QUESTION
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Discussion post comparing two texts
It seems impossible to discuss three of the most iconic fiction writers in a single week, so select two of this week’s stories and discuss how they enact/epitomize the modernist slogan penned by Hemingway: “we are all a lost generation,” i.e. who’s lost, and in what ways?
(no need to make a references or work cited page)
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| Subject | Literature | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Discussion Post Comparing Two Texts
Comparing Winter Dreams by Fitzgerald and Barn Burning by Faulkner
‘We are all a lost generation’ is a slogan that Hemingway used to refer to the generation that emerged after the Great War. He used it in his novel, The Sun Also Rises, to refer to the lack of purpose that resulted from the disenchantment faced by the generation that survived through the Great War. Most of these men lost the meaning of life resulting to pointlessness, loss of courage, and loss of patriotism. Therefore, how do the stories by Fitzgerald, Winter Dreams, and by Faulkner, Barn Burning, validate Hemingway’s slogan, ‘We are all a lost generation?’
In Winter Dreams by Fitzgerald, Dexter is lost in the pursuit of his dreams to have a romantic life with an upper class woman, Miss Jones. Dexter ends his employment as a caddie validating the very beginning of acts which would lead him to desire material accomplishment, just like the generation in ‘The Sun Also Rises’ by Hemingway. He relinquishes state school for a desire for a better university, which his resources will be financially limited. After success in a laundry business adventure, he receives a weekend pass at a golf club where he meets Miss Jones, and falls in love with her. During this period, Dexter realizes that Miss Jones’ affection is driven by the wealth a man owns. She is taken for a date by different rich men until she is finally married to a cheating and drunkard man, who leaves her at home to look after children. Dexter gets information that Miss Jones has lost her beauty and charms, he then loses his imaginations and dreams about a romantic relationship with an upper class woman. Dexter realizes that his pursuit of material desires has left him empty.
On the other side, Barn Burning by Faulkner shows the overwhelming poverty that Mr. Snopes and his family experience in an age of justice. Mr. Snopes experience hate, anger, and confusion due to the class they belong to in the society. However, Mr. Snopes chooses to vent his discontentment on others, while ignoring the prejudice they face. Hence, Hemingway’s slogan ‘We are all a lost generation.’
Generally, these stories depict the Hemingway’s slogan, ‘We are all a lost generation,’ by enacting how the generation during and after World War I felt alienated from the society, with no escape or hope for future direction.
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References