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.
Symbolism is one of the most effective and powerful elements in writing. We see various examples of this all throughout "The Things They Carried." Symbolism enables us to tell a story one way, while all along trying to say another. I believe Tim O'Brien has achieved success in doing so in "The Things They Carried."
The introduction of modernism to Australia is a more complex phenomenon than previously thought. Choose an aspect of Modernism, either Cubism or Surrealism or Expressionism or Modernist Design and Architecture and chart their development in Australia by focusing on the work of two artists, designers or architects.
The use of symbolism is often a common practice within literature. Symbolism is used in the instance of an object or action being presented through a text with the purpose to reveal a deeper meaning behind that which is displayed. Symbols may represent ideas, objects, beliefs, and so on. Shirley Jackson is one such author who has used symbolism within her literature with one case being her short story, “The Lottery.” In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” symbolism can be seen in many instances in which Jackson is able to address the ways of which society behaves when placed under a common belief and tradition. She accomplishes this by focussing her symbolism towards seemingly commonplace aspects within the story.
Overcoming the grief that is felt after losing a loved one is a physically and mentally agonizing task. According to Dr. Christina Hibbert, a clinical psychologist who graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology, three main stages of grief include anger, depression and acceptance. Each one of these emotions can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and The Descendants (2011, Payne) as the artists explore the effects of grief and the different emotional responses that one can have due to the loss of a loved one. Additionally, in Ismail Kadare’s Broken April, the Berisha family feels the sufferance that is associated with unexpected death, as well as the various temperamental reactions that one will have after losing a loved one. Each of these works of art represent a powerful example of the stages that one will go through after feeling the intense sorrow that is connected with death, as well as the unavoidable effects of grief.
...to literature than what is seen by the eye. Sometimes the reader just needs to look a little closer to get a true understanding of what is being offered by the author through symbolism. O’Connor places symbolism throughout the story to foreshadow the future of the family and to show the true lives the individuals live. The symbolism in the story is what makes the reader read more closely and gain in depth the understanding of the story’s meaning, which also gives the story an exciting edge. O’Connor is well known for her symbolism and it is shown in this story over and over.
In the beginning Eiseley describes the appearance of the train station and tells of the men that sleep on the benches. The lonely old men come into the train station for shelter and to get some rest. Whether they sleep for an hour or just take up space on the benches, t...
In the early 20th century, modernist writers broke free of the consistent pattern on the themes of religion, marriage, and family values, branching out with their actual opinions and observations on society, making more readers aware of the corruption of the traditional morality in America. It became evident that the American people were placing lust, wealth, and material prosperity over their marital vows and traditional values. This idea of amorality is noticeably identified in the literary works, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Major characters in both novels show signs of demoralization, in regards to Tom Buchanan, for example, whom openly cheated on his wife, broke the nose of his mistress, and sold Gatsby’s fate down the river, and Abigail, whom slept with a married man and killed an entire village in spite of the deteriorated affair. In this new, cutting-edge society the concept of materialism is prevalent. Materialistic power became a goal for many Americans in modern America, which is identifiable in The Great Gatsby. People of East and West Egg indulged themselves with parties, pricey automobiles and the latest fashions, meanwhile, the people in the Valley of Ashes merely scraped by. Jay Gatsby out of his desire to 'own' Daisy went to great lengths to appear as a man of great fortune.
Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
Symbolism “acts as webbing between theme and story. Themes alone can sound preachy, and stories alone can sound shallow. Symbolism weaves the two together” (Hall). Symbolism uses the story to convey the theme. Darkness is used in the novel to show the secrecy and lies that the story has. The whole story involves secrecy among two women and a man. Without symbolism the story would just have a very dark house and two very mysterious and disturbed women. Instead there is a feel of secrecy right from the beginning. Symbolism gives the story excitement, while also providing the reader with a good read. The author can read the first few pages and determine the story is not a happy
Through the careful use of diction presented through a first-person perspective, Kenyon is able to use The Blue Bowl as a medium for social commentary regarding what she sees as a primitive mourning process that does not help those who undertake it. Through a careful analysis of the poem, the reader is able to understand Kenyon’s critique of the mourning rituals that humans use to alleviate the grief caused by the death of a loved one and interpret the shortcomings that Kenyon finds. Kenyon’s use of perspective combined with specifically chosen diction enables her to present a social commentary regarding what she believes to be the inherent shortcomings in the emotional effects of the burial itself and the sense of closure it is supposed to bring yet fails to achieve during a typical period of mourning.
