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Gertrude Stein Tender Buttons Meaning

Decent Essays

As we journey through modernism I can’t help but note how stylistically different every single author is from all the others of this period. Much of what we have covered so far in class has in one way or another addressed the issue of individuality and separation. Modernism is no exception. Not only are characters adapting and modernizing along with society, but the same development is also present in writing styles and subject matter. It seems literature adopted a much more artistic approach, as opposed to the traditional religious, scholarly, and philanthropic approaches of the past. In Gertrude Stein’s “Tender Buttons” Objects, the influence of the artistic movements, as well as that of her friends in the painting business (Picasso and …show more content…

The Early 1900’s was a time of extreme wealth, and extreme poverty, without much in the middle. I think that Steins Objects reflects the marked ambivalence of this dual-class system by calling out both sides of the coin in very different ways. The selection of items that she chose to include revealed common items that most households would contain. Although some of the objects listed would be more typical to wealthier households, there was no suggestion of extravagance or grandeur. Since the art is in depicting a moment rather than describing an item, the pessimistic overtones shine through in the lack of passion/pride in description. A far cry from transcendentalism. For example, “the book was there, it was there” (p99) is not inspiring to the book itself, but rather to the exactness of the book, realistically, in that moment in time. Her writing style, in this way, appeals to the reality of the impoverished. The items are complex, yet they are still ordinary and subject to the rules of nature. With the upper-class focus on obscurity, technology, gaudy and ostentatious style, I think this piece also addresses to them in that even simple objects can be made very complex when you adjust the way in which you view them. Value isn’t always overt, and there is depth in simplicity. The objects are

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