Examples Of Modernism In The Great Gatsby

Historical context defines features of American Modernism thought subversion. alienation, and valorization of the antihero. Modernism is a philosophical and aesthetic movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far reaching transformation in Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism is also philosophically defined as one or more characteristics, like self-conscious or self-reference, that run across all the novelties in the arts and disciplines. The aesthetics of modernism attempt to breakdown the traditional, classical way of representing nature. In the first few chapters of The Great Gatsby, there are a few examples of subversion , alienation, and valorization of the antihero.

Alienation is the feeling of being turned away or reflected. An example of alienation is found in the middle of the story when Gatsby says, “I feel far away from her... She used to be able to understand.” (109) In this particular chapter, Gatsby is being turned away and reflected when he clings onto his past with Daisy when things do not go the way he had imagined. When Gatsby meets with Daisy after not seeing her for a very long time, he does not feel comfortable around her like old times and that makes him feel alienated. Another examples is seen towards the end of the story when Gatsby and Nick are conversing about how he felt when Tom and Daisy got married. Nick says, “He came back from France when Tom and Daisy were still on their wedding trip... He stayed there a week, walking the streets where their footsteps had clicked together through the November night and revisiting the out-of-the-way places to which they had driven...” (152) At some point of Gatsby’s life, he and Daisy had been together but he had to leave her and go to war. Since he left, Daisy got married just when Gatsby had been released from the war and so when Gatsby finds out, he feels rejected and reflected from Daisy and Tom’s relationship because he was now