Jordan+D

1. Modernism is a way of thought and practice. It is also, an opposition to the Enlightenment movement, and rejects Enlightenment ideals. A couple examples of the rejection of Enlightenment ideals is the belief in one, all mighty creator and the thinking of Enlightenment in general. Modernism is often and mostly associated with the Western society with the ideas that old time art and thinking is completely outdated and that it should not be needed to follow. Other forms of rejection are old time architecture and literature. This was mainly because of the fact that life was becoming fully industrialized and political ideas were changing as well. People within Modernism are very self-conscious. This would then lead into different forms of experimentation.

3. The poem itself is modernist because of how the poem expresses such depression. “ Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets” (Eliot). The quote mentions how he sees the streets. In the persons eyes in the poem, he witnesses how there is not many people out there, which is in a way looking at things half empty instead of half full. The words half-deserted streets give evidence to that. Also, certain statements, such as “women come and go” (Eliot), gives evidence that the person in the poem does not keep women very much in his life. To most people, that is more or less depressing to not be able to keep someone in their life. The person in the poem could also possibly show T. S. Eliot’s view on life as well.

4. Existentialism is the belief in existence over essence and that objects and people are given meaning through action. "I think; therefore, I exist" (Descartes). Many people who consider themselves existentialists are very independent. Many times than others it comes down to just depending on yourself and no one else. An example of this would be a person who depends on someone to get them everything they need to live. If a person does this, they are NOT an existentialist because being an existentialist requires you to think and do for oneself. Many people within existentialism also believe that if people defy or do not conform to society that person is showing that they exist. Overall, most of existentialism has its own rules that all existentialists follow on the journey to becoming existentialists.