20th Century Reflection about Cities - Essay Example

20th Century Reflection about Cities 20th Century Reflection about Cities The prominent of the 20th century tended to illustrate a dystopian view on cities as they cared about the future. The writers and civilizations feared possible events in the future because they had a foresight of danger (Phillips, 1997, p.43). Due to these reasons, dystopias have described and pondered such problems as pollution, poverty and totalitarianism. History tells that during the twentieth century the dictatorship and sole leadership were common across the world and by the mid of the century almost each state was under the rule of one leader. There were Nawabs ruling states in the South Asia, kings in Arab and Gulf States and dictators in Southeast Asia. Since each of those cities was under its own one ruler having the supreme authority, there could not have been a case of equality, justice and a prospect of utopian society. It was merely because democracy has not prevailed. Countries like China were also under tyrant rule until 1954. In the countries where there were no rulers, dictators emerged and took lead of the nations. Great Britain was under the king whereas Germany was under the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler. Utopian legacy or culture was termed by the writers as an illusion rather than a fact. There were numerous examples of destruction throughout the 20th century and not much peace and harmony that a utopian society reflects. The world wars and several racist and religious wars across Africa are all examples reflecting dystopia. Throughout the century, different writers used their writing skills to reflect their observations and experiences regarding the dystopian cities and culture. It is found that most of the writers during the 20th century tended to represent dystopian cities rather than a utopian society. One of the classic novels of James Joyce, Dubliners consists of quite some mind-provoking short stories. Among these short stories, an influential one is An Encounter, which grabs the attention by explaining the city from a boy’s viewpoint. It explains the curiosity of the boys who went for adventures and skipped their studies. The story covers the shipping regions and Wild West regions of the city. The story tilts towards the dystopian side as it explains the rude nature of not only the boys but also the workers and the old man depicted in the story. The boy Mahony has been portrayed as a carefree individual who decided not to wait for the friend and initiated the journey with the money he had. His cruel nature is reflected in the act when he has been shown throwing stones at cats rather having pity on them. On the other hand, the workers described in the story used to shout and scream at the boys, and this relates to a dystopian culture. The old man mentioned was also shown to sexually threaten the kids. All of these characters and their attitudes show the real nature of the society; as described earlier, utopian societies are mostly imagined and tend to exist only in fiction. That is why even in the short story like An Encounter some of the bitter truths and realities are portrayed. The poem below is taken from Max Eastman’s Harlem Shadows: the Poems of Claude McKay (1922). It is one of the heart-touching stories indicating the hunger and inequality among people. It further refers to high prices of fruits and food as a main factor behind this hunger. The poem relates to such real scenarios as hunger and poverty common during the 20th century in Africa. Inequality has always prevailed across the whole world, and that is exactly what the poet is indicating in his poem below. Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root Cocoa in pods and alligator pears, And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit, Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs, Set in the window, bringing memories Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills, And dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies In benediction over nun-like hills. My eyes drew dim, and I could no more gaze; A wave of longing through my body swept, And, hungry for the old, familiar ways, I turned aside and bowed my head and wept (Haslam and Asbee, 2012, p.148) The poem below is one of the works of McKay. The poem represents a negative side of New York as it had undergone quite a black history. Though until the 20th century New York had grown to become one of the most impressive attractions around the world, yet the crime rate was also very high there. During the 19th century, there were numerous riots, massacres, street crimes, etc.; all these activities paved their way into the 20th century as well. Homicides, burglary and robbery continued leaping, and that is exactly what the poet is trying to describe as important part of New York City. Out of the tenements, cold as stone, Dark figures start for work; I watch them sadly shuffle on, ’Tis dawn, dawn in New York (Haslam and Asbee, 2012, p.111) Another work from The Collected Poems of Langston (1994) represents a clear prospect of the dystopian view; in the story, a person even for doing something right is punished. The poet describes the situation where a person uses his right and tries voting for the overall good of the society but is tortured by others. In the poem, big popular industrialized cities are mentioned which could not provide any sort of help for the victims of crime and injustice. The poem presents the stance that these big popular cities were themselves under a dystopian law. Out of the tenements, cold as stone, Dark figures start for work; I watch them sadly shuffle on, ’Tis dawn, dawn in New York. Well, they rocked him with road-apples because he tried to vote and whipped his head with clubs and he crawled on his knees to his house and he got the midnight train and he crossed that Dixie line now he’s livin’ on a 133rd. He didn’t stop in Washington and he didn’t stop in Baltimore neither in Newark on the way. Six knots was on his head but, thank God, he wasn’t dead! And there ain’t no Ku Klux on a 133rd. (Haslam and Asbee, 2012, p.137) One of the other influential and popular works of the 20th century regarding the topic was Metropolis. The book had significant success, which led to its picturization. Metropolis lays particular emphasis on the early 20th century cities. It presents an influential image of these cities mostly regarding architecture and social structure. The work also contains an abstract or a futuristic approach in correspondence with the present cities. Based on this book, the film Metropolis has been released in 1927. A novel of Thea Von Harbou which has been published in 1925 inspired it. The first section of the film is concerned with cities, and the director of the film, Fritz Lang, acknowledged that the idea and inspiration for his story had come after his visit to New York City, during which he was quite amazed to see the city, its development and the prevailing trends. He appreciated skyscrapers, shining lights and bustling traffic. Lang thought that the continuous development in New York City is a sign of happy and beautiful life; however, his views changed as he had been exposed to some bitter realities: inequalities and harsh attitudes of the people. The movie Metropolis came into the theatres and gained a certain success, but alarming to see were the post movie comments by Lang, who had a different view on New York altogether by then. Such works during the 20th century paved the way or a tradition to the representation of cities as dystopian rather than utopian. Hence, it is unveiled from the analysis of some of the influential works created during the twentieth century that the literature of this era is a true reflection of the society and the prevailing social behaviours of that age. Since the society and social behaviours tend to have a very strong impact upon minds and the thinking style of people, poets and authors are also influenced by their environment, and most of the authors and poets of the 20th century, depicting different aspects of the metropolitan cities in their novels and poems, have used the theme of dystopian society. Reference list Haslam, S. and Asbee, S. eds., 2012. The twentieth century. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Phillips, C., 1997. Extravagant strangers: a literature of belonging. Boston: Faber and Faber. Read More