Food, water, and shelter—for a society to exist, these few basic needs must be met. For a society to advance, all of these necessities must be provided consistently and efficiently enough to remove the burden of survival. However, for a society to thrive, the human spirit must be engaged with something beyond the drudgeries of life. While technology advanced tremendously between 1500 A.D. and 1900 A.D., life was still difficult. Plays and various written works were used to explore some of these challenges, but up until the 1900s’, they tended to do so from a traditional viewpoint. Romanticism focused on raw emotion while Victorianism leant writing a more realistic tone, but the beginning of the 20th century marked a drastic departure in the tone and structure of literature and art as a whole.
The death of a loved one can often cause a stillness in time. In his poem “The Vacuum,” Howard Nemerov uses a variety of poetic devices in order to portray a husband’s struggle to cope with his wife’s death. Through the use of symbolism, the speaker is able to portray a common household item, a vacuum, as being a physical reminder of his dead wife. The speaker, a widower, also personifies the vacuum and his heart in order to express his sorrow. The poem uses symbolism and personification in order to show how death seems to stop the passage of time.
The theme of death in the poems “War Photographer”, “Remember”, and “Mother in a Refugee Camp” were all portrayed in different forms to explore death and the suffering it brings. The variations of death in the three poems create a diverse image of death, which some people can relate to through the different situations of loss. “Remember” by Christina Rossetti fashions an image of death because the speaker wanted her husband to remember all the memories they had shared during her life. Rossetti found it necessary to portray death as a spiritual place rather than a physical state of decomposition so that she can finally escape to a place of silence to avoid all the darkness in her life. “War Photographer” by Carol Ann Duffy is about a man who takes photographs of death in vivid, dark and disturbing images of conflict, which Duffy conveys thoroughly throughout the poem to powerfully showcase his grief and disheartening on the situation. “A Mother in a Refugee camp” by Chinua Achebe, displays the struggles of a mother desperately trying to support and save her child while writhing in her caressing arms at death’s doors. These are the poems that represent the theme of death.
Throughout time, nations have attempted to become independent from one another by discovering means to help their citizens experience more fulfilling lives. The dilemma that troubled each of these countries is whether or not innovations, in technology and society, led to a higher quality of life. In the book, Rites of Spring, Modris Eksteins examines how innovation affected the citizens of Germany. Eksteins conveys that technological and industrial innovations paved the way for social transformations, throughout Germany. These social changes include a newfound appreciation for Art, tolerance of homosexuality, and a new approach towards warfare.
Since 300 B.C, dramatists all over the world have modeled their works after Aristotle’s definition of drama as “the imitation of an action that is serious…in a dramatic rather than narrative form with incidents arousing pity and fear wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” Aristotle’s ideas have endured centuries of change and continue to transcend cultural and historical boundaries. Countless works, whether classical or contemporary, follow the example set by the ancient Greeks, Shakespeare and others, to create dramatic masterpieces that thrill, dazzle and overwhelm the audience by appealing to their emotions. However, the dawn of twentieth century gave rise to new theatrical forms that take the audience into a world of unfamiliarity and deep introspection. While modern plays differ vastly in form, scope and origin, they all deviate from Aristotle’s code by rejecting the fundamental belief that a drama must arouse specific emotions in its spectators. Specifically, the plays of Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, and Samuel Beckett eschew emotional stimulus by deemphasizing sentimentality and encouraging a more cerebral experience in which the audience must actively evaluate and contemplate what they see.