How to Explain Modernism to Your Pet in 5 Steps
A Quirky, Simplified Guide to Literary Chaos
So, you’ve decided to introduce your pet to Modernist literature—a literary movement that confused even the humans who created it. If your pet can understand commands like “sit” and “stay,” surely they can grasp stream of consciousness, fragmented narratives, and existential despair, right? Here’s how you can break it down for them:
Step 1: Start with the Basics – Reality is Overrated
Imagine you’re throwing a ball for your dog. Normally, it lands, and they fetch it. But in Modernism, the ball might float mid-air, dissolve into a memory of another ball, or become a metaphor for the futility of existence.
📖 Example: James Joyce’s Ulysses doesn’t just tell a story; it meanders through random thoughts, personal experiences, and philosophical detours. Much like your pet when they get distracted halfway through their own name.
Step 2: Time is an Illusion – Nap Whenever You Want
Modernist writers abandoned traditional timelines. Events don’t happen in order, and past, present, and future blur together.
🐱 Analogy for Your Pet: Imagine it’s dinner time, but instead of feeding you immediately, I talk about dinner from three days ago, then jump to a future dinner, then describe dinner from your perspective.
📖 Example: T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land jumps through time, mixing historical references, poetry, and existential dread—just like a cat mysteriously teleporting around the house.
Step 3: Words Don’t Always Make Sense, and That’s Okay
In Modernism, words aren’t necessarily tied to meaning. Sometimes they just exist in a chaotic jumble, reflecting inner thoughts, emotions, and a general distrust of reality.
🐕 Pet-Friendly Explanation: Imagine barking, but instead of meaning “I want to go outside,” your barks randomly shift to “Why do we even go outside? What is a door? Do I exist?”
📖 Example: Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons is filled with phrases like “A dog, a dog, a little monkey, a smallest trunk”—which, let’s be honest, is already how a dog understands human language.
Step 4: Nothing is Certain—Not Even Your Treats
Modernist literature often challenges readers to question reality, meaning, and even the author’s intentions.
🐾 Pet-Friendly Thought Experiment: You see a treat. You’re told it’s for you. But is it really for you? What does “treat” even mean?
📖 Example: Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is about two characters waiting endlessly for something that never arrives—similar to when your pet waits for food, only for you to say, “Not yet.”
Step 5: Embrace the Chaos and Enjoy the Journey
The best way to approach Modernism is not to fight it. Let it wash over you, much like how your pet accepts life as a series of inexplicable events.
📖 Example: Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse feels like drifting thoughts rather than a linear story—kind of like a cat staring out the window for hours, lost in their own inexplicable feline Modernist novel.
Final Thoughts: Your Pet Might Already Be a Modernist
Modernism is about rejecting structure, embracing absurdity, and questioning reality—which is basically how pets operate all the time. If your cat stares at nothing for hours or your dog chases their own tail for no reason, congratulations—they’ve understood Modernism better than most people!
References:
- Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land. 1922.
- Joyce, James. Ulysses. 1922.
- Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. 1927.
- Stein, Gertrude. Tender Buttons. 1914.
- Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. 1953.
