First of all, I FINALLY GOT THIS TO WORK!!
T.S. Elliot was primarily focused on how cultural life was shaped after the civil war. He focuses mainly on the place men were forced into society after the war. In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Elliot explains the modern man and his personality traits. He presents the man to be educated, emotionally stunted, and neurotic in a dramatic monologue. Although throughout the poem the main masculine character seems to be attempting to address a lover, but holds himself back because he believes he can see past the thrill of it. Throughout the entire poem the mans main concern is his inadequacies, and scolds himself over his emotional thoughts. He seems to have a emotional distance from what he believes the rest of mankind to have. The character seems to be growing older throughout the poem, which poses another insecurity for him, so he attempts to stay young.
In "Tradition and the Individual Talent," Elliot presents the masculine struggle to find their place in society through his explanation of tradition, and how its changed the place where men reside in society from where they once were in the past.
In "The Waste Land" Elliot explores again culture and society after WWI and modern civilization through four speakers.
Throughout each of these works, Elliot focuses specifically on how the war affected society and how people found their place in it after the war.
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You're back a long way with the Civil War--how about World War I? Eliot (with one "l") is writing after WWI, as you say in the last part here. Where did the Civil War come from, I wonder? This is interesting what you say about Eliot's essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Do you see it as a "masculine" struggle? Or do you think Eliot is suggesting that? How?
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