Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
Sherwood Anderson
EugeneLewis
O’Neill
Sinclair
Lesson 10
The Sad Young Men
Pre-Text Questions
What is the theme of this essay?
In which paragraph is it stated?
What do you know about the Lost Generation?
Is it a term of a literary movement?
What kind of writing is this one?
What is the function of the first paragraph?
How do these writers develop this paragraph?
sensationally romanticized
treated in a passionate, idealized manner to shock
thrill and rouse the interest of people
Why a No…more…than…sentence structure is used?
the so-called Revolt of the Younger Generation has
been more commented upon than all the other
aspect
nostalgic
bittersweet longing for things, persons,
or situations of the past
nostalgia
Can we replace questionings by questions?
What literary device is used in the two phrases-nostalgic recollection and curious questionings ?
The slightest mention of the decade brings nostalgic
recollections to the middle-aged and curious
questionings by the young
At the very mention of this ten-year, middle-aged
people begin to think about it longingly and young
people become curious and start asking all kinds
of questions
What has been talked about after the colon?
recollection
questionings
further explanations
memories
questions
deliciously illicit thrill
an improper action but very enjoyable and exciting
speakeasy
flask-toting sheik
flapper
drugstore cowboy
Why do they think the answers to such questions
must necessarily be both yes and no ?
business
affair or matter; process
see in perspective
to view or judge things or events in a way that
show their true relations to one another
see things in the right perspective
see things in the wrong perspective
jazzmad youth
it was reluctantly realized…that our country was no
longer isolated in either politics or tradition
some people in the U. S. fully understood, though
unwillingly, that the U. S. could no longer remain
isolated politically or in matters of social customs
and practices. If these people did not state their
views openly, at least, they understood it
subconsciously.
we had reached an international stature
we had developed and grown into a nation
respected and esteemed by all other nations in
the world
What is your understanding of the artificial walls of
provincial morality ?
What literary device is used in this phrase?
we have become a world power so we can no
longer, on our action, just follow the principles of
right and wrong as accepted in our own country,
nor can we remain isolated geographically
protected by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In
other words, the U. S. can no longer pursue a
policy of isolationism.
Victorian gentility
excessive or affected refinement and elegance
attributed to Victorian England
The rejection of Victorian gentility was, in any
case, inevitable.
In any case, America could not avoid casting aside
its middle-class respectability and affected
refinement.
impersonality
the quality or state of not involving
personal feelings or the emotions
What features does the American industry have?
room
suitable opportunity; occasion; scope
There is no doubt that your design is excellent,
but we believe there is still plenty of room for
improvement.
After WWI, America became a highly industrialized
country. There were big successful factories
operating everywhere. Business became huge
corporations devoid of any human feelings and the
ruthless desire to dominate was exercised on a
large scale. In this new atmosphere, the principles
of polite, courteous and considerate behaviour and
conduct that were formed in a quieter and less
competitive age (before WWI) could no longer exist.
The war acted merely as a catalytic agent in this
breakdown of the Victorian social structure
What is compared to a catalytic agent?
The war only helped to speed up the breakdown of
the Victorian social structure
What does a pattern of mass murder refer to?
after the shooting was over, were turned…to the
destruction of an obsolescent nineteenth-century
society
when the war was over, the young people used
their newly released violent energies, both in
Europe and America, to destroy the 19th century
society that was getting old and becoming
unacceptable
in America at least, the young people were strongly
inclined to shirk their responsibilities. They
pretended to be worldly-wise, drinking and behaving
naughtily. They pretended to live like
unconventional artists or poets, breaking the moral
code of the community.
What is the relationship between this sentence and
the following ones?
What did these youth do?
much-publicized orgies
wild, riotous, licentious merrymakings which were
often and widely reported in newspapers and
magazines
Greenwich Village
What does the crash of the world economic
structure refer to ?
the Great Depression
How many subjects are there in the second
sentence of paragraph 5?
the stalemate of 1915-1916
the increasing insolence of Germany
our official reluctance to declare our status as a
belligerent
that our government was reluctant to declare war
our young men began to enlist under foreign flags
our young men joined the armies of foreign countries
to fight in the war
John Dos Passos
What can we learn about the youth’s idea of war
from this quotation?
magnolia-scented
fracas
a noisy, disorderly fight or quarrel
Furthermore, there were…idealistic and exciting.
Furthermore, many speakers at high school
meetings told the boys that hard life of the war
would help to form their character. These speakers
convinced more than enough these boys, who were
sensible in many other respects, that fighting in the
European war would be of great value to them
personally, in addition to being idealistic and
exciting.
Fourth-of-July bombast
pompous and patriotic speeches made during the
Fourth of July celebrations
Why do the authors choose the phrase had been
guilty of ?
outgrown town and families
What literary device is used in this sentence?
could no longer adapt themselves to lives in their
home towns or their families
resume the pose of self-deceiving Victorian
innocence
to resume living and behaving simply and
innocently as the former Victorian social structure
required them to do
Greenwich Village set the pattern.
The writers and artists living in Greenwich Village
set the example which other young intellectuals
throughout the country followed.
their minds and pens inflamed against war,
Babbittry, and “Puritanical” gentility,
What literary device is used in this sentence?
metonymy
it was only natural that hopeful young writers
whose minds and writings were filled with violent
anger against war, Babbittry, and “Puritanical”
gentility, should come in great numbers to live in
Greenwich Village, the traditional artistic center.
What are matchsticks and conflagration compared
to respectively?
misdeeds of the non-intellectuals
conflagration
a large, destructive fire
to intensify and spread this revolt of the young by
their own misdeeds
fast living in a reckless, wild, dissipated way
set
a group of persons sharing a common interest
Each town was proud that it had a group of wild,
reckless people, who lived unconventional lives
Belleau Wood
Chateau-Thierry
How can we understand the word toy ?
Model T
Ford Model T 1924
the Dutch Colonial home in Floral Heights
Rotary luncheon
smug, self-satisfied, conformist
boobery
in cultural matters
burden
repeated, central idea; theme
the burden of a speech
The burden of the volume was…being ignored,
The main theme of all the articles in the book was
that people were not paying serious attention to
what the most gifted and intelligent people (the
young intellectuals) were saying,
Journalism was a mere adjunct to moneymaking
Journalism is only a tool that helps businessmen
to make money
to strive to get all the material things one’s
neighbors or associates have