Modernism, Yay or Nay

As the modernist era began to approach, many things began so change. The very viewpoint of things so basic such as literature and knowledge began to change with how widespread they were soon able to become. This draws me to a discussion on a brief question addressed in class, how did authors feel about the modernist era. Personally I can not even begin to imagine how much they must have hated it. With general knowledge becoming more common spread, the value of their individual contributions to the history of american literature must have decreased. Their works must have simply become other pieces of literature to the common person, as they are slowly exposed to more ways to obtain knowledge. Alongside this the greater availability of transportation to people and the more active and present transportation of knowledge and ideas must have also given Authors works less sincerity in their recognition. The more "sudden breaks in viewpoints" that the common man was given took away from the breaks in viewpoints that literature was primarily used to give. Also this must have created the effect that we see so often in today's world where one individual is inclined to feel a certain way based of how another, or how common people tend to view the same matter. Modernism must have created way to the loss of differing and unique individual values and viewpoints.

Pecola's Friend

Throughout our discussion for the past few weeks on Toni Morrison’s Novel, “The Bluest Eye,” we spent class time discussing how Morrison talks to her audience about the horrible impacts of racism and beauty standards. Even if I personally could not make every connection that was talked about in class, The connections that we made in class were both thought provoking and insightful. However, should this have been or Morrison’s intentions or not, there was yet another message I managed to take from the closing moments of Morrison’s Novel, from the final chapter, when Pecola talks with her imaginary friend. As a personal take away from this chapter, I found a message in the importance of friendship, and in having someone being there for you, which is a theme that I found to have been relevant throughout other sections of the novel as well, including the telling of Soaphead’s tale, and the chapter on Cholly. I believe that Morrison managed to tell the importance of company in how it shapes someone specifically in the chapter involving Pecola and her imaginary friend, as this is where we first begin to see the shattered state of mind that Pecola is left with. By having no one but herself to bounce her negative thoughts around, they simply settled and were watered by her surroundings, and they eventually polluted the earth that was her mind. Until the only positivity she could focus on were her eyes, so blue, so pure, and so beautiful, that she was the only one that could see them. Her lack of companionship and support trapped her negative emotions, planted by her society, and caused them to grow into dandelions, killing off the joy that had still yet to grow into beautiful flowers nearby. Pecola’s aloneness caused her to eventually “step over into madness” a very real madness that loneliness always drags around with it. 

The Hussars that we are

This week in 11AP we discussed many different things but at the end of the week we brought our Friday to a close by talking about Baroque and Rococo forms of art. Of these art forms however, we specifically discussed the painting, "Officers of the Hussars," painted by Kehinde Wiley. This specific painting still follows the dramatic and grand details that are usually seen in Baroque art forms, however the most noticeable part of the picture, the black man on the horse, is what truly makes it stand out, and also what conveys the message that is is trying to deliver. In the center of such a grand picture, encompassed in red and gold and covered with gaudy and royal details, Wiley painted a casually clothed black man dressed in, as stated in class, "A wife beater and some timbs" in the center of the piece. I believe that this shows that anyone can be a hero, no matter what our current interpretation of a hero is, or what the public and society's concert of a hero is. This also relates to the discussions we held on the bluest eye, as despite what we associate and brand beauty as being, and the people we associate the word with, it truly is something extensive that can be found in everyone and everything.

Different Races, Different Faces

 As discussed over the past two weeks in class, beauty standards are something that we are made to grow up with in today's current society. Everyone seems to have an image of how the ideal person should look. Through movies, posters, magazines, and of course, toy barbie dolls, the picture of beauty manages to stay constant throughout all of this. However do different races have different beauty standards? After all, despite her white surroundings, it is certainly a stretch for a black female to grow up wanting to have "pretty blue eyes." Personally speaking (Despite not being able to speak from a females point of view) I do not believe that beauty is limited to only those who have blonde hair and blue eyes. Especially seeing that these two traits (in hair color and eye color) are entirely genetic, and are unable to be changed by someone. However I do believe that the sought after definition of beauty is slightly different to every race. After all the Indian definition of beauty is certainty not the same as the American definition of beauty that we are all to similar with. Of course they are not totally different concepts, and many aspects of both are bound to overlap, but much like the different culture in India there is a different set of standards for beauty that accompany that, and though suffering from the same issues that we discussed in class, it should be stressed that people should not get too caught up in images that they were never meant to be able to be in the first place.