Texts_Draw_on_the_Ideas_and_Attitudes_of_the_Time_and_Place_in_Which_It_Was_Written

“Every text draws on the ideas and attitudes of the time and place in which it was written and which it is set. However, it may have many ways of treating these – perhaps agreeing with some and being critical of others, or possibly avoiding them altogether” All texts derive ideas and attitudes from the context of the time in which they are set and written. The Modern Period began in approximately 1890 and went through to about the 1950’s. The events of this time had impacts on the text written at the time and influenced the texts subject matter and style. In the Modern Period, composers began to experiment with text types and began to go against the formalities and structures of earlier periods. Women began to be more involved in society and more and more women began to write. Composers also began to express their opinions more freely, often explored previously taboo subjects such as sexuality and criticized political institutions. They wrote to shock and wrote bluntly about the things going on around them and did not try to “cover” up the bad things and make life seem wonderful. The social context of the Modern Period was a lot different to the preceding Victorian Period. There was change everywhere in society and it was very quick change. The roles of genders were becoming much less defined. Women finally began to gain freedom and rights in society, for example, Australia gave women the right to vote on a federal level in 1902 and were among the first in the world to be granted this right. New work types and opportunities were starting to be created in many different parts of the world. Also, class structures were starting to be challenged. People began to question the structures and hierarchies of society and people in lower classes began to fight for freedom and for the same rights as everyone else in society. The historical context of the Modern Period was mainly composed of the rise in totalitarian leadership – the belief that everyone should have equal power and wealth. As idealistic as this concept of ruling seemed, it created a lot of devastation between countries. World Wars I and II occurred during the modern period and these became a basis of writing for many authors. The Spanish Civil War and the Russian Revolution also occurred in this period. The surfacing of mass media and rapid technological development were also major developments that occurred during the modern period. The ideological context of the Modern Period also was undergoing lots of change. Suffragette movements led to increased feminism and increased female participation on all levels of society. The traditional roles of the woman – staying at home, looking after the children and doing the housework, cleaning and cooking – were questioned and many roles which in the past had been only ever taken by men were being filled by women. The modern era also saw new ideologies emerge which led to the rearrangement of the structure of power. For example, Socialism and Fascism were both new forms of political power. Socialists believed that everything should be owned by everybody and everyone should have equal access to all resources and possessions. On the other hand, Fascists believedthat the government should have complete and absolute power. Both of these new regimes were quite demolishing. Scientists such as Charles Darwin speculated the origins of the human race and revealed that we were not the “centre of the universe”. Emphasis in religion began to become more focused on interpretation rather than absolute truths. In politics, there were many leaders who tried to create totalitarian societies. The most famous of totalitarian leaders were Hitler (Germany), Stalin (Russia), Mussolini (Italy) and Franco (Spain). In Australia in 1901, under the rule of the first Prime Minister Edmund Barton, we became our own nation. Many people started to question government rule and authority, people began to want more say in how their country was governed and wanted to be more included in the choices made by governments. Together, these contexts and the events of the Modern Period impacted on what authors wrote, in both subject matter and the style in which they wrote in. George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” is an effective example of a modern text that clearly shows how the events of the Modern Period impacted on the texts written at the time. Orwell was a socialist and fought for the socialist side briefly during the Spanish Civil War. “Animal Farm” is based around the history of Soviet communism and the events of the Russian Revolution. The pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, are based on Stalin and Trotsky respectively. This novel has been impacted on by the events of the time in which it was written. Orwell felt very strongly against totalitarian leadership and this novel seemed to be his way of ‘warning’ us that totalitarian leadership is not as good as it seems and of showing that there will always be a natural human need for leadership and a want of leading others. “Animal Farm” has also been influenced in terms of the style in which it is written. Most modernists wrote with deeply personal viewpoints and Orwell has effectively illustrated his viewpoint of what was happening at the time through this novel. Another composer who was influenced by the context of the Modern Period was Wilfred Owen. His poem “Dulce et decorum est” was written during the First World War. It is the story of a group of World War I soldiers who are trying to find a safe place to rest. They are attacked by gas shells and one of the men drops his gas mask and Owen talks about how he sees the man die and that people are wrong to believe that it is good to die for their country. The gruesome war shattered the visions painted by earlier Victorian writers who made war seem like a noble endeavor. The style of this poem is fitting of the typical modern text – Owen expresses a very deep and personal viewpoint about war and he directly challenges the responders. All texts are influenced by what is happening, the values and the beliefs of the time in which they are set and written. During the modern period, there were many events such including World Wars I and II and the Russian Revolution that had large impacts on what writers were composing during that time. Many texts in the modern period challenged the issues of the Modern period; authors such as Orwell and poets such as Owen did so effectively and provoked their audiences to think differently about their world and what was happening around them. Modernists wrote more freely and were not afraid to put forward and express their often critical points of view and this was mainly because of the events that were happening around them. Their styles of writing and what composers wrote about were strongly influenced by the events around them as can be seen in the novel “Animal Farm” and in the poem “Dulce et decorum est”.