American modernism was a period of time between 1900 and 1960 in which new ideas in art, music, and literature emerged as America transformed into a nation rapidly expanding city. These ideas changed the way people thought and acted and gave rise to new ways of writing. A very important concept for Literary Modernism is individualism. Individualism concerns a single person's beliefs, needs, well-being, and achievements compared to those of other individuals and society. This links to the modernist theme of valuing the individual. By trusting themselves and not conforming to others, the characters are heroic in the face of a future they cannot control. Individualism and Modernism, together, have inspired and continue to inspire the writings of the past, present and future. The individualistic characteristics in Self-Reliance, The Great Gatsby, and True Grit indicate their connection to Modernism. These works before, during and after Modernism capture an essential and fundamental attribute of the period. Individualism played a huge role in the writings of Modernism and the modernist view of the individual. Modernism is “a general term applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature…of the early twentieth century” ( Baldick 212). The period as a whole was a "traumatic coming of age" for America. After the First World War, everything was changing in the lives of Americans, causing them to change radically too. People now rejected the ideas of the past and focused on different and better ways of doing things. New literary innovations began to occur, including Modernism. Modernism involved “a commitment to experimentation in techniques, freedom in ideas, originality in perceptions, and self-examination… half of paper… University Press, 2008. Print.Emerson, Ralph Waldo.” Self-Reliance." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton, 2013. 549-565. Print.Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print."Literary Modernism. " American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 3: 1920-1929. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 April 2014. Nederman, Cary J. "Individualism. " New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 1113-1117. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. March 25, 2014. Portis, Charles. True Grit. New York : The Overlook Press, 2012. Print. Quinn, Edward. “A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literature Network. April 7. 2014.