Sunday, August 31, 2008

Modernism vs Postmodernism

Of all the characters in the works that we have read so far, it has become pretty evident which characters demonstrate either modernist or postmodernist points of view. Based on my reading, I believe that the best example of the modernist point of view is the chancellor from "The obsolete man". This is evident based upon the idea that "humans are material machines" in the modernism/postmodernism handout. He declares Mr. Wordsworth obsolete because he no longer has a function in society. Because libraries no longer exist, librarians such as Wordsworth are unnecessary. Also, he states that "The state has proven that god does not exist." This supports the handout when it says that modernists believe that "nothing exists beyond what our senses percieve."
The character that best supports the middle of the road between modernism and postmodernism is Wordsworth. He demosntrates what we defined in class as the Platonic style. He displays the faith that there is a higher being (god) but at the same time he is not extreme as other modernists. But at the same time heis a librarian and therefore believes that everything deserves to be studied.
None of the characters to me really jump out as being extremely post modern, though this is a good thing. Neither extreme is good, as the chancellor shows about extreme modernism. Most of the characters display characteristics of both.

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