Modernism at its best At the beginning of the twentieth century, literature changed and focused on breaking away from the typical and predicated patterns of normal literature. Poets at this time took full advantage of and expanded the idea of ​​mind consciousness on how the world, mind, and language interact and contradict each other. Many authors, such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Twain, used the pain and anguish of first-hand experiences to create and represent a new type of literature, modernism. In this era, literature and art became a larger part of society and influenced more American lives than ever before. During the literary period of American modernism, authors, artists, and poets strove to create literary and artistic works that challenged American traditions and sought to reinvent them, using new modes of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate the new modernity. social norms and express the pain and suffering of the First World War. With the new modernist American literature, Americans lose faith in their traditional beliefs and values, including the American dream. Many novels have used the concept of the American Dream to make people wonder if the dream still existed in the fog of World War I and the Great Depression. In describing the American dream, one is led to believe that the individual is driven to self-triumph and that his life will progressively improve in America. In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, the American dream is originally perceived by the thought of discovery and the pursuit of happiness. Money, parties, and a relaxed social outlook came easily to the American people in the 1920s. However, Fitzgerald demonstrates how American soldiers strove to create literary and artistic works that challenged American traditions and sought to reinvent them, using new ways of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate new modern social norms and express the pain and suffering of World War I, during the period of American modernism literature. Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen shed a new light on African American social groups, and a new era of art, music, and literature was formed. Poets, such as Pound and Elliot, shaped American poetry to fit the bizarre ruins of World War I and the Great Depression. In novels, such as The Great Gatsby, the American dream of success and hope was shattered by the stock market crash and the Great Depression. Through all of these attributes, American literature was significantly transformed in a literary period called modernism today.