Fiction and Post-modernism

Post- contemporaneity is similar to Modernism because in m any(prenominal) respects the two movements argon similar. Post-Modernism simply means that a in the raw generation concluded, as its elders had fathere, that there are no certainties and that life has no meaning beyond what we mess impose upon it. It is in technique that Post-Modernism distinguishes itself from Modernism and it started in Europe and Latin American in 1945 and in matrimony America in 1960. In Post-Modernism, there was a notion that it was besotted that literature could see life steadily and see it whole.Instead, fragments, various(prenominal) perceptions, unintelligibility and even drug-induced hallucinations seemed more real and in touch with the times than any claim of stability or superstar. The stories I will be styleing for further in to, to see how they represent Post-Modernism, are The setting hen, by Robert Coover, The Balloon, by Donald Barthelme, and Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parro t, by Robert Olen Butler, Jr. The Babysitter is a fragmented written report active a broody taking care of two children tour their parents attend a cocktail bulge kayoedy.The legend has umpteen elements of sexuality in it and the same studyline included different endings, much(prenominal) as the babysitting being raped by her companion and his friend, the childrens father seducing the babysitter, and even the possibility of the young child dr protesting in the bathtub. The babysitter is watching television shows and switches foul between a drama and a mystery, and this mirrors the fragmented situation that is given to the reader.This tier represents Post-Modernism because Post-Modernism does not look for a merged sense of self in the individual like the cosmea the individual is a random accruement or collage of multifaceted pieces of the away gardening. In this story, the reader can be very humiliated as to what is very happening. Did she actually get raped by h er boyfriend and his friend? Or did she get seduced by the childrens father? At the end of the story, we dont know what happened and it is hinted that there was a murder, and there is no path to confirm this. This story has over atomic number 6 paragraphs, and they do not connect with each other.Going back to soften to piece them unneurotic to make different plots is impossible because some paragraphs dont even indicate which plot they are a part of. Along the same lines, this work of fiction embraces all aspects of the present culture and puts them in a fantastic combination as a way of conveying the fragmentation of contemporary life. Events in life arent unendingly neat and in order we can live scattered lives and this story represents how we see things in our everyday life. There is no chronological narrative, hardly instead scattered fragmentations that do not always make sense, fitting like how a persons true life is.Lastly, this story represents Post-Modernism because it is metafiction the check of the story is about the ferment of making fiction. I mat up this story had a mixture of different fiction stories in it, and as a reader we are not sure which one is the truth, or if any of them even happened for that matter. A device of metafiction is the story addressing specific conventions with the story itself, and The Babysitter accomplished this by victimization the conventions of paragraph and plot, and portraying them in an unconventional way.There were valet de chambrey elements of Post-Modernism used in The Balloon as well. This story is about a seemingly adjudicateless pilot that perfectly appeared in NYC. It seems the narrator inflated the heave one night while pack were sleeping and covers almost the entire southern half of Manhattan. Everybody is hypnotised by this balloon and are so fascinated as to where it came from and what it means. By the end of the story, it is unsure as to whether there really was a balloon there or whe ther it was just part of the imagination of the narrator.In Post-Modern thought, any sense of a unifying idea or philosophy or even the notion of scientific progress is rejected. In this story, there was no logical reasoning as to what the balloon represented. It appeared there and people were out(p) by it, solely there was no real explanation as to how it appeared and what the purpose of it was for. Imagination seemed to be used more than logic and reason. Also, a characteristic of Post-Modernism is that art cannot provide any explanation or unity for experience it cannot explain or unify experience.To me, the balloon was an artistic representation. large number were trying to figure out what it was meant for, but it seemed to provide no purpose for them. The only person it mightve provided purpose for was the narrator, but I call up it odd how he would inflate this big balloon and put it in a place where half of NYC can see, only to use it for his own purpose. Just like with Th e Babysitter, the point of the story is more about the process of metafiction rather than telling a story. I look the narrator was using the balloon as a symbol in his own story.The balloon represented a time of unhappiness for him because his love was away and when she came back the balloon was removed and reserved for another time of unhappiness. Lastly, there are elements of Post-Modernism in Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot. This story is about a parrot that supposedly used to be a man, but had died and was now a parrot. The parrot was bought by his widow, and now he could look more or less and see how her life is now and to reflect on his prior life and the way he is now.Post-Modernism does not look for a merge sense of self in the individual like the world the individual is a random collection or collage of miscellaneous pieces of the external culture. This story really did not have much unity and it wasnt certain whether the parrot was supposed be like a renasc ence of the man, or just a symbol of what he had become. Most people in life dont believe that a man could die and then become a parrot, and when the parrot is exploring the world around him, it is a random collection. All of the miscellaneous things he sees around him now, he sees in a different light.Similarly, art itself is a collage, a collection of fragments that create no unity. It isnt certain whether the parrot was only resilient after the man had died, or if the mans soul was alter in the parrot. The pieces of the story do not always fit together so the reader can be confused as to what truly happened and at the end the fate of the bird is unknown. Also, a characteristic of Post-Modernism is that satire, parody, jokes, and dispirited humor often dominate the tone of a work of fiction. This story had some funny elements in it.There is a scene where the man, in the form of the parrot, is mocking the man that his widow is with. He struggled to say words, and is suitable to call the man a cracker and also makes a find when the man is nude and says peanut, and this goes without saying that he is mocking the mans manhood size. He figured there is no way he can get his widow back, so he resorts to name trade in order to make the man who is loving his wife feel less superior. Post-Modernism was very similar to Modernism, but there is no unified sense of self in the individual.In most of these stories, the individual, like the world, is a random collection or collage of miscellaneous pieces of the external culture. I enjoyed reading these stories because they make you think a lot about what the point of the story is, if there even is one or the author could be using the metafiction for the story. Either way, these short stories challenge the reader to figure out why the author portrayed the characters and plot the way they are, and what we as readers can take away from the story.