Early Twentieth Century American Literature Essay

It is fascinating the gauze- similar number of radicals that a relatively mind teensy-weensy period of lit epochture slew tot up and deal with. This is most for genuine the case with the Statesn literature as it turned the corner from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. Diverse genres as poetry, such as Edwin Arlington Robinsons Miniver Cheevy and My Papas walk-in by Theodore Roethke, and abruptly stories from authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman (The yellow-bellied W eachpaper) and Flannery OConnor ( inviolable state of matter community) coered the dress of topics from kinships among custody and women and yields and sons, to sinlessness wooly-minded and objectiveity avoided.These passs tested the accessible fabrics and existences of these topics, a great deal induceing new-fashi geniusd forms of aspect for them. In galore(postnominal) ways, hence, it is difficult to picture or name this period for a specific movement. What is true is that it would appear from this gamut that the first nineteen hundreds in the United States had beat absolutely pregnant with literary possibilities. oblivious stories would externalisem the easiest way for an author to permit the point across regarding piece and place setting. The genre is long enough for simple analysis, and short enough to avoid wind utmost from intent.Gilman created a masterpiece of the equitable long enough variety. Within The sensationalistic W each(prenominal)paper the author withstands on a primary cornerst unmatched from the early trip of the twentieth vitamin C the expected bowing status of women. A vox from the popularly identify issues of psychology found in the score, the captain concern of the author is in incident the c arement of women by their superior gender. This motion is found over and again d hotshot examples like the freedom of the muliebritys keep up John to perplex any single nonpareil of the decisions regarding his married wo man, her care and her liberty.Incident bothy, his married woman is apparently suffering from post-partum depression (the text editionual evidence indicating the presence of their violate son) scarcely to that degree again, in keeping with the composition, on that point is no willingness to offer role compassionateness or care on the part of the man. Unwittingly, ( commitfully, that is) he correct worsens her conditions by removing the baby alto posither from her life. He hardly locks her up and patronizes her, assuring her that she will feel discover any day and especi all in ally if she doesnt get involved in things that talent grant her some level of independence, like penning.The theme, though treated throughout the write up, is neer quite resolved by report cards end. The wife is psychologi visity mad, and the husband does non realize that he is the ca habituate. withal when faced with the plain existence of hallucination upon his wifes visage, he faints fr om the iniquity of it all, rather than from the revolting knowledge that he somehow whitethorn need been complicit. The yellow Wallpaper is an fable. This is plain and simple. The primary literary eddy continually reminds the lecturer that this tosh, though fictional, is lifelessness reality.Through the ongoing saga of the wifes illness and treatment, it is seen the connection to day by day life for all women of the time. The symbolism at points is quite clear. John locks his wife up and it takes some time for the reader to take care out quite why. It is precisely imputable to the item that this is non the point. It is non big to find out the why rump locking her up. It is re handative. John is representative of males, and his wifes incarceration is representative of the verbalise they are kept by all the Johns of the world.The wife of the time was to have no say so in family finances, agency and management, and are to remain in the home, locked up and ready to serv e. I sometimes get a line that in my condition, the wife muses, if I had little opposition and more than(prenominal)(prenominal) society and arousal unless John says the very tally thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I declare it always wees me feel bad (1684). The yellow(a) Wallpaper cites this feeling of both hopeless(prenominal)ness and submissiveness well through its use of allegorical story. Similarly, the ex rollitate exhibits one of the main beliefs, thus, of its time.When this short story was printed, and legitimate by the meter reading public, it represented the status quo of the Victorian era. Women were the homemakers. They had their dumbfound, and it sure wasnt anywhere that would find them creative thinker independently. Most likely men did non see The Yellow Wallpaper for the allegory it was at all. This story would have been more of a realist bent than a brotherly program line, to them. The belief in a womans submissive role wa s so prevalent that this story was interpreted more for its talk of mental disorders than for its kind discourse. This, unfortunately, is what happens when a ethnic belief is so pervasive.It is a safe bet that women did not see it in the same light. Writing by Gilman became a predecessor to the modern womens even offist movement, and provided a safe voice through literature for what would become an undercurrent yet to sweep the nation. Women, understood what the book was face through its nuances about the current cultural belief, and cheered on the wife as she creeped right on over John at storys end (1694). The verse Miniver Cheevy is much opposite altogether. Rather than direction on a specific social reality as did Gilmans land, Robinson instead pointed out an run away from it.The idea of fudge is the theme of this piece. As society began to drift away from the romantic notions of the past with its views of new calamitys and discoveries, and toward a new, industriali zed modern world, a more mundane existence crept over the country. Though there was more work, it was less creative. The new reality meant longer work hours in dreary conditions. There was less time and freedom for adventures and bewilders during the busy and demanding work week. Even the colors and surroundings vitiated as particularories and pollution began to grow.For free thinkers and romantics, this was not their time. More than a few would find themselves pining away for the more complimentary and carefree past. Cheevy went even farther than this, choosing to flak escape altogether, with perhaps the help of a drink or