unlocking the novel
a guide to modernism and postmodernism

Modernism through pictures

Modernism is not easy to understand. Actually, the very thought of it can make most people's skin crawl. Most people find it confusing and dark. Yet society continues to read it, not giving up because it is hard. 

Right about now, you are thinking "What is this modernism thing she is talking about?" Here is a brief description. Modernism was a movement that began shortly before WWI and ran up until the end of WWII, give or take a few years. It was a movement that encompassed changes from the realist and Victorian eras, where everything was prim and proper and in its place. 

But modernism made everything dreary and dark. Hope seemed like it was never going to be found. It distorted what used to be normal and changed everything around in a time when confusion had already taken hold. It occurred everywhere, not only in literature. It happened in music, philosophy, art, science, and in many other areas of life.

So what should a person do to understand modernism? That is the question at hand. Perhaps one reason a person would find modernism especially challenging is because she or he is a visual learner, a person who picks up on material better when it is presented in writing and pictures. If this is the case, then connecting what is being read to a picture from that time period may help the reader dramatically. By doing this, a reader can gain knowledge of not only what is going on in the book but also what the world was like at that time. Perhaps this will give the reader a sense of how the characters are feeling and why they are reacting the way they are.

This web page takes that into consideration and laces pictures and words together to try to explain Ernest Hemingway's short story, "A Soldier's Home." Even for people who are not visual learners, sometimes seeing images and words together can help crack the mystery surrounding modernism, as hard as that may be, and give the reader a better understanding of what the author was trying to do and convey in the story. After all, the writer was most likely living at the point in time in which the story is set, and he or she was seeing history take place. By simply looking at a few photographs that reflect what is happening in the book, the reader may then be able to appreciate the story even more because he or she will be able to gain insight into what was happening to society at the time, and the reader may be able to understand how society felt at the time.

In "A Soldier's Home," a normal guy was ripped out of his small home town in Kansas and placed in the trench warfare and death of World War I. Before the war, Krebs had been leading a normal life, going to school, helping out around the house, and hanging out with his fraternity brothers. That all changed with the beginning of WWI. Krebs experienced horrible conditions and saw things that no human being should ever have to. He is forced to live with these memories when he comes home, but he has no one to talk to. The war is over, and no one wanted to hear about it. His voice needed to be heard, but he silenced it to make everyone else happy. Krebs had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a disorder which did not allow him to function in society anymore. He was not a recluse: he just would not take part in normal life anymore, and as much as he wanted to, he could not.

The rest of this web page is pictures, with short descriptions of what they may signify. To understand what Krebs is feeling like, the reader must understand what he actually went through. And one way to do that is visually. These pictures may be something that Krebs may or may not have experienced. Either way, his experiences lead to his story, one that is full of pain and suffering that the reader must find a way to understand.

	Here is an example of what Krebs's home in Kansas may have looked like. It was in a small town, where nothing much happened. He was used to a normal life of family and friends. Then it all changed, dramatically.
	Krebs was forced to deal with life in a war. He was "sickeningly frightened all the time," which made him feel like he had "lost everything." At left is a photo showing the destruction Krebs may have witnessed while serving his country. This would leave an emotional mark on anyone. It would be a hard scene to forget, especially if you were a person who inflicted this damage.
	After the war was over, many towns in America planned huge parades and ceremonies for the returning soldiers. Krebs returned "much too late" to take part in any marches, which may have added to his disorder. This picture was taken in New York City when many of the troops arrived to a great ceremony congratulating them on their victory overseas.

Returning to this community and trying to function in a society that had not endured the hardships and sights he had experienced is the hardest part for Krebs. He wants to talk, but no one wants to listen since the town had "heard too many atrocity stories."

This story has an impact on its readers, an impact that is possibly made stronger when pictures are tied to it. It is hard to imagine what Krebs saw and did, but photographs can give the reader a better sense of that. At least the pictures can be used for historical information, as well as aesthetic information. When a reader tackles this thing called "modernism," it can be difficult. Even literature scholars will have issues when reading it. Perhaps with pictures, though, thoughts can be changed, and light bulbs may actually come on once in a while.

So next time, try looking at a picture, and see what connections can be made to a story that has been branded with the ominous title of a "modern novel."

Return to unlocking the modern novel.