultimately destroys the Diver family at the end of the story.

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Unlike many of the expatriate authors writing during this movement, Gertrude Stein had
a very different approach to writing and is considered one of the most experimental writers of the
1920s. Her salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus became a sort of headquarters for artists in the expatriate
community. She mentored many aspiring painters and writers, such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald,
Picasso, and Matisse. Stein became a very influential figure in Hemingways career after
Sherwood Anderson sent her a letter introducing Hemingway. He sent her a copy of one of his
earliest short stories, Big Two-Hearted River, to be read before publication. She recommended
cutting out the stream-of-consciousness ending, and it made a world of difference in the overall
feeling of the story.
Unlike Hemingways true sentences, Stein wrote much more experimentally. Through
her writing, she attempted to express ideas with words the same way painters used color, light,
and texture to express ideas. When Gertrude Stein published Tender Buttons in 1914, it was one
of the most experimental works ever written. In this collection of poems, Stein attempts to skew
the way a reader understands the English language by changing the rules of grammar. Traditional
conventions are forgotten and replaced by a new set of standards determined by Stein. She
challenges the definition of each item described, transforming it into something new by altering
the conventional elements of syntax. For example, in the Objects section, Stein employs
repetition and manipulates the syntax in order to portray a table. While the table is explicitly
mentioned in the poem, her description of it leaves the reader with a skewed image: A table
means more than a glass even a looking glass is tall (AABT 474). The repetition of the word
glass contradicts the standard image of a durable table and replaces it with one that is fragile.
Steins description forces the reader to think outside the box and conjure up the images being
presented.

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In some of Steins writing, her style reflects aspects of the expatriate life while continuing
to be experimental. In Miss Furr and Miss Skeene, the organization reflects the lost quality
she used to describe the American expatriates in France. Stein defamiliarizes the conventional
narrative plot, the whole story essentially consisting of three major plot points: They were quite
regularly gay there, Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene, they were regularly gay there where they
were gay (AABT 564). The plot does not move forward, much like the expatriates could not
move forward after WWI ended. The monotonous repetition mirrors the aimless lifestyle of
many in the expatriate community.
While Paris in the 1920s is romanticized in some parts of their stories, Hemingway,
Fitzgerald, and Stein expose the expatriate lifestyle for what it truly was. Americans no longer
worried about prohibition, but they did struggle with picking up where they had left off before
WWI. Soldiers who had fought in the war went to Paris hoping to regain a sense of purpose in
their lives, but many were left with unfulfilled dreams and a buzz. The hardships faced after the
war are shared in the stories written by the ambitious authors that fled the United States to find
their second country; little did these writers know they would become part of one of the most
significant periods in American literature.

Works Cited
Cowley, Malcolm. Exiles Return. 1934. New York: Penguin Group, 1994. iBooks Edition.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Babylon Revisited. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by
Matthew J. Bruccoli, Scribner, 1989, p. 616-633. Print.

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Fitzgerald, F. Scott. One Trip Abroad. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by
Matthew J. Bruccoli, Scribner, 1989, p. 577-597. Print.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Tender is the Night. 1934. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. Big Two-Hearted River. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest
Hemingway. New York: Scribner, 1987. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. 1964. New York: Scribner, 2010. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. Soldiers Home. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New
York: Scribner, 1987. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. 1926. New York: Scribner, 2006. Print.
Stein, Gertrude. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. Print.
Stein, Gertrude. Paris, France. 1940. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2013. iBooks
Edition.