Patrick Hughes's 'The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock'

Mason Cooley’s words, “the lonely [choose to] become either thoughtful or empty,” spoke of the fork in the road of the unconfident man’s life. The poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a work from T.S. Eliot written in the early 20th century, follows an aging man who has spent an entire lifetime to becoming the educated, successful man that fits the elite status quo. The technology of the 21th century gives people the opportunity to everything one might need at a touch of a button. Yet this still does not always give one the confidence to interact on a personal basic. Signs, a 2008 short film directed by Patrick Hughes, which brings to light the situational irony of being so close yet so far away. The protagonist Jason, much like Prufrock, is an educated man who has conformed to the rule of thumb modern society has placed. Whether in the years of probation or the modern day both cases display that the environment of the city has an ironic effect in the men’s lives. This effect along with others contributes to the loneliness of the men, although at different stages in life, have similar reasons to the solitude. Even though both have let the emptiness bring a fear to express personality, ultimately what separates each man is the choice whether or not to step off the path of indecision and pursue happiness. Therefore when solitude becomes one’s whole being, one can choose to let the isolation, loneliness and indecision take control or to break free and create happiness.

In life how one interacts with people is largely affected by one’s environment. The population difference between a rural or city setting, brings different challenges of interactions. For Prufrock and Jason the city population to be to a certain standard that t...

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...each out to meet her. Both men hold a fear of acceptance, but the difference is placed when in a situation to either create happiness or to stay within the comfort zone.
For all men alike, the pursue for happiness and the desire to be accepted is locked within the soul, but when solitude becomes one’s life, due to the loneliness, each man must choice to step out from under the safety blanket to joy or stay in the shadows. The urban environment that both men lived in pushed a need to conform to fit in. Conformity, caused by society, caused a lack of self-worth that brought empty loneliness to the lives of both men. But it was the choice and knowledge that happiness is achievable, that brought Jason to reach out, unlike Prufrock. Much to the words of Mason Cooley, each man will be placed with the ultimatum to move forward in life or to be held down by the emptiness.