TOW #1: "What Are Master-pieces"

Through her trademark unusual style Gertrude Stein, in her unconventional essay What Are Masterpieces and Why Are There So Few of Them, attempts to explain her own thoughts on what constitutes a masterpiece. A well-known figure in American literature and often called a pioneer of modernist literature, Stein presents a throughout analysis of how great works are made. Stein addresses ideas to an intellectual and philosophically curious audience, perhaps to those who strive to create masterpieces of their own or readers inspired by great pieces. During the time the essay was published in 1935, America was still slumped in the Great Depression, causing many, like Stein, to lose hope that more masterpieces would be able to be produced. Stein uses her controversial writing style to add intrigue to her agreement, giving her ideas a unique flow. Her use of colloquial language and astonishing lack of use of normal grammar gives the essay a feel quite similar to a babbling brook. In abandoning the rules for typical prose and purposely leaving a certain amount of ambiguity in her writing, Stein is able to lead the reader to the conclusion, “And so there we are and there is so much more to say but anyway I do not say that there is no doubt that masterpieces are masterpieces in that way and there are very few of them” (Stein 138). In addition to laughing in the face of generic conventions, Stein illustrates her point by including unusual metaphors. She explains our perceived identity of ourselves by saying, “I am I because my little dog knows me but, creatively speaking the little dog knowing that you are you and your recognizing that he knows, that is what destroys creation” (Stein 132). The use of figurative language and run on sentences keeps the audience on their toes and gives a deeply passionate tone to the text. Stein uses her essay as a way to explain to the world what a masterpiece is, what it is not, and why it is so rare. By repeating ideas of identity, memory, time, and human nature, Stein defends her thesis that a masterpiece includes none of these qualities and that is why there are so few.