Tomorrow we're going to look at the poetry of Robert Frost. For all intents and purposes, Frost seems out of place among the other Moderns we've explored: Hemingway, Eliot, and Fitzgerald. So we're able to see how he fits and so we can build on our understanding of this delicious literary movement, let's try to nail down our thinking about what characterizes the Moderns. You are welcome to just explore one characteristic of Modernism or many, but try not to give it all away so we each have something to contribute. You are also welcome to use research to add to your understanding. Regardless of the option you choose, use one idea or passage from one of the Modern texts we've explored to support your thinking. Oh yes, and did I mention the fact that we're thinking metaphorically? I'll start, but with a different movement so I don't inadvertently steal your thinking.
Realism is a family portrait. It zooms in on people, rather than landscape, to try to show who they really are. Though a portrait might be staged, if one looks close enough, he can see the reality beneath. Look at their eyes, demands realism. Look at their body language. What is in the background, this movement asks? What story does this truly tell? It is these sensory perceptions that will lead us to reality. Hayden's "The Janitor Who Paints" shows these tenets of realism. It is, in fact, a family portrait, but if one looks closely, one notices the spartan nature of the subjects' apartment, the broom and mop in the background. The title itself tells us that reality--the janitor--is not as beautiful as it seems--the artist. Realism is a family portrait.
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ReplyDeleteModernism is snapshots from reality. --I know that this is what Mrs. Lee was talking about in class about "Love Song" but its not copying it.-- Modernism takes one big picture and pieces it down into snipets. Just like "The Great Gatsby" in which Gatsby's past is revealed over time and from various differnt sources, it allows the reader to take in pieces at a different time before they can piece it all together. By using multiple different parts of the story individual pieces are able to shine through the whole piece. Modernism is snapshots.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a teenager. It rebels against the system that is set in place, met to follow. Teenagers have a stereotypical tendency to break the rules and to prove that they are right. Modernist authors do the same by writing about a strong break in "tradition", making a strong response to established society including "religion, politics, and social views" (Modernism in Literature). One example that shows this is in the Great Gatsby, "Civilization's going to pieces. I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things... It's up to us, (to) control things." This quote shows a response to a corrupt society, and how things need to be changed.
ReplyDeleteModernism suggest are need to flourish individually. More simply, it encourages individualism. Nick can strongly fill this idea of individualism in "The Great Gatsby." Though Nick is invited to all of the parties and social gatherings thrown by Gatsby, he himself chooses not to engage in many of the events that the his group pursues. One particular example of this is when the rest of his friends abandon Gatsby's funeral. Despite the fact that Nick is also a westerner, just like his friends, he does not join them in refraining from atteding the funeral. He is his own person, and makes his decisions based on his beliefs rather than others. Modernism seeks to express oneself, rather than appealing to the crow. Modernism is individualism.
ReplyDeleteModernism is about internal struggles that people face in their life and how they solve them. In The Great Gasby, the story follows Gatsby's struggle with accepting the present and letting go of Daisy/the past. It shows how Gatsby struggles through life and ultimately dies because he didn't solve his problem. The solution to his proble was moving on from Daisy and accepting his life after the war. Also in Love Song, Prufrock dies in the end, by drowning, because he couldn't solve his internal struggle. He wanted to change his whole society, to make them not as terrible, but he was to afraid to disturb his society.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a lot of effort placed towards an assignment, then giving up on it last minute and failing it. In both The Great Gatsby, and Love Song, the main characters have large (and sometimes small) aspirations made, however neither are able to accomplish their goal. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby finds himself basing his entire life about being nostalgic and trying to get back to the way of life he had when he was 17 years old. However he reaches a point where he has tried too hard, that he no longer is doing his best "work", or giving forth the correct effort. Causing him to fail at getting Daisy and reliving that year of his life. Therefore when the characters within a story are giving a lot of effort at the beginning, through modernism it is likely that they will not accomplish their task because they will get worn out after working so hard at the start. Modernism is an originally amazing assignment, given up on.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a single child. It is based around isolation and loneliness. There is an element of sadness that is involved in the writing just like there is with a single child. The single child may be spoiled, just like the rest of society in the "roaring twenties", but in the end they are alone. The child, or the world of modernism, is disconnect from each other because there are no true relationships, they are all on the surface. For example, the characters in The Great Gatsby use Gatsby for his elegant parties and alcohol; none of them actually have a connection to Gatsby. It is the sadness that a lonesome only child that can characterize the world of modernism which gives off a new view point for the reader to understand.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a parable. Modernism displays and portrays the dreams and desires of humans but each story, novel and poem places what the author believes is the consequence of following that dream. They must follow the dream and are often dragged through miserable times and consequences. A parable is a story that has a lesson with in it. Each story we have seen the consequences of following the desires and dreams. With Gatsby, he chased his youthful dream of Daisy and many of decided that this chase was ultimately what caused his own demise. These modernism tales tell these parables in a way that can demean ones spirit but often the truth about love and consequences in decisions that people make in their lives.
