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.
