what did it mean to be modern in the 1930s

Please respond to one of the following questions in an essay of six to eight pages. This exam addresses only the material covered since the third paper: that is, the readings on the 1930s, from Levine’s “American Culture and the Great Depression” through Greenberg and Sontag, and all related lectures. Remember to identify which question you are answering, and to number your pages. This essay will be worth thirty percent of your final grade.

3. What did it mean to be “modern” in the 1930s? What visions of modernity—positive, negative, neutral or uncertain—do you see expressed in our readings and other sources on Depression society and culture? Would you say that the overall thrust of 1930s culture was toward a promising future or toward a comforting past? Or something else?

No outside sources or quotes other than the work listed in the first paragraph.