A portrayal of modernity in Latin America in 'Martin Rivas', by Alberto Blest-Gana

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how modernity emerged in nineteenth-century Latin America. The author Alberto Blest-Gana demonstrates modernity in his novel Martin Rivas.;Modernity in the nineteenth century brought an abundance of economic development, social life and politics as well many structural changes in Chilean identity. Modernity brought many changes to other countries and these changes were very noticeable in the novel Martin Rivas. Alberto Blest-Gana illustrates how this new world was changing people and how modernity was incorporated into their daily lives. His novel offers an optimistic representation of Chile's independence. It demonstrates modernity by representing the differences in social classes, social gatherings, fashion and the different power that different characters had in his novel. Thus, it can be concluded that Alberto Blest-Gana presents the immense representation of modernity in his novel by representing it through different situations.