OK, so I’m really beginning to see a tie in some of this whole modernism movement. It really seems like it conveys a sense of being your own person, much like we saw in the likes of Whitman. Yeah, I said his name. But now, we’re starting to see this whole scene of being so much your own person that you actually become locked in isolation, that doesn’t get anywhere good fast. I believe that that isolationism is based on an awkward inability to communicate, and a feeling of paranoia as to what would happen if the individual were to put themselves out there and present themselves in an almost overly intimate way with society. It’s almost like a warning of allowing yourself to be trapped in your own mind. And I think that that theme translates very easily into the lifestyles of the present day.
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Jeff, delete the above (with the messed up formating–some tags don’t work on this site) in favor of this version. Tx.
Okay, you’re on to something interesting, Jeff. Take this, for example:
(You’ve got a few typos in there–)
This observation is astute:
The notion that strength of character (?) can isolate is paradoxical if not counterintuitive on some levels, no? Do you believe that Prufrock suffers from this paradox?
Also, this:
The interior prison is something many generations have wrestled with, but few have openly explored. I hear you saying that the isolation Prufrock experiences is with us still.
Question: can Prufrock be read as a cautionary text?
I definitely think that Prufrock suffers from this so-called paradoxal character strength/flaw of both individuality and isolationism. To answer the second question, yes, when a man kills himself at the end of a text focusing on that man’s severe inability to communicate with society, it can be read as a cautionary text.
Interesting how you tied the whole modernist movement together despite the different aspects. So many personal issues in every writing, I’m beginning to feel like all of these authors sat down together to make this modernist movement.
Oh wow, Jeff. You did a great job explaining this theme you figured out. I would never have been able to put those things into actual words and sentences for people to understand. I just kind of get the notion and know it. Wooow I’m impressed with how you put this into words: “being so much your own person that you actually become locked in isolation.” IMPRESSIVE. You’re so good at these philosophical things.. hahaha