The New Idea of Modernism

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In the time after World War One a new way of thinking became prominent. This new idea is what we call Modernism. After the war it was realized that many people had suffered absolute horrors, ones that they never could have imagined, or ever forget. The violence and pain witnessed by so many left them psychologically shell-shocked, and filled with disillusionment. These psychological effects would soon alter the world for years to come, and lead many to a loss in faith and questioning of everything they once believed true.

Many of the social normalities these people had before they left for war, were abandoned. People exchanged their proper ways for more relaxed ideals. In this new society people were more able to express themselves, how they wanted to. One of the best shifts that happened in this new era was with women. Before World War One, women were considered submissive to men. They did not have duties outside of daily house work, and children. However after World War One people returned to women who had taken on more manly roles. In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway uses women to show these challenges of society. Take Brett Ashley, before the war she would have been considered a rebel, and unattractive to most men, but after the war he attributes take on a whole new light. Brett is in control of her surroundings and this control gives her options that many women before had not experienced. This independence can be seen in her promiscuity. When Jake confronts her about this behavior she makes no excuse but rather says “ Oh well. What if I do” (Hemingway 27). This reaction is something new. Post World War, many women began reject the social norms that had been set for them. Unlike the women in e.e. Cummings poem The Cambridge l...

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...ions and fill their time with meaningless activity then to give light to their dreams.

It’s not hard to comprehend how such hideous acts of violence can make a person doubt everything, and maybe that is why so many people shifted to the idea of Modernism. The war had brought on a complete lack of faith, and a full on challenge of social ideals. People probably felt that there was nothing left in the past and it was time for a brand new way of living.

Works Cited

Cummings, e.e. “anyone lived in a pretty how town.” Complete Works. Ed. New York: Harcourt, 1972. 515. Web.

Cummings, e.e. “next to of course god American i.” Complete Works. Ed. New York: Harcourt, 1972. 268. Web.

Cummings, e.e. “(ponder darling these busted statues.” Complete Works. Ed. New York: Harcourt, 1972. 260. Web.

Hemingway, Ernet. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner, 2006. Print.

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