Age of Anxiety

So today we talked about how at the end of the war everyone was anxious about everything... pretty much how we are all feeling right now. 


Was There Anxiety at the Paris Peace Conference? 

• FOR SURE
• they were happy that it was happening, but they were supper nervous as to what was going to come out of it 
• The Allies loaded reparations on Germany because they wanted to weaken Germany as much as possible 
• They were ANXIOUS that Germany was going to attack them again 
• There was also anxiety in America over what the people wanted v. what Wilson wanted 

Everyone at the Peace Conference 

Side Note: At this time, France was in its Third Republic 

Plot twist though --> Germany was the most anxious !!!!

• The German people were starving at this time, mostly due to the fact that they were still being blockaded by the navies 
• They worried that if they agreed to terms, they would have to tax the people like crazy to get money which means the people would starve 
• BUT if they didn't agree they would continue to starve 

Germany 

Germany's status at the end of the war: 

- They had a revolution kind of like the one in Russia 

- Modern socialists took charge 

A popular question of the day was: Why weren't they (They being Germany) Communist? 

-They weren’t losing morale 

Communism was already diluted- didn’t really take that much of a hold 

They wanted to establish real political democracy and civil liberties, and they favored the gradual elimination of capitalism 

People were appalled by the prospect of civil war and revolutionary terror

Balfour Declaration 

-Euro powers wanted middle east land 

-The ottoman turks fell, so the Europeans had an opportunity to split up the middle east  up 

-While they were cutting it up, they designated an area for the Jewish people in Israel

-Declared that Britain favored a “National Home for the Jewish People” in palestine

- But without prejudicing the civil and religious rights of the existing non- Jew communities 

The British to the Jews 

Results of the Treaty/War/Etc. 

Four very important people we have to know: 

1) Nietzsche 

He was a philosopher who was part of a small band of thinkers in the late 19th century to challenge the belief in progress and the general faith in the rational human mind.

Important Thoughts: 

- "God is Dead": In Nietzsche's view, recent developments in modern science and the increasing secularization of European society had effectively 'killed' the Christian God, who had served as the basis for meaning and value in the West for many, many years.

-ubermensch= the solution to the death of God 

-will to power= humans are always wiling to inflict their will on others 

*He relates to the Age of Anxiety because his ideas about God being dead and such came from a place of anxiety, and created further anxiety* 

2) Marcel DuChamp 

He was an artist, chess player, and visionary 

Important Views: 

-Dadaism- attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior, delighting in outrageous conduct 

How does this make sense for the age of anxiety 

People start questioning everything- causes anxiety 

DuChamp’s most famous work is a urinal in which he dubbed “Fountain” 

It’s the opposite of what it is 

Everything is all mixed up in this time→ Age of Anxiety 

3) Sigmund Freud 

Important Views: 

-Unconscious v conscious 

-Animal instincts 

-Ego 

-How you grow up affects the way you think→ it is all society’s fault 

-Search for meaning in a time where people could not find meaning 

-Explain the unexplainable 

-One of the major things= ego, superego, id 

- Talk therapy 

4) Pablo Picasso 

- He was an artist

- His works represent Disenchantement with war--> everything is not what it seems 

and now.. you knew this was coming: 

What we should be doing tonight: 

What we are actually doing thanks to Yarn: