According to Merriam
Webster (n.d) literature is the, “writings having excellence of form or
expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest”. Literature
has been evolved in different periods and movements. This change in trend of
literature has been observed from medieval and early modern period to the
post-modern literature. As far as the literature of late 19th century is
concerned, it starts after High-Victorian period. In the late 19th century,
the perceived culture and ‘dominant values’ of Victoria era underwent
development, and this was the head start of modernism. This era is also
discussed as ‘Aestheticism’. (Rainsford, 2014)
American civil war ended
with many social changes and ‘post-war literature’ was distinct from that of
Renaissance literature. The contents and writing style of English literature was
also altered from ‘extravagant and fantastical’ to factual and routine life.
This late nineteenth-century is also known as Realistic Period. For instance, a
famous American novelist and short-story writer, Kate Chopin, portrayed ‘female
oppression and sexuality’ in her writings. (Rainsford, 2014). The
characters in Kate Chopin’s short stories were of mixed-race Americans and
Creoles. Some of elements that are found in Chopin’s novels and short stories
include ‘Woman’s self-realization’, ‘woman revolt against conformity’,
‘Attitude towards race’ and ‘Poverty’, ‘Lesbian elements’. (Koloski,
(n.d)) .
From 1900 to 1914,
naturalist period started which has a clear distinction from realism. This was
the start of 20th century literature. Rainsford, D (2014) says that
naturalism is the phenomenon in which human beings are considered only the part
of living world. In Particular, it refers to a trend which signifies a
globe from which divinity has vanished and substituted by ‘secular building of
thinkers’ who opposed to religion. The early twentieth’ short-story writers
were loyal to particular time and places. They brought our attention to ‘human
psychology’ and by the elements of symbolism and mannerism. (Rainsford,
2014)
From 1910, modernist
period started in America. The world war I (1914-1918) resulted in the massacre
and fall of cultural and political tradition which later on altered the ‘form
and content’ of literature. People started realizing how hard the war was and
how small the world was. Eventually the development of war technology,
automobiles and telephone took place in late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. Moreover, after the death of many writers in the war, English
Literature encountered a major movement. This movement was led by the group of intellectuals
known as ‘Bloomsbury group’ including Virginia Woolf. They focused on new
standards for sex and gender and promoted feminism. Similarly, another
movement, ‘The Harlem Renaissance’ was lead in America whose main focus were
the black people who were considered as slaves and inferior to white people.
These movements brought a great change in the history of literature and the
critics focused on the most neglected ideas. (Rainsford, 2014)
In High modernism (from
world war I to world war II) ‘Provocation’ had been the major trait of
literature. There was a great race of experimentation in this era. In this
period, new ideas were immerged from ‘psychoanalysis and ethnography’,
‘narrative’ and ‘imagist’ mode. In addition, Modernism is an urban phenomenon
that is connected to exile. The ‘lost generation’ of writers in America who
favored Europe and rejected US. For example, James Joyce, wrote about his
exile from Dublin. Similarly, Ulysses by James Joyce is based on the realist
elements, also follows ‘stream of consciousness’. (Rainsford, 2014)
After the world war I,
there was a need of relocating the broken pieces of the world. So, the text
that was written at that time included the social as well as political issues.
For instance, John Steinbeck portrayed the condition of poor people after the
Great Depression. However, the second world war did not expose the great
writers except for the Churchill whose speeches had great impact on the people
and George Orwell whose writings covered all social and political
aspects. (Rainsford, 2014)
Colonial English
literature existed in the Asia and Africa i.e., Nigeria, Kenya, and India. The
famous Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore also contributed to English
literature which was later on taught in schools during colonial era. In
post-colonial period, there was relocation of political power and ambiguity in
nature of ‘cultural and linguistic power’. The writers found themselves in a
dilemma to use their native language or the language used by their colonial
rulers. (Rainsford, 2014) After the partition of India and Pakistan,
many writers wrote about the conditions of people after partition. Moreover,
the themes of partition literature revolve around the exploitation of woman,
rape, fear, abduction, violence, brutality, and murder. (Aijaz Ahmad
Ganie, 2017)
Afterwards, a famous
writer Chinua Achebe made his mark in the Britain of having an ‘International
impact’. His writings made many post-colonial writers to put light on the
cultural and ethnic diversity. (Rainsford, 2014). Achebe wrote many short
stories which were based on the themes of independence, liberty, disobedience,
fear, and madness. (McManus, n.d.). The comparatively contradictory era of
post-modernism also focused on the structural design of buildings and intermixing
of culture and tradition. Moreover, the modernist literature put emphasis on
the individualism, experimentation, and absurdity. An example of theater of
Absurd is “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. (Rainsford, 2014)
If we consider the
writings of Virginia Woolf, she was mindful of the reality of society, nature,
and inner consciousness. She tried to connect her inner and outer worlds. In
her writings she starts from a connecting point and then express her ideas in
different ways. Virginia Woolf, at her time was the main subject of feminist
criticism (Chaudhary, 2018). She mostly wrote about equality, women’
destruction, equal rights, feminism, woman’s inferiority, women’s independence.
