Essay on Modernism at Its Finest in Literature

During the period of 1920 - 1930, the Harlem Renaissance had reached it’s peak and had several other authors, not just Hughes pouring culture into the mix. Post World War I America was crippled economically, culturally, and politically. Minority races such as African American experienced extreme poverty and cried out through the form of the Harlem Renaissance. At this time, the Harlem Renaissance was providing global influence and had spread across the world no longer through just literature but music, storytelling, and art.

The Harlem Renaissance was like a dream come true for many African American writers. Even though there were several obstacles designed to hinder their progress, these pioneers diligently pressed forward, gaining their independence from what was expected of them and creating a world that allowed them to artistically express their African American pride. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was the torch that symbolized the beginning of change within the black community, the Harlem Renaissance was the gasoline that set the entire community in a blaze of glory. In this essay, I am going to discuss African American literature before and during the Harlem Renaissance and the impact Langston Hughes had on African American literature after the Harlem Renaissance.

Modernist literature began between 1915-1935, writers mainly wrote fiction this is because they started to question what the future was going to bring since they were living through both World War. Modernists wrote their stories in first person which made their stories seem like a stream of consciousness, irony and satires. This type of literature was mainly written in English and became well known due to the increase of globalization, which was more about how the people felt about the events going on and how the people were affected in other words it spoke from the inner self of the writer. Many famous writers including Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald believed that the increase in new technology was leading to the decrease in civilization which was making individuals lonely.

In the early part of the 20th century writers became more artistic. A modernist approach could be seen in many artist works. The African American writers during this era could be seen as aggressively self-conscious, divided, and vigor. Yet, many were just trying to figure out who they were as a person, and how they fit in the north. The Harlem Renaissance paved a way for these African American writers to emerge. Urban culture became visible, and many writers begin expressing themselves. Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston are two modernists who exposed the beauty of the African American Culture. Therefore, there artistic abilities and cultural experiences supported them in identifying themselves through short stories and poems.

The Harlem Renaissance is an important time in American literature. There were writers at this time like Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes wrote many poems such as the “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “The Weary Blues.”

Literature was a big part of the in the Harlem Renaissance, African American were finally getting their ideas out about racism and started to talking about the their struggles being black or evan half black in United States. Writers at this time were very versatile from writing poems, novels, short story, and scripts. Some famous writers of the time is Zora Neale Hurston famous for writing “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and many others great novels this one mainly was about women’s rights and racism in America. Then there was Langston Hughes, he was an extremely great artist that has influenced so many people today though his writing, he was a social activist, poet, novelist, and a play writer. On of his poems that really stuck out to me was this short Poem that he wrote call “Cross” which first appeared in the crisis in 1925, it goes “My old man’s a white old man And my old mother's black. If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished she were in hell, I'm sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack. I wonder

The Harlem Renaissance was a time where creativity flourished throughout the African American community. At the time many African Americans were treated as second class citizens. The Harlem Renaissance acted as artistic and cultural outlet for the African-American community. The Harlem Renaissance, otherwise known as “The New Negro Movement” was an unexpected outburst of creative activity among African Americans In the poems Harlem by Langston Hughes, America by Claude McKay, and Incident by Countee Cullen all use frustration and hope as reoccurring themes to help empower the African-American population and realize the injustices they face day to day. The Harlem Renaissance was a period marked by great change and forever altered the

Modernism was very diverse but had one common purpose: they sought to capture the essence of modern life in both form and content of their work

Harlem was once a middle class white community, but by the year 1925, it was known as the Mecca of the new Negros. Back in the history of America, when many black Americans were literally deprived of their liberty of rights, a social and a political movement evolved, which was known as the Harlem Renaissance. It lasted into the early years of the great depression and not only was it a political and a social movement but also an artistic one to be precise. The movement outbreak motivated the trend of literature, poetry, music, drama, publishing, dance, fashion and so many other art works. With the dawn of the cultural, social, and artistic sudden occurrence that took place in Harlem, many great black voices, writers, artists, musicians, scholars and poets who wrote with African-American rhythms broke out all over. And of this remarkable creative outburst, arose the voice of the poet, Langston Hughes.

For years people across the world have looked up to America as the land of opportunity. People save their whole lives to come to America to start a new life. These men and women came to begin lives away from their old countries. With the great depression came the end of the american dream. With no hope in sight Americans elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the first step in the wrong direction. FDR’s New Deal failed in its goal of ending the depression and bringing the economy and American People back to where they should be.

The Harlem Renaissance, occurring from the end of World War I to the Great Depression, was a colorful explosion of artistic, social, and cultural movements. Acting as the center of this explosion, Harlem drew upon the talents of many great African American writers, poets, musicians, and artists. One such great talent was Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes wrote many essays, short stories, and poems with the common theme of celebrating and vocalizing African American culture. Hughes’s representation Harlem changed and varied throughout his life, and is reflected in his numerous poems.

In the early twentieth century, many blacks who lived in the South moved to the North to find a better way of life. Many families landed in Harlem, New York and the neighborhood eventually became rich in Black culture and traditions. The mixture of cultures, heritage and traditions eventually lead to an explosion of Black creativity in music, literature and the arts which became known as the Harlem Renaissance. As with many transitional time periods in United states History, the Harlem Renaissance had its share of success stories. One of the well-known writers of the 1900’S is Langston Hughes. While many writers focused on one style or category of writing, Langston Hughes is the most versatile of all of the writers from the Harlem

The of the 20th century was fueled by the domestic changes in American society as a result of struggles faced in warfare directly, as well as, on the home front during World War II. Many endured the result of the war producing inhumane execution, massacres, and mass casualties. Veterans and American believed in the country’s stability and strong structure, as the nation began to weaken, uncertainty and the struggles that resulted from the acts of war generated unease of people who defined a new belief titled: Modernism, neglecting any previous traditions relevancy. William Faulkner, author of stories: “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning” represent the processes of perception through the struggle between traditions and personal values.

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

Modernism, in literature, can be seen as a shift in focus to the unassociated introspective reflection of characters in such texts as Go Tell It On The Mountain, by James Baldwin, Miss Lonelyhearts, by Nathanael West and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. This is a revision from the previous focal point of exterior events and places in correlation with the character’s reflections. Emphasis is placed on review upon feelings and thoughts, and even conversations with oneself, as opposed to the more directly event-driven reflections in texts of the pre-modernist era.