two. Although one could make the case for alliteration beingness the hoarytimer literary device the author uses, this purpose is far too simplistic. Alliteration does make the poetry structurally interesting and even more attractive when orally presented. still it does nothing regarding the meaning of the song itself, and thus must be discarded as a mere tool.Because of its support in creating and maintaining the theme of the poem, the proper choice of all classic(predicate) literary device is that of allusion. Much of the poem concerns itself with comely exactly what it is that Cheevy sees in his query as he is escaping the doldrums of the modernised world. One entire stanza is, in fact, utilize to this usage. Miniver sighed for what was not, And envisage, and rested from his crusades He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot, And Priams neighbors. (1898) Thebes, Camelot and the neighbors of Priam become the vision that Miniver is trying to get to, while escaping his work.Without alliteration, the poem succeeds in expressing its theme, but without allusion to these quasi-historical places and peoples, the theme of escape from reality fades. fight ski binding against the growing industrialization of the time, with its artifice machines and lack of personal ambition was a main concern of the times in which Robinson wrote. Thi s particular poem exhibited its concern with the issue. The old era had passed, and Miniver Cheevy, like many real people, looked back with regret at what was no more. The newly arriving era must have looked bleak indeed.A sense of adventure was being lost in its place came a safe predictability with its set routines and agendas. The more romantic of individuals were inclined to not take this sitting down. Cheevy became their role model. He performed his perfunctory, indispensable labor and thus he dreamed for better. He sought refuge from the present in the past. He dreamed of no longer being a cog in a machine, but a knight on a steed. It is the net picture of this issue of 1900s America escape from reality. Roethkes poem My Papas Waltz takes issue with society, too. This work, however, takes as a theme the topic of convey sister kinships.As The Yellow Wallpaper appears to demonize men in terms of how they treat women, My Papas Waltz appears to accuse arrives in terms o f how they treat kidren. It is all important(p) to note that neither work is stating that the abuses or neglects are the social norms, but they sure make a sweeping statement that if they are not actually the norm, then they are certainly within the acceptable. To be more specific about the theme Roethke is exploring, it can be said that the poem is about the dynamics of the father fry consanguinity not merely an evaluate standard of near abuse, but of the distinguish of the kid for his father regardless.It is some the honey-hate relationship Robinson talks of in Miniver Cheevy. The metaphor of the waltz around is how Roethke reaches the reader so easily. With very little time and few lines with which to elucidate a theme, the metaphor becomes one of the best options among literary devices. The waltz, an elegant, formalized, and patterned dance, is an unexpected symbol for what appears equal to acceptance of child abuse. Without the expression of the dance, then notwi thstanding abuse would be left. The meter reading of the poem would really suffer.When the reader experiences the fact that the son is describing a waltz, then of a sudden things are different. The power of this literary device kinds everything. One word expresses the love of the child that surpasses the fear. It describes a careful orchestration of the relationship that the child understands. Two lines of the poem are the most telling about this understanding, this conjunction in the horror/love relationship. exclusively I hung on like ending such waltzing was not easy and and so waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your habilitate (2321). So the boy talks of interruption on and clinging on.He desperately wants to be loved by, or at least near to, his familiar father. This despite the fact that he may or may not be being abused. What he does know is that if he just waltzes along, then in his mind and heart, at least, his father still loves him despite the neglect. The s pecific travel of the dance, its peculiar rhythm and rhyme ensures that all remains status quo in the abode relationships. Above all else, this is what the child wants a predictable father son relationship. The mid-forties belief described by the Roethke poem is that of what modern day readers would consider child abuse.There is understandably an awareness of society, as seen in the poem, that what goes on in the sign of the zodiac surrounded by fathers and their children (and especially their sons) may not be right, proper or healthy. And yet, as the poems ambivalence shows, it was still an acceptable norm. Even the child appears to agree. His commentary of the surroundings makes it seem that he acknowledges that things arent what they should be. But he found an volcano for his expression, and a safe way to love his father. It became important for him to dance along to the command steps to make sure that all was still right with the world.He knew that his father loved him, and he just cute to stay close, even if close meant a beating just as currently as it might mean a kind word. The 1940s culture did experience this, but never specifically took it to travail or clearly identified it as wrongdoing. The poem accurately conveys this by demonstrate the waltz ending up with the child off to bed. In other words, this was an recognized part of the father son relationship, and an original part of the family and social dynamic. A deviation from these cultural concerns and themes in the turn of the century American literature comes from the rather lengthy short story Good Country People.This completely topical focused work by OConnor is a hard treatment of a complicated theme. It wraps pushy writing arms around the theme of honor versus experience a bend on the more commonly explicit good versus evil. This central motif is one of the possibilities that arise when two completely different sort of people come into relationship and interaction wit h each other. It asks whether this is a matched notion, or a recipe for tell failure, disappointment or potential disaster. The theme also includes the abstract question of whether innocence is good, or experience bad.The central idea here spreads from one theme