Modernism, Post-Modernism, and the Feminist Perspective

Modernism, Post-Modernism, and the Feminist Perspective

Literature is a driving, flexible, ideological force in culture. It reflects society and the times in which the piece is written, just as society is then influenced by literature. Certain trends are associated with different periods throughout time. Before the 20th century, the literature world went through periods of Enlightenment as well as rejection of this idea, thus reflecting society at that point. During the 20th century, modernism described literature created before World War II. To The Lighthouse and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, Ulysses by James Joyce, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and The Awakening by Kate Chopin are examples of novels that demonstrate this modern style. This period of modernism ended in the mid-1940’s, and was expanded into ideas of what is know known as post-modernism. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, 1984 by George Orwell and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro exemplify this post-modern style. Although post-modern ideas branch off ideas of modernism, the two are vastly different theories of literature in the modern world.

The feminist perspective can serve to show the difference between modern and post-modern literature. Although feminist literature theories have remained coherent through modern and post-modern history, the way with which the ideas have been presented has changed with time. Before World War II feminism in literature was presented in a fragmented way, and as a tragic event, something to be lamented and mourned. Ideas were presented in a global, all-encompassing manner. In more recent prose this is not the case. Theories of feminism remain valuable in present literature; the difference is that in a post-modern world, small practices and local events that make no claim to universality, rather than global concepts, are chosen to show these theories, and there is a celebration of human nature and history.

A primary trait of modern novels is an emphasis on perception. Because literature had such an impact upon culture and society, novelists were motivated to push the views and beliefs inherent in their literature in different ways. Rather than try and show what the idea is that is being perceived, the author emphasized on how it was perceived by the reader and society in general. To show this, many novelists created characters that used streams of consciousness to call attention to it’s own status as a creation, as something completed in a particular way for a particular reason. Virginia Woolf is an example of a modern author who presents a stream of consciousness in her work to emphasize her thoughts on women in history. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf describes the process she goes through in order to come to the conclusion that all a women needs to write is money and a room of her own. In doing so, she reviews the state of women’s literature, which at the time was just beginning to give rise. The narrative is the ongoing process of thinking Woolf undergoes to explain her conclusions. She says, “I am going to develop in your presence as fully and freely as I can the train of thought which led me to think this,” (Pg. 4) when she proposes her thesis. She goes on to explain the barriers a women will have in trying to write and express intelligence. The main theme of the essay then is to ask the question, is it better to be locked in [the mind] with one’s thoughts, one’s consciousness, or is it better to be locked out of university, learning, the mind? Essentially, she writes a history of a woman thinking of the processes of women’s thinking- attacking the sexist ways that patterned the time period. Like A Room of One’s Own, Woolf’s novel, To The Lighthouse uses streams of consciousness to hint at the issues lying beneath speech- the relation of emotion, feeling and memory. Instead of giving each of her characters their own particular voice, the thoughts of each are identical in syntax. The thoughts of young James at the beginning of the novel when he is contemplating his father’s presence are similar to that of his mother when she is thinking about her role as a wife and mother. James is thinking, “Not only with the pleasure of disillusioning his son and casting ridicule upon his wife, who was ten thousand times better in every way than he was (James thought).” (Pg. 4) In a similar tone and with the same rich language, his mother thinks, “They must find a way out of it all. There might be some simpler way, some less laborious way, she sighed.” (Pg. 6) Through these personal looks into the lives of her characters, Woolf explores the process they go through in order to create meaning in their lives. In the case of Mrs. Ramsay and Lily, it is to understand the complex language and interaction between men and women. For Lily,