Literature has changed radically between the 19th century and the 20th and 21st centuries. The idealistic views of British writers turned to skepticism as Britain entered the war and inequality grew. Writers of the 20th and 21st centuries wrote realistically about what was happening in the world. The Moment Before the Shot by Nadine Gordimer and “The Day They Burned the Books” by Jean Rhys are two stories that show the collapse of idealism in the 20th and 21st centuries. British colonialism caused many problems to the natives and the British by birth. who lived in the colonies. The illusion of patriotism was shattered as conflicts over race, class, and gender equality came to the surface. The Moment before the Gun Went Off by Nadine Gordimer discusses racial issues in South Africa. The story itself is very realistic in its approach to the very complex racial issues in South Africa. Unlike 19th century stories that discuss how things should be; Accounts from the 20th and 21st centuries tell the situation as it is. This style of writing makes the reader feel like the writers have lost hope in a healing world. Although it's not hard to understand why writers have such a hopeless view of their world. The moment before the gun goes off shows how divided the world really is. The story shows how the issue of race was represented in black and white, when a white farmer accidentally shot his illegitimate black son. Even though the farmer knows it's not a racial crime, he knows people will use it as one. “How will they ever know, when they file newspaper clippings, evidence, evidence, when they look at the photographs and see his ---- guilty face! guilty! t...... middle of paper ...... today's writers explore the gray area of ​​the world. In The Moment Before the Gun Goes, Gordimer shattered the idealistic view that the world's problems are two-sided. By his very factual writing style; she wrote about realism. His story made the reader feel and think about the problem because the problem had never gone away by the end of the story. Rhys' story "The Day They Burned the Books" shows how patriotism was falling due to colonization. Most 19th-century writers felt close ties to England and held idealistic views because they were nationalists. However, without nationalism, idealistic views collapse and skepticism takes over. In conclusion, inequality and war become present in the lives of many writers; idealism has vanished. The feeling of uncertainty about whether the world would actually improve led writers to write stories filled with skepticism..