ReplyDeleteModernism is destruction, destruction of the facades throughout society. The false images, fads, and unworthy dreams spread throughout the minds of human beings by other humans and their own greed. The entire book "The Great Gatsby" is an exact example of this idea. Its about a man's journey to reach the American Dream;however, in the end Fitzgerald has him shot and then submerged in his own overindulgence. This revealing the shattering realization that the American Dream is an unrealistic goal and cannot be ascertained.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a contradiction. It takes a goal or a dream and reveals how when someone gets close to achieving the goal, they are shot out of the air. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses an example such as “The American Dream” in which full happiness is only gained by having money and a family. With the desire to improve economically or socially, modernist views depict how the ideals behind so called greed are the overall end of a person’s well being. Modernism teaches people to be happy with who they are, what they have, and where they are going. When people chase their dreams, they lose all their possessions, whether that’s items or people. And in cases like Gatsby, he loses his life by trying to reach his dream of his teenage love, Daisy. Modernism is a warning, a question asking “Do I dare.” Modernism is a contradiction.
ReplyDeleteModernism is the “new kid” at school. It’s scary at first, and no one really knows what to think, but as soon as you reveal your charismatic personality, everyone wants to be your friend. It’s a branching out from social norms and trying new things. Modernism distracts us from the mistakes of the past and defines our sense of the future. Jay Gatsby demonstrates his “new kid” persona by pursuing the “American Dream” in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Like a “new kid”, Gatsby tries to fit into society initially by following the “American Dream” of serving in the military, finding a good job, and ultimately finding someone to settle down with and start a family. He succeeds with the first two goals, but when he tries to forget about his failure to secure his relationship with his soul mate, Daisy by throwing elaborate parties, Gatsby goes from being the new, interesting student to the troubled and forgotten student, which leads to his demise. Modernism is a vicious cycle that turns a scary situation into a hopeful one, and hope into hopelessness.
ReplyDeleteModernism is shameless. The Modernists (authors and visual artists alike) revealed the harsh truth of the world that we live in. Like Picasso's "Blue Nude", the artists of this movement were naked and raw and simply human. A commonality between many Modernists texts we've looked at are relationships, and they have not been relationships that one might be proud of or you'd find in a Disney princess movie. They've been awful relationships in shambles due to some superficial and unfortunate reason or another. But Modernist authors don't want to write about the fairy-tales, they want to write about the realness. Modernism is also vulnerable, where it takes these horrible realities and puts them into words or a painting and waits for the world's response. The woman in "Blue Nude" is one of the best representations of "vulnerable" I can think of, as she's completely exposed, in a way making the audience uncomfortable to see her in such a helpless state. This is similar to the sympathy readers give the characters in "The Great Gatsby" as Fitzgerald tells the shameless stories of their lives.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a model. On the surface, beauty radiates and fools the eye into believing all is perfect. Though, at a deeper glance beyond the surface, and ugly reality lies deep within. the model faces struggles such as an eating disorder, constant ridicule over weight, and the enormous pressures that lie on their her shoulders. This is like modernism that at a first glance, life seems amazing and glamorous, but an ugly truth lurks in its midst. Tom and Daisy, for example, live a lavish lifestyle with all the money in the world, but behind that money is the betrayal of love and a dysfunctional relationship. Modernism appears to be showing an alluring first impression that evolves into an ugly and real truth.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a reality TV show. On the surface, the characters seem like they have everything together. But by detailing every aspect of their life, these seemingly perfect people are found instead to have enormous problems and ugly secrets. They are completely vulnerable and eventually become dependent on their fame, money, and extravagant lifestyle to be happy in life. This may work for a little bit, but eventually they fail and their life comes crumbling down, for everyone to see.
ReplyDeleteModernism is placing the dunce cap upon yourself, for it is self conscious and shameful. It assumes others' disposition, assuming they see the worst. It hides flaws and bashes oneself for them in secret. The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway shows Jake's indirect shame of the loss of his manhood. Similarly, Gatsby is shameful of his poor upbringing as a child in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The characters try throughout the book to secrete these alluded shames, but are unsuccessful in doing so.
ReplyDeleteModernism is a shattered mirror. Its focus is the same as that of an unbroken mirror, but the image it reflects is disjointed, distorted, and incomplete. In "Prufrock", the narrator's story is captured through pieces of description hazed in metaphor; when those pieces are assembled and viewed as a whole, the reader gets a clear view of exactly what the author intended: themselves.
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ReplyDeleteModernism is a glass half empty. It is the dark side of things. It is the negative image of a photo. It focuses on the facades and assumes the worst of society. Modernism is displayed in "The Great Gatsby" by way Nick describes the east and west egg as a place of facades and deceptions.
ReplyDeleteModernism is honesty. In a roundabout way it reveals the truth to life, society, and relationships between people. This was no more prevalent than in Great Gatsby where the relationships were strained, brining to light the fact that a true relationshp can be impossible when alterior motives are involved. In Prufrock, the narrators world is revealed to the reader completely along with the past sins and shameful events. Prufrock was a very truthful peace, he didn't pretend his life was sunshines and rainbows. He told his story how it truly was. Modernism is honestry, it just may not be in the most direct fashion.
ReplyDeleteModernism is an open window. Everything is exposed including the truth about society and all the people in it. Any secrets of any person are revealed. This was seen in "The Great Gatsby" by the relationships between the main characters and the affairs they were involved in. Also, other secrets such as Wilson and the murder of Jay Gatsby, and death of Myrtle. Background information is revealed also like how Gatsby informed Nick of his past relationship with Daisy and his past history with war.
ReplyDeleteModernism is inconvient. It seems that in the texts we have read that each character wants something so bad, but only to find that once they have it, life is not what the expected. The characters are greedy for things they believe they want. Only to discover that they do not want it at all. Gatsby for example wanted Daisy and the picture perfect life, onlyto discover that having it was ultimately his downfall.
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