Modernism is a movement that began in the early 1900s as a way to break away from traditional thinking and move toward a new way of thinking about the ever-changing world and its impact on society. Professor Mary Klages offers her thoughts on modernism and its characteristics as well as her thoughts on postmodernism, a movement that later followed modernism, in her article titled "Postmodernism." In Arthur Miller's essay Tragedy and the Common Man, Miller gives his ideas on tragedy and the tragic hero, elements of modernism found in his play Death of a Salesman. Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet is a piece that highlights the characteristics written by Klages in his article and found in the works of postmodernism. Although Miller's and Mamet's plays both deal with salesmen and the troubles of capitalism occurring in such a stressful and competitive field, the way each author tells their story distinguishes each work and places it into a category of modernism or postmodernism . In his essay, “Postmodernism” spends quite a bit of time writing about modernism because it predates postmodernism. According to Klages, modernism is "the movement in the visual arts, music, literature, and theater that rejected old Victorian norms about how art should be created, consumed, and what it should mean" ( Klages, 1). One of the hallmarks of modernism, she writes, is "the emphasis on impressionism and subjective writing" and "the rejection of the distinction between 'high' and 'low' or popular culture" (Klages, 1-2). The themes of tragedy and tragic heroes were limited to higher art forms, but modernism took this exclusivity and brought it to lower art forms, as exemplified by Death o...... middle of paper by Arthur Miller.... ...no point trying to make sense of your life, so these writers offer up their stories and plays and let the chips fall where they may. Modernism and postmodernism are movements that sought freedom from traditional ways of thinking. Each movement offers its own unique characteristics that differentiate them from one another. Miller's essay on tragedy, in which he gives his ideas on why the common man is equally worthy of being considered a tragic hero, helps readers identify Willy Loman as a tragic hero. When readers read Miller's piece, they may associate his work with a work of modernism. Mamet's play, on the other hand, is a work of postmodernism because it has no tragic hero, there is no tragedy present, it is just a play about two salesmen and their daily lives. There is no meaning to seek since Mamet does not attempt to give one..