Her novels To The Light House, Orlando shows all the modernist
elements that were needed to be addressed for women. (UKEssays, 2018). The
techniques that are used in Virginia Woolf’ writings include symbolism, stream
of consciousness, narrative technique, and poetic style. One of the most famous
techniques, she used in her writing is the ‘Stream of Consciousness’. For
example, her novel Mrs. Dalloway is based on this literary device in
which Woolf talked about privacy, communication, and
loneliness. (Chaudhary, 2018).
If we specifically
discuss Virginia Woolf short story The Mark on the Wall, it does not
have any live characters, fascinating plot, and detailed setting. This story
put emphasis on first person point of view and follows the stream of
consciousness. In this story, Woolf consider a mark and see it under reality,
society, art, history, and life. The first persona ‘I’ does not tell us about
the identity of the character. The story depicts the flashes of thoughts that
came into her mind while looking at the mark. (Hai-ying, 2018) The
main themes of this story include gender role, change uncertainty, faith, and
trust. While looking at the wall, many issues strike her mind and she thinks of
the inequality between man and woman. She ponders why there is a man dominated
society out there and she still cannot have faith on the religion because
church is also man controlled. (McManus, n.d.). However, she was certain
about the uselessness of the newspaper when she says "Though it's no good
buying newspapers… Nothing ever happens” (Woolf, 1917). She believes that
nothing can help woman in changing their position or status. Moreover, the
woman only has the duty to serve as a wife. In addition, she also talks about
the gender roles that are specified for males and females by the society. The
narrator is also certain about the war, that war is man-made, and woman are
submissive to man and they cannot help in war as well. The mark can be a symbol
of the imperfection of society. The narrator of the story seems to be aware of
the norms of society at the time when this story was written. At that time
women had no right to cast vote or play any role in politics. The narrator also
focuses on the nature and shows her desire for freedom. She also talks about
the growth and survival of a person “tree; and trees grow, and we
don't know how they grow……. I like to think of the tree itself” (Woolf,
1917). The narrator symbolizes tree to herself because believes that the wood
of trees remain after they are cut off. She showed her desire to be alive
in the society even after her own death. In the whole story, the narrator is
actually trying to figure out where she stands in a male dominated society.
However, the ‘snail’ in the story is a symbol of sensitivity and patience. The
writer might point to the patience of woman in the cruel patriarchal
society. (McManus, n.d.)
In late 19th century,
nationalist enthusiasm throughout the subcontinent aroused the concern in
indigenous language. Thus, Rabindranath Tagore contributed in English
literature to make us aware of Bengali culture and creed. He had done many
experiments with the form and content of literature and he used colloquial
style in his writings. He perfectly describe the setting, characters, and plot
in his writings. (Kellman, n.d.). He has discussed the real life of woman
who are imprisoned and exploited in the male-controlled society. In his short
story Postmaster, he has represented the village life, social
conducts, and unfortunate ends. The theme in this story is the exploitation of
lower-class people by powerful. (Kellman, n.d.) This story also
depicts the loneliness, compassion, and wisdom. There are two main characters
in the story, one is innocent and responsible and voiceless girl while other is
cold man(postmaster) who is more connected to materialistic world. The
story, Postmaster, represents the condition of the woman in 19th century
in Bengal when woman were not given rights of education and they were
considered inferior. Tagore knew the importance of education for girls as well
that is why he put emphasis on it in his story. (Das, 2018) "I
was thinking," said the postmaster, "of teaching you to read."
And then for the rest of the afternoon he taught her the
alphabet” (Tagore, 1891) has shown that postmaster spend his free
time to teach the girl, but this was also his excuse to end loneliness.
Moreover, this story discuss the philosophy of life that no body stays forever,
and one has to live without other “The postmaster heaved a sigh…... he slowly
made for the boat.” (Tagore, 1891). Moreover, it has represented an
oppressed girl whose emotions were neglected for all the time and she was
supposed to live her life in poverty. However, the postmaster’s behavior
depicts the society behavior towards the woman. The poor girl, Ratan, still
expected and hoped that one day the postmaster will return which is a great
example of the phrase, “Expectations always hurt”. (Das, 2018)
The above discussion
concluded that the literature has been evolved and shaped from 19th to 20th century
due to socio-political aspects. New writing techniques were developed and
adopted by the writer. The political wars and society behavior brought writer’s
attention to the daily lives’ issues. These socio-political factors made 19th and
20th century writers to focus on equality, feminism, social class
difference, poverty, slavery, female oppression, patriarchal society,
self-realization, fear, rape, and abduction. Virginia Woolf and Rabindranath
Tagore spotlight the reality of life through their short stories The mark
on the wall and The postmaster respectively.
References
UKEssays. (November
2018). Virginia Woolf's Literary Themes Of Feminism. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/virginia-woolfs-literary-themes-of-feminism-english-literature-essay.php?vref=1
Aijaz Ahmad Ganie, M. R.
(2017). THE PLIGHT OF COMMON PEOPLE IN THE PARTITION LITERATURE OF INDIAN
SUBCONTINENT. Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies,, 4,
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Chaudhary, S. (2018).
Style and Technique of Virginia Woolf: A Critical Study. 311-318.
Das, B. (2018).
Rabindranath Tagore’s The Postmaster: A story of a silent sufferer. International
Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT), 6(1).
Hai-ying, W. (2018). A
Picture of “Subjective Reality”: A Narrative Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s “The
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(2014). STUDYING LITERATURE IN ENGLISH: AN INTRODUCTION. New York:
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