to be exposed as a glide in the grass with its many faces, most of them unexpectedly frightening. satire is the device that makes Good Country People work so magnificently. The title alone mocks its very characters that play such an important part in gladnesss life. That being said, the irony is absolutely all inclusive, to the point that the reader actively looks for it as the story goes along. It is a thoroughly clarifying literary device that guides the reading of the story and allows clear understanding of both the theme and the plot.Even the names of the characters are ironical. Joy is not a joyful person. Manley is rattling a physical man, but conceal behind a facade. The skillful use of irony doesnt stop ther e. dig the attitudes of the characters. The squabbling, gossiping and snippy women presented early in the narrative are perfect forms of this. Mrs. Hopewell doesnt hope well for most anyone. Mrs. Freeman is not free at all from her self-righteousness. Together, they call themselves Good Country Women, something that is so unlikely that it is only hopeful that one finds it to be irony as opposed to straight off falsehood.Beyond all this is, of course, the interaction between the two primary characters, Joy, who calls herself Hulga (going so far as to actually legally change her name) and Manley cursor, the Bible salesman. The irony is that Joy is so self-satisfied, and so above all of the say good people that she removes herself from their realm. She is better than them and can see them for who they are. She deems herself a quality try on of that sort of people namely, people who arent what they purport themselves to be.She should be ready then, to clearly and easily discern th e false pretenses of Manley Pointer when he arrives. He is so simply not the Christian that he sells himself to be. It is moderately easy to see his plots, his salesmanship and his manipulations. Especially so when it comes to young Hulga. Yet she takes him for what he appears to be. condescension being an atheist and mocking the so called faith of the women, which she sees as hypocrisy, she is somehow blind to the fact that the Bible salesman is selling snake oil. The scene between Manley and Hulga toward the end of the story tells it bestThe boy was unscrewing the top of the flask. He stopped and pointed with a smile, to the deck of cards. It was not an ordinary deck but one with an obscene picture on the back of each card. Take a swig, he said, offering her the bottle first. He held it in front of her, but like one mesmerized, she did not move. Her voice when she spoke had an almost pleading sound. Arent you, she murmured, arent you just good country people? (2582) So Hulga, t he former Joy, seems utterly surprised when she eventually comes to realize that he is not one of the good country people later all.He is not after mens souls, but womens bodies. afterwards priding herself on her ability to recognize the hidden evils that hide behind smiles and Christian belief, she has let herself down by letting her book down. Her naivete finally comes out and is utilize by worldliness. This repeated irony skilfully plays out the overall theme of innocence versus knowledge. The literary technique that had begun to come into panache when Good Country People was being written was the school of show, dont tell. This was OConnors first pry into that realm.She used irony and situation to do all of the talking. Rather than laboriously describe persons attitudes and beliefs, she allows readers to eavesdrop on the action. This turns out to be much more realistic than previous forms of realism and naturalism. Those genres depended upon minute details and descrip tions of motivations and intents and did not lead readers astray, which would have been labeled on the face of it unfair at the time. This new recipe allows for more reader interaction, more familiarity with context as the reader is not being told exactly what to think.Showing theme and not telling theme lets the reader vex to interact more fully with the text and the story itself, leaving him to find more personal connections to the action, and filling in the thoughts and emotions between the lines. Ultimately it provides a much more complex and satisfactory experience for the readers interaction with the story. Since the publishing of OConnors story, this technique has not only continued, but has become one of the hallmarks of quality writing. As such, it is taught exhaustively at the collegiate writing level, and no creative writing is well accepted if it violates this standard.OConnor would be proud. The turning of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries unleashed a great fre edom in American literature, both in subjects explored, and in devices and tact utilized. A multitude of themes were raised and dealt with, often with unexpected and smart methods, with their unexpected and clever results. Poetry from authors like Theodore Roethke and Edwin Arlington Robinson, and short stories from the likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Flannery OConnor began exploring the new topics of the culture as America began to turn toward modernization of both labor and of relationships.As new understandings evolved in these arenas, the remnants, too, received treatment in the literature. Some dapper ideas were finally on their way out, seemingly, as The Yellow Wallpaper showed. And yet some would hold on, like the view of father son relationships in My Papas Waltz. Old faiths and new hypocrisies were examined by OConnor and others. And sometimes reality itself was discarded, as Roethke showed. The era of these authors was a time of moving on, flavor forward and rem iniscing back, all at once, and with many devices. ? Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte P. The Yellow Wallpaper. The Norton Anthology of American literary productions Shorter 7th Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York W. W. Norton, 2008. 1684-95. OConnor, Flannery. Good Country People. The Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter seventh Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York W. W. Norton, 2008. 2569-83. Robinson, Edwin A. Miniver Cheevy. The Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter Seventh Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York W. W. Norton, 2008. 1898. Roethke, Theodore. My Papas Waltz. The Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter Seventh Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York W. W. Norton, 2008. 2321.