Modernism Background Overview
The modernism in the literature work commences after the 20th century when people underwent a sudden change and broke away from the tradition perception and ways of viewing issues as well as world interaction. During this period, what used to be limited such as individualism and experimental became virtues among people ( Schwartz, 2014). The culture shocks which took place during this time were amazing, the major shocking break through was the Great War in the year 1914 to 191 which engulfed the European countries. This came as s hock since before the twentieth century; such war could not be imagined leave alone commencing it. However, there were some hints of modernism before this century, but, the literature writers who reasoned in a modern way did so with great fear and cautions. The perception of the modern literature by then was perceived as the sense of capitalist, impersonal and antagonist. The world war that happens in a quick succession was a major shock in the western civilization.
The visceral reaction against the prevalence Victorian culture and aesthetic marked the genesis of the modernism. This was the first break with the tradition which was so prevalent in the nineteenth century. The main drive behind the modernism was that at the turn of the twentieth century, the intellectuals and the writers label the nineteenth century way of perception to culture and other things as the cultural dead end ( Schwartz, 2014). They believed that the continuation of that way of thinking could only spiral the world into unknown territory. To make the beginning and to trigger the world war, cultural activists such as Archduke Ferdinand were to be wiped out, and this triggered the world war. The wave of the conflict swept away the notion, and the traditional perception of thinking and the only opinion which was left standing was the modern warfare.
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The education reforms were witnessed which brought about the high rate of spring of the literary work. The demand for literature work a rose, and soon, the literature press were cropping up. The anti- literature team scornfully looked at the role of literature; they strike their rods on those writers who did not bend to their ways. Such writers found themselves alienated from the society by the anti-literatures. However, to some extent, the alienation favored the captured writers since it made the public turn the back to the anti-literatures. The world changed, and the anti-literature did everything possible to rub shoulders with the intellectuals. However, these produce little impact as the intellectuals still had words for the society through poem and literature work, and the people could listen and support them.
Worth noting is the gender freedom fight during this time was amazing and enjoyable. The ladies were not left behind, and their quest for freedom grew and spread like a bush fire. The Caucasian males, women and the minority in the society who were marginalized in the society rose with one voice in the twentieth century. The women also compete for their voices to be heard through literacy work. The women such as the Hilda Doolittle become the leaders of the Imagist movements. The twentieth century strides towards freedom for races, sexes and Caucasian males were long. The poetry took it all and dominated most poet of the century during this time with imagist poetry become stronger. The Lost generation movement in America got it right too during this time. By the time of the second world, the world had already modernized. And the modernist literature could not persist. The artist in this century pursued more modernized poems, literature and novels. The publicity, commercialism popular audiences were embracing, and the action of alienation which was witnessed during the First World War was nowhere. The modern novelist changed people perception and view of reality. The changes during this time were great, and it would take a lot of time to overturn them.
Fight for freedom
The Yellow Wallpaper is a symbol of female sex captive in the domestic sphere. The wallpaper becomes the text sort over the course of the story through which the narrator exercise her literacy identifies and imagination with a double figured feminist. There is great perception between the modernism and the story in the Yellow Wallpaper. The similarity is crystal clear. In both, there is a struggle for freedom which begins by traumatic psychological experiences and later manifest to physicality. In both cases, there is struggle to of extractions from the hands of mediocrity, freedom less and discrimination. The major focus of the paper is to prove using the modernism and the Yellow Wallpaper that freedom does not come in a silver platter.
In the nineteenth century, the literature was minimized. Many people were denied their freedom. These groups had to fight for this freedom for them to be granted. This marked the beginning of the modernism. Likewise, the narration of the Yellow Wallpaper had the same issue. The husband denied the narrator her freedom. To her, she compared herself to the trapped woman in the wallpaper, to regain her freedom; she had to overturn the obstacle.
The good wishers in the literature field in the nineteenth century were given food for thought. They were victimized and were even afraid of airing their voices. In case they did talk, they would not like their voices to be heard. However, the twentieth century marked their rise. The breakthrough in literature comes from the modernization spread in the twentieth century. Poems were composed, and the literature movements were all over. The anti-literature tried their best to victimize these intellectuals by isolating those who did not bend towards their wishes. However, these did not stop their popularity among the citizens in the society. The more they were isolated, the more they grew popular. Another group that fought for their freedom during this era was women. During the nineteenth century, the woman was confined to the domestic work. Women were granted no freedom of speech or association. The twentieth century marked the end of the perception, and the women came up with one voice to fight for their freedom. The women rose to literary movements with their becoming the leaders of such groups. Soon, they made a name for themselves fighting for their freedom.
The same scenario is crystal clear in the Yellow Wallpaper. Through the story, the narrator presents the domestic sphere imprisonments. Just like the woman trapped in the symbolism in the wallpaper, the narrator is also trapped within the domestic prison. The prison nursery that the narrator has found herself is used in the story as a symbolism of the domestic duties the narrator is supposed to be carrying out ( Dock, 2010). These are inclusive of taking good care of the children, cleaning house and other domestic chores. In the story, there is a barred window and the immovable bed; the narrator uses all these symbols to show how woman are trapped within the nursery. The narrator's treatment by her husband John is a symbol of perpetuates of this imprisonment. As a practicing doctor, John is more concern with his wife literacy work. To him, this is a mere waste of time which should not be taken with any seriousness. He constantly refers to this work as little. To worsened situations up for the narrator, even the society receives her as the mother and wife as shown by Mary and Jennie. This to her put her back deeply into the prison, to her; these are some of the people who should be experiencing the same prison torture as her. However, they seem to be the perpetrators of the same.
As asserted by Dock (2010), this forces the narrator to make some sense out of the Yellow wallpaper. The writer first felt that the wallpaper was watching her. However, she reverses her feeling and starts decoding the real meaning of the wallpaper. She untangles the paper then realizes a shape of the woman. As her insanity grew, it down to her that the woman in the paper is struggling to break the bars; this makes her believes that she too is trapped within the paper and needs force to break the bars. She finally tore the paper and believes that she has regained her freedom. The wallpaper documents many issues which face ladies currently, disease, the oppression, discrimination monitor and many others. The action of the narrator tearing apart the wallpaper is great symbolism in the narration and the story. This symbolizes the regain of the freedom that the narrator had longed for. Though she had to crawl around the room as the wallpaper woman, this creeping symbolizes the rise and the beginning of the women freedom in all corners of the world.
Conclusion
The Yellow wallpaper has a great symbolism of the struggle of freedom as it did many centuries ago with the modernism. This story is a typical modernism as narrator depicted struggle to free her from the traditional culture that has engulfed her as it did in pre modern error of the nineteenth century.
References
Dock, J. B. (Ed.). (2010). Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The yellow wall-paper and the history of its publication and reception: a critical edition and documentary casebook . Penn State Press.
Schwartz, S. (2014). The Matrix of Modernism: Pound, Eliot, and Early Twentieth-Century Thought . Princeton University Press.
