Understanding Argumentative Texts, Society, and Modernism
Argumentation in Persuasive Texts
Argument: A persuasive case characterized by intentionality, aiming to convince or persuade through evidence and reasoning. The appellate function is predominant, seeking to achieve its purpose in argumentative texts by presenting evidence and reasons.
Argumentative Structure
- Thesis: The fundamental idea of the text, which the author seeks to demonstrate.
- Argumentative Body: Contains arguments that confirm or reject the thesis, integrating quotations, arguments from authority, examples, and other elements that reinforce the defended opinion.
- Conclusion: Confirms or refutes the thesis.
Types of Arguments
- Objective or Scientific: Requires a logical and objective development of the argument, based on data.
- Subjective or Opinion-Based: Based on the author’s reflection, potentially employing any method in the reflection.
Society and Culture at the Turn of the Century
The restoration of the monarchy facilitated a period of capitalist expansion. Political stability necessitated new markets, originating in Spain. The disaster of ’98—the loss of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the USA—and the war in Morocco triggered Spain’s decline as a major power. Pessimism grew in Spain’s major industrialized areas. The proletariat expanded and organized to assert their rights, creating social tensions.
Crisis at the End of the Century
The late nineteenth century saw the widespread acceptance of scientific knowledge that challenged long-held religious beliefs, such as the Earth not being the center of the universe. This confirmation of scientific truths led to a religious crisis, prompting individuals to seek refuge in science. However, science could not answer all of humanity’s problems.
Modernism: A Response to Crisis
Modernism emerged as a response from intellectuals to the crisis at the end of the century. It represented a new artistic movement and a new attitude toward life, originating in Latin America with Rubén Darío as its leader. Modernists drew inspiration from influential literary figures, including American Romantic writers, Spanish writers Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro, and two essential trends in French poetry from the last third of the century:
Parnassianism and Symbolism
- Parnassianism: Emphasized aestheticism and defended balance and perfection, encapsulated in the phrase “art for art’s sake.”
- Symbolism: Focused on indefiniteness and vague suggestion, identifying the poet’s inner world with the external landscape.
Themes and Styles in Modernism
The rejection of everyday reality led modernists to express intimacy and their feelings. Like the Romantics, they expressed a desire for escape, oriented toward exotic and distant worlds, idealized in time and space.
The Generation of ’98
Late twentieth-century Spanish writers, influenced by the dominant modernist movement, maintained a critical attitude toward life and sought a renewal of language. Azorín, in articles published in ABC in 1913, referred to these writers as the “youth of 1898” or the Generation of ’98.
Although distinctions between modernism and the Generation of ’98 are debated, it remains important to highlight the reflections on Spain and the fin de siècle crisis by these writers.