During early 20th century, American writers were influenced by the changing world of industrialization and globalization. The horrors and World War 1 and the invention of new technologies had people questioning the future of humanity. Writers and journalist used this time to voice their views and experiences during these troubling times. Henry Louis Mencken is well-known writer who had a powerful influence on America’s writing style during the 1920s. His writing style was known for it’s wit, and harsh criticism towards American social and cultural weaknesses. His essay “The Libido for the Ugly” sends the message to the reader that America needs to change its way of living because they are too content with their current ugly lifestyle. …show more content…
Here was wealth beyond computation, almost beyond imagination—and here were human habitations so abominable that they would have disgraced a race of alley cats. Mencken starts by stating what the rest of the world knows coming out of World War 1, America is the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world and Pittsburg is the “heart” that drives the industrial changes happening within this great land, but he compares the local populace to “a race of alley cats.” The stray alley cat is known as homeless, mangy, dirty animal that eats scraps out the trashcan. This introduction by him, paints the picture for what the reader can expect, that American’s are unconcerned with their way of living and are content with living like a stray animals. Mencken continues to describe the landscape of the 25-mile journey in very colorful language as a wound to his eyes, but not the steel mills themselves, the actually houses and towns. One expects steel towns to be dirty. What I allude to is the unbroken and agonizing ugliness, the sheer revolting monstrousness, of every house in sight. From East Liberty to Greensburg, a distance of twenty-five miles, there was not one in sight from the
American History, it has done so much in time that has affected how we live life today and how we interpret things. American Literature reflects that and all it has left us with. Throughout the stories and passages we’ve read this course all of them have left a impact on how and why the writers wrote about what they did. It was all because of American History which later went on and fathered American Literature. American Literature has made society how it is today and painted a vivid picture of how American’s and people live and many of these writers had that in mind when they took these notes.
"They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared.(pg.263)" In Minot's story Lust you are play by play given the sequential events of a fifteen year old girls sex life. As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the
As a result of the horrors witnessed by men throughout World War I, the writing style of the American
Timothy Brook’s book, The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China is a detailed account of the three centuries of the Ming Dynasty in China. The book allows an opportunity to view this prominent time period of Chinese history. Confusions of Pleasure not only chronicles the economic development during the Ming dynasty, but also the resulting cultural and social changes that transform the gentry and merchant class. Brook’s insights highlight the divide between the Ming dynasty’s idealized beliefs, and the realities of its economic expansion and its effects. Brook describes this gap through the use of several first hand accounts of individuals with various social statuses.
In the introduction to his book, The Sublime Object of Ideology, Slavoj Zizek acquaints readers with his book’s tripartite aim. He plans, among other things, to illustrate concepts fundamental to Lacanian psychoanalysis – an intention which will serve to further his more ambitious goal “to reactualize Hegelian dialectics by giving it a new reading” in the light of Lacanian psychoanalysis – and “to contribute to the theory of ideology via a new reading of some well-known classical motifs” (7). In this broad category of classical motifs associated with the theory of ideology, I have isolated both fetishism and the commodity-form and intend to briefly illustrate some of these concepts against
Although the United States of America in the 1800s was a fairly new country, it was very hectic due to the Civil War. For a while, people wanted to get away or hide from their realities when they wrote or read literature. During the Civil War, mindsets changed and people were tired of the fantasies. People craved realistic stories with real, life-like endings. Realist writers answered the cry of Americans who wanted to explore realistic literature; Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” is a true representation of literature during the realistic era.
Over the past 75 years, the American people, while reading either short stories, novels, or longer publications, have been indoctrinated with the idea of modernism. This idea, has been pushed forwards be authors in all ages, and in all forms of publication. Modernism can be described, as looking at society and culture through a lens to find criticisms and critiques of the way that we perceive it. One of the best example of modernism that has been published in the past 75 years was by Flannery O’Conner, during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Flannery O’Connor throughout her short story, uses character’s and phrases to demonstrate the presence of evil in society as well as in each and every one of us.
The leather furniture was cracked, and if the chairs were sat upon dust rose about one's thighs. The house seemed to be submerged in shadows as if it also refused to admit the light of the future. It had once been part of the most stylish street in town. Now it was surrounded with the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps. It had obviously become an eyesore compared to once when it had been so beautiful.
The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature of American literature held fast, a fact clearly demonstrated in the fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an era of post-war disillusionment, when idealism succumbed to hedonistic materialism, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantically charged novel,
Oprah Winfrey, Zig Ziglar, Richard Branson and Mark Cuban. These are all serial entrepreneurs with serious successes. Society has become accustomed to their infinite and influential wisdom and success and now new generations of entrepreneurs are on the rise and show no signs of slowing down. Sophia Amoruso founder and CEO of Nasty Gal is one of these empowering young entrepreneurs. Amoruso launched her business in the basement of her aunt’s home at the age of 22 and in only seven years, Amoruso has grown Nasty Gal from a simple eBay store reselling vintage finds into an online retail empire selling sexy, retro-inspired looks at reasonable prices. Amoruso built this $250 million online retail empire all before turning 30. (Klich, 2015)
The subjective element of beauty involves judgment, not opinion. Many people feel beauty is only something seen by the eyes. St. Thomas Aquinas views beauty in both the supernatural and natural orders. Aquinas lists the attributes of beauty to be found in nature. These are; unity, proportion, and clarity. We will see how these attributes of beauty are seen through the eye and felt by the heart.
I remembering watching a talk show that Jessica Simpson had appeared on a few years ago. She had gained a few pounds and was discussing all the negative feedback she had been getting from the public. Because of this experience she started a reality show called “The Price of Beauty” where she travels around the globe and reveals what ideal beauty is in many different parts of the world. In one episode she go to Uganda and visits with a community that embraces larger women as their ideal model of beauty. As soon I saw the book “Feeding Desire” it reminded me of Jessica’s experience. Rebecca Popenoe is a social anthropologist. Her book, “Feeding Desire” details her
American society is known for having the highest standard of living across the globe; this is solely due to the consumerist culture that is brought forth by capitalism. Americans in the U.S. take pride in these standards and in the freedoms that this democratic nation has established. The 20th century will always be remembered in American history as a century of radical changes on the social and political fronts of the nation. Literature, too, evolved quickly from specific, compartmentalized fields which fit into categories, to works which had no set definition—nobody knew what to do with them. These changes also took place in poetry; artistic expression began to change across the arts and so did the mediums. Poets across the nation
The author uses raw descriptive words such as “iron,” “tarry,” and “tin,” to display this city as superficial. The city is just made out of these substances that the people have made these buildings out of. These substances all conduct heat and present this madness and anger of the man in the poem. These materials present a manmade structure that displays the city as shallow.
Beauty is pain. Isn’t it? From hair and nails to skin care and pedicures, a women wants to feel beautiful inside and out. Women would go through just about anything to have the perfect eyebrow, manicure, and much more. Often what women envy most in other women is the genes of long beautiful hair.