Modernist Imagery and the American Dream in Literature
Modernist Poetry: Imagery and Meaning
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
So much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow / glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens.
The breaks in stanzas allow the reader to focus on the individual parts of the poem. The wheelbarrow being “glazed” with rainwater suggests careful attention and beauty. The wheelbarrow is being looked at, not explained. The poem highlights the reliance of rural life on simple, mundane labor.
The Red Wheelbarrow: A wheelbarrow, chickens, and rain. The contrast between the red wheelbarrow and the white chickens makes the image clear. The poem ends with an image, not a lesson, showing the limits of poetry.
Modernist Perspectives on Meaning
“So much depends upon”: This phrase implies that meaning is not found in religion or God. It makes the sentence feel important but points only to a wheelbarrow. In the modern world, meaning can come from simple things. Modernists do not typically use religion or God as a central focus. Even though religion and grand beliefs no longer guide people, poetry can still provide small moments of meaning by making us notice ordinary things.
In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound
“The apparition of faces in the crowd”: The word “apparition” suggests something ghost-like and temporary. The people are only there for a moment; meaning in modern life is brief and unstable.
“Petals on a wet black bough”: The imagery of nature is used in a city setting. Poetry finds beauty where we do not expect it, but petals fall quickly; beauty does not stay.
Comparing Williams and Pound
Both poems rely on vivid images rather than explanations, showing that modern poetry creates brief moments of meaning through perception but does not offer lasting consolation. In “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “In a Station of the Metro,” Williams and Pound show that in the modern world, poetry can create meaning by focusing on simple images, but this meaning is brief and does not fully comfort people. Both poems find meaning in ordinary moments, but the comfort they offer is fleeting and does not solve the larger problems of modern life. Meaning comes from noticing ordinary images (wheelbarrow, faces, petals) rather than belief systems. However, there is a limit: consolation is brief and aesthetic, offering no answers to suffering or death.
A Raisin in the Sun: The American Dream
In A Raisin in the Sun, each character pursues a different version of the American Dream.
- Walter: Dreams of money and business. He is blocked by Mama, systemic racism, and Willy stealing the money.
- Mama and Beneatha: Seek dignity, family, and identity. They are blocked by poverty and white society (represented by Lindner).
Character Motivations and Obstacles
- Walter: Dreams of a liquor store and status. He uses arguing, pressuring, shaming, and manipulating to get Mama to invest. He is blocked by Mama’s refusal, racism, and Willy’s theft. He nearly accepts Lindner’s bribe but ultimately chooses dignity and family over money.
- Mama: Dreams of a house, stability, and moral family values. She uses her authority and control of the insurance money. Blocked by poverty and racism, she buys a house in a white neighborhood despite the danger.
- Beneatha: Dreams of becoming a doctor and finding her cultural identity. She rejects assimilation (George) and considers Asagai’s ideals. She is blocked by sexism, racism, and the loss of medical school money.
- Lindner: Represents white racism. He tries to bribe the family to stay out of Clybourne Park, functioning as the final obstacle that forces Walter’s moral recognition.
Dramatic Structure and Key Terms
The play follows a specific dramatic arc:
- Inciting Event: Big Walter dies, leading to the insurance check. This is a background event occurring before the play begins that creates tension.
- Stasis: The family waits for the check; a state of balance where all forces cancel out and nothing moves.
- Intrusion: The check arrives and Lindner visits; the sudden event that breaks the stasis and starts the main action.
- Reversal (Peripeteia): Willy steals the money; a sudden, logical flip from one state of affairs to the opposite.
- Recognition (Anagnorisis): Walter chooses dignity over money; the discovery of a truth that changes a character’s attitude.
- Forwards: Elements that build anticipation and keep the audience’s attention.
Ultimately, each character pursues a different version of the American Dream, but racism and poverty force Walter to realize that dignity and family matter more than money.