Comparative analysis Modernism

Modernism was an artistic and cultural movement in the United States starting at the turn of the 20th century with its core period between World War I and World War II and continuing into the 21st century. During this time, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, Robert Frost represent the movement. One of the best is Hemingway with his story of The Old Man and The Sea and Soldier’s home and John Steinbeck with his story of Mice and Men. In the story of The Old Man and The Sea we can see clearly some of the modernist characteristics like the alienation of the individual and the value of the individual. While he was referred as the most unfortunate man and other fishermen disregarded him, Hemingway does a great job in recovering his “image” by his extravagant agitation with the large marlin. The author uses simplistic sentences creating a vivid imagery on our heads making it look like if the old man is a hero appraising the old man. This story can relate to the story of Soldier’s home also by Ernest Hemingway and to the story of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.

In the book of the Soldier’s Home is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Our first impression, having read the title only, is that this story will be about a old soldier living out the remainder of his life in an institution where veterans go to die. We soon find out that the story has nothing to do with the elderly, or institutions; rather, it tells the story of a young man, Harold Krebs, only recently returned from World War I, who has moved back into his parents' house while he figures out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. And yet our first impression lingers, and with good reason; despite the act that his parents' comfortable, middle-class lifestyle used to feel like home to Harold Krebs, it no longer does. Harold is not home; he has no home at all. In this story we can see the alienation of the individual just like we did with the story of The Old Man and The Sea.

In the book of Mice and Men is a novella about George and Lennie, who obtain a dream of having their own farm one day. Lennie is mentally disabled, but a physically strong man who travels with George, his best and maybe only friend, who cares about him. Until they have the money to buy their own land, they work on a little farm, with Curley, as the son of the boss. Curly has maybe got an inferiority complex and doesn´t like Lennie. He is very aggressive, and so he attacks Lennie once. After George tells Lennie to defend himself, he crashes Curley's hand. George is small and weak. He doesn´t present to give too much of him, but he easily sees coming problems. His primary purpose is helping Lennie and look for a job. Lennie is very fascinated by soft things, but he can´t control his strength, so he kills some mice, the puppy, and in the end Curley's wife. Curley's wife is very lonely and wants to chat with everybody. Lennie isn´t allowed to talk to her, but he doesn´t always obey George's instructions, and so he isn´t able to avoid any problems any more. He can´t cope with the feelings of the others, and also doesn´t see the consequences of his actions. So he kills Curleys´ wife and flees to the place agreed on and hides himself. When the murder comes out, Curley wants revenge and rides out to find him. George knows that his friend gets tortured when he will be found, and so he runs to the hidden place and kills him with a gun, while he is telling him about their dream, which he loses now. After Lennie is dead, George has lost his physical protection and will maybe end up like all the other guys. On this scene story we can see that Lennie was isolated from the society he lived in because he was mentally incapacitated and we can see that the individuals always felt loneliness. 

Modernism, then, had a great effect on literature. The influence for all the writers great writers like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, Robert Frost was undeniable.  

Investigation of style: the old man and the sea

In the book of The Old Man and The Sea, Ernest Hemingway’s style of writing, is short and uses factual sentences. The brevity in Hemingway's sentence structure is one of the most well-known characteristics attributed to his writing style. He uses short words, straightforward sentence structures, vivid descriptions, and factual details for his engaging and realistic stories. Hemingway wrote sentences that were straightforward and clear so that readers could understand the points he made even if they were skimming quickly through his story. For example he tells us the thoughts of the old fisherman: “Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him. How many people will he feed? he thought.” The first sentence contains two conflicting thoughts: the old man’s sorrow for the fish and, in contrast with this, his continued determination to kill it. The next sentence suggests the old man’s motivation for fishing, namely to get food. The change in sentence length lends a musical quality to the writing and adds pleasing variety.

His use of language is immediately identifiable by most readers. Hemingway’s language has complex emotions and greater meanings. It shows the writer's skill in his use of sophisticated techniques like repeated images, allusions, and themes; and repeated sounds, rhythms, words, and sentence structures. In The Old Man and the Sea, nearly every word and phrase points to Hemingway's Santiago. He puts effort to break down language and convey as much as possible in as few words as possible.

I personally liked Hemingway’s style of writing because he uses short and factual sentences. His vivid descriptions and factual details help me to imagine what is happening in the story making it easier to understand stories like The Old Man and The Sea. Sometimes it is hard for me, English as my third language, to understand writers like Edgar Allan Poe or Ralph Waldo Emerson because of the complex style of writing both have. 

Summary and modernist characters of the old man and the sea

The book The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is about an Old man called “Santiago” and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the old man has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish. The old man’s lack of success, though, does not destroy his spirit, as his cheerful and undefeated eyes show. His only friend Manolin, referred as the boy, helped him during the first forty days of his failure; however, after the forty days, the boy’s parents decided that the old man was unlucky and forced him to join another fishermen’s boat. Still dedicated to the old man, the boy visits Santiago’s shack every night to haul back the fishing gear, get him food and talk about baseball. That night, the old man says to Manolin that he will go out far in the gulf to fish. The next day, the old man leaves the shore early in the morning alone, taking his skiff far onto the gulf. He knew that he was going far out and he left the smell of the land behind and rowed out into the clean early morning smell of the ocean. Moving along he sees a man-of-war bird overhead and notices that the bird has spied something in the water. He later sets his fishing lines hoping to capture the fish the bird has seen. The old man moves on, hoping to catch something. By noon, he catches a small tuna and after not too long, he feels a bite in one of his deeper lines. The bite was hard, and the stuck to which the line is connected drops sharply. He is sure that a big marlin takes his bait. Unable to pull the great marlin, the old man finds that the fish is pulling his skiff. Two days and two nights pass in this manner, and Santiago bears the tension of the line with his weak body. He decides that he needs some sleep and wraps the line around himself leaving his left hand on the rope to wake him if the marlin lurches. He later is awoken by the line rushing furiously through his right hand. The large marlin leaps out of the water and it is all the old man can do to hold onto the line, cutting his hand badly and dragging him down to the bottom of the skiff. The old man finds his balance, though, and realizes that the marlin filled the air sacks on his back and cannot go deep. At sunrise, the marlin begins to make a large circle. Santiago holds the line strongly, pulling it slowly as the marlin goes round. At the third turn, he readies the harpoon and pulls the line in more. The marlin tries desperately to pull away, but he couldn’t and the old man drove the harpoon into the marlin’s chest. In this novel we can see two of the modernist characteristics which are the alienation of the individual but at the same time the value of the individual. While he was referred as the most unfortunate man and other fishermen disregarded him, Hemingway does a great job in recovering his “image” by his extravagant agitation with the large marlin. The author uses simplistic sentences creating a vivid imagery on our heads making it look like if the old man is a hero appraising the old man.