Unit 5:
The Harlem Renaissance and
Modernism 1910-1940
Historical Context
Catastrophic historical events-including a
devastating war and a deep economic
depression (ahem)- as well as rapid
societal change greatly affected the
writing of this period.
A World at War: WWI (aka The
Great War)
involved 32 countries and claimed the lives of
over 20 million people
new weapons b/c of technology, i.e., machine
guns, poison gases, airplane bombers, and subs
WWI signaled an end to idealism and ushered
in an era marked by hedonism*, political
corruption, and ruthless business practices.
The Jazz Age/Roaring 20s
“the greatest, gaudiest spree in history” (FSF)
Young people rebelling against past + tradition
Experimentation with fashion
Actively seeking out fun and freedom
Prohibition
Alcohol was made illegal
Prohibition in effect from 1920-1933
Bootleggers= sold alcohol anyway
Speakeasies= where alcohol was served despite
prohibition
A new era for women…
The right to vote (19th am.)
Flapper= “an emancipated young woman who
embraced new fashions and urban attitudes of the day”
More women working
Technology made women’s lives easier, i.e., sliced
bread (really) and ready-made clothes
women’s lit. themes: clash betw. old and new values,
celebrating youth, independence, and freedom from
social constraints
The Great Depression
SM Crash of ’29
Banks failed, businesses floundered, workers lost their jobs
By ’33, the unemployment rate was 25%
Dust Bowl: d/t drought in early ’30s: added to the nation’s
pain. 150,000 sq miles.
Farmers ruined and went West to find work. Tough times.
Not many jobs and too many people.
The New Deal (FDR)
During his campaign, FDR pledged to give the country a
“new deal.”
He fulfilled his promise with his New Deal programs:
relief for the hungry and homeless, recovery for
agriculture and business, and various economic reforms to
prevent such a severe depression from occurring again. (?)
Our text tells us: “yet in truth, it was the massive spending
and production spurred by WWII that finally brought the
economic crisis to an end.”
Cultural Influences
20s= 1st decade to be shaped by mass media
d/t advertising, things once luxuries now necessities
Assembly line/mass production
Writers criticized Americans’ conformity and
materialism
New literary technique: stream of consciousness (b/c
Freud’s theories that said unconscious forces drive
humans and their behavior deeper understanding)
Stream of Consciousness
Technique developed by modernist writers to
present the flow of a character’s unconnected
thoughts, responses, and sensations (like the
way we actual think: illogical, disjointed)
Modernism: (lit. mvmt.1914-1945)
Modernist works are characterized by a high
degree of experimentation. Modernist
characters are most often alienated people
searching unsuccessfully for meaning and love
in their lives. Themes are pulled from real life.
The Harlem Renaissance
An African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early
1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New
York City. Variously known as the New Negro movement, the
New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the
movement emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918,
blossomed in the mid- to late 1920s, and then faded in the mid-
1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that
mainstream publishers and critics took African American
literature seriously and that African American literature and arts
attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it
was primarily a literary movement, it was closely related to
developments in African American music, theater, art, and
politics. (- MSN Encarta)
Harlem Renaissance, cont’d…
The Great Migration: millions of black farmers and
sharecroppers moved to the urban North in search of
opportunity and freedom from oppression and racial
hostility.
Thousands of these immigrants settled in Harlem, an
NYC neighborhood that quickly became the cultural
center of African-American life.
Their cultural traditions + new urban awareness
inspired the people and their creativity. Worldly and
race-conscious black people nurtured each other’s
artistic, musical, and literary talents.
A premature end to the Harlem
Renaissance
Unfortunately, the H.R. was brought to an early end by
the economic collapse of the Great Depression. Many
of the writers who had gathered in Harlem were forced
to scatter and take jobs to support themselves.
Nevertheless, their work planted seeds that continue to
generate important writing from the African-American
perspective.
Unit 5 Objectives and Goals
Understand H.R. and Modernism as literary movements
Identify and analyze individual styles
Identify and anazlyze literary elements, inc. tone, theme,
diction, voice, mood, irony, imagery, and character traits
and motives
Make inferences and draw conclusions
Distinguish literal from figurative meaning
Identify and analyze author’s purpose and position
Unit 5 Vocabulary
Harlem Renaissance
Modernism
Imagery
Tone
Irony
Form in Poetry
Meaning in Poetry
Unit 5 Literary Focuses
Richard Cory (poem p. 894)
Death of the Hired Hand (Robert Frost p. 904)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (K.A. Porter p. 989)
A Worn Path (Eudora Welty p. 1004)
A Rose for Emily (Wm. Faulkner p. 1020)
The Life You Save May Be Your Own (Flannery
O’Connor!! p. 1034)
This is my FAVORITE literary
era (HR + Modernism) so
expect me to expect you to
get into it and learn to
appreciate it for all its rich
history and wonderful, colorful
characters!!
Happy Learning!!
