The readings from this week represent, arguably, works of modernism from authors whom we don’t typically associate with the modernist impulse to “make it new” (as we’ll see next week). Nevertheless, both Americo Paredes and Zitkala-Sa are grappling with the same kinds of issues that mainstream modernist authors also address; however, they do it from the perspective of colonized peoples among whom modernity imposes itself through U.S. westward expansion.
For this online discussion, you will explore HOW specifically both Paredes and Zitkala-Sa represent a modernist aesthetic.
Your post should be a minimum of 5oo words and a maximum of 7oo words, it should be thoughtful, and it should use a coherent paragraph organization. After you post your discussion, read and reply to two other classmates’ posts.
Directions:
- First, use EITHER a search engine OR the library databases to perform a search for: modernism AND literature, or modernism AND American Literature. Explain in your post why you selected the source you did and what you learned about modernist literary conventions and features.
- Using these conventions, analyze a particular symbol, theme, or formal element from Americo Paredes’s “The Hammon and the Beans.” Connect the symbol to the broader meaning of the story itself and explain HOW specifically it expresses a modernist aesthetic.
- Then, analyze a particular symbol, theme, or formal element from Zitkala-Sa’s memoir excerpts. Connect the symbol, theme, or element, to the broader meaning of the story and explain HOW specifically it expresses a modernist aesthetic.
