ENGL 222 Lecture 15: Modernism
Document Summary
The main contention of the play is the justification of mrs. warren"s profession given that her daughter needed to get through school and that, after she no longer needs it, she continues her profession. This leads to vivie (her very modern daughter) abandoning any of the romantic prospects she or her mother had and disowning her mother who is sad the two won"t grow old together. Furthermore, her disinterest in the arts disgusts praed. We see the first signs of vivie"s modernism in her reply to praed"s artistic use of language: Now you know the sort of perfectly splendid modern young lady i am. It"s not so much what you hope as what you believe, that i want to know. Frank is the spry 20 year old who vivie has been hooking up with. S had an affair with mrs. warren back in the day.
