Disillusionment of Humankind

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the theme of disillusionment and disorientation in American society prevailed in the works of American artists, particularly in the realm of visual arts and literature. This paper studies and analyzes, comparatively, the work of the poet, e. e. cummings, and the painter, Mark Rothko. It explains through their works how individualism and expressionism became the ideologies that helped illustrate the state of human suffering in the painting, "Gethsemane," by Mark Rothko, and the poem, "pity this monster, man-unkind," by e. e. cummings.

From the Paper:

"At the turn of the 20th century, American culture has flourished significantly, especially with the emergence of important fields of discipline that evoke individualism and free expression in works of art created by American artists. This phenomenon is especially evident after World War II, where the conflict among the world's nations had affected the psyche of American society and nation, one of the major players in the recently concluded war. After WWII, different lifestyles have emerged in the American society: consumerism, urbanism, and hedonism. These lifestyles gave birth to individualism and freedom of expression among people, especially now that the mass media made it possible for the society to exchange and extend messages and information to people located in different areas. However, despite these developments in American life, people have initially become disillusioned and disoriented about life, mainly due to the adverse effects of the war, which resulted to millions of deaths of people's lives and destruction of the physical environment of societies from all over the world."

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