modernism

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The modernism of “A Sculptor's Funeral”
In Willa Cahers short story “A Sculptor's Funeral,” we see the judgement day of a world renowned artist through the eyes of his home town. While the story’s text captures its readers, the tale also follow the tendons of modernism throughout the story.
The the story starts off with a tenden of modernism; it opens to a scene where men are waiting for an evening train, “The men on the siding stood first on one foot and then on the other, their hands thrust deep into their trousers pockets, their overcoats open, their shoulders screwed up with the cold; and they glanced from time to time toward the southeast, where the railroad track wound along the river shore.” We have no background information on why the men are there or who they are, all we know is that they are at a train station. One tendency among modernized pieces of literature to start off a scene in the middle of a situation. It draws in readers making them read more to fully understand what is happening in the story.
We then move into a very major part of both the story and modernism, symbolism. Symbolism is the use of images to represent ideas. Symbols are used throughout modernism to bring deeper meaning into basic tales. In this story, an example of symbolism is the golden palm leaf on the sculptor's coffin. The sculptor was protecting himself with the palm leaf. All throughout his life, the sculptor disappointed his community. “There was a general chuckle. The minister took out his handkerchief and blew his nose sonorously. Banker Phelps closed his knife with a snap. “It’s too bad the old man’s sons didn’t turn out better,” he remarked with reflective authority. “They never hung together. He spent money enough on Harve to sto...

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... about most of the characters in the story. We learn that Jim doesn’t attend the funeral, and he dies shortly after; “Next day Jim Laird was drunk and unable to attend the funeral services.” Sadly, we do not discover what happened to Harvey’s family or any of the men who attend his visitation. Mr. Steaven's actions after the funeral are also non-existent, “Steavens called twice at his office, but was compelled to start East without seeing him. He had a presentiment that he would hear from him again, and left his address on the lawyer’s table; but if Laird found it, he never acknowledged it.”
“The Sculptor's Funeral” is a short story with a lot of intense scenes. We focus less on plot and more on symbols, rejections of small town values, and individual’s ethical code. The story follow the tendons of modernism very precisely and creates a very deep and memorable tale.

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