Modernism is . a literary movement that attempted to promote the idea that individual freedoms were subservient to the will of the ruling classes in any given society a literary movement that championed the power of the individual to overcome any obstacle and to forcibly shape his or her environment to achieve his or her goals a literary movement that emerged after World War I and employed experimental techniques to capture and depict the contradictions and complexities of life a literary movement that emerged after the Civil War and attempted to capture the distinct dialects and traditions of people in different parts of the country