The United States Paragon Of Postmodernism Or Prematurely

The United States: Paragon of Postmodernism or Prematurely Labeled? The staunch demand for women’s suffrage, the push for equality in the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War... Such tumultuous events characterized the 1960s, the turbulent era which irrevocably shaped the history and foundation of the United States. The movements for this time were heavily influenced by the writings and ideas expounded upon by earlier Americans. Many authors, during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s especially, greatly impacted later authors. Langston Hughes was one such author that was heavily influenced by the mindset during the Harlem Renaissance and the issues people of color faced pre-Civil Rights movement. The poem Harlem, from his 1951 poem†¦show more content†¦This led to the era being known as â€Å"The Jazz Age† in music, according to Max Roach in his article â€Å"What Jazz Means to Me† (3). In these places, people of color often threw off the fetters of social oppression for a while and masked their discontent und er a wave of music. However, many still experienced an underlying anger and disillusionment with American society—a society that consistently marginalized them. The movement largely featured people of color writers, giving them a voice and a racial identity. Such writings often critiqued the circumstances of the â€Å"black† American, or presented social criticism. The movement was rooted in the idea of social change, and laid the foundation for the Civil Rights movement that would come later in the 1960s as well as â€Å"set the foundations for all later African American literature,† according to Allen Dunn and George Hutchinson in Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal (446). Despite writing â€Å"Harlem† in 1951 Hughes was still heavily influenced by the earlier authors and the culture of jazz. His writings compound earlier issues with the newer ones today, continuing issues for people of color that have never been resolved. Juxtaposing imagery of surplus with those of ruin correlates the two, suggesting that surplus leads to ruin. If a raisin embodied a dream deferred, it would make the dream appear weakened, dry. However, there is still some juice