T.S. Eliot who lived during World War 1, witnessed the lost generation after it ended. After all of the soldiers came back, he saw how lost and broken many of them were, physically and mentally. Through the ponderment of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot is able to characterize him as an insecure and indecisive individual that repeatedly second-guesses himself throughout a single night. Eliot first demonstrates Prufrock’s indecisiveness with repetition. Throughout Prufrock’s journey in the night, he wonders whether or not he is not doing good for the world. While walking, Prufrock wonders “how should [he] presume” if he is “wriggling on the wall” and “should [he] then presume” if his “hair is growing thin” (Eliot 41-68). This quote basically explains …show more content…
During this scene, Prufrock reminisces upon his life in the past and how he lived through it. He thinks that he has has “measured out [his] life in coffee spoons” and that since he does not recognize the new culture like “the perfume from a dress,” he does not know “how [he] should begin” with his post-war life (Eliot 51-59). After all he has witnessed during his time serving, Prufrock feels as though he can not understand what is fully going on in this new time. Recognizing that he is falling behind the curve, he makes himself feel insecure and it makes him feel that he is getting too old. Due to Prufrock thinking like this, the insecurity leads to his indecision of carrying out what he wants to do. By not believing in himself, he has trouble in going through on what he wants to do. A while later, Eliot unfolds more of Prufrock’s personality. In this part, Eliot unravels a little bit about Prufrock’s time serving in World War I. He can still hear “the voices dying with a dying fall” and “the music from a farther room,” but still knows that it is impossible to have “decisions and revisions” for his past (Eliot 48-53). Prufrock here fears and thinks back on how bad it was to see all the death that he saw. While it seems like Prufrock has post war stress, this is also probably playing a part in his decision of not carrying out his plan. Since Prufrock is so traumatized by his time at war, he most likely
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is about a timid and downcast man in search of meaning, of love, and in search of something to break from the dullness and superficiality which he feels his life to be. Eliot lets us into Prufrock's world for an evening, and traces his progression of emotion from timidity, and, ultimately, to despair of life. He searches for meaning and acceptance by the love of a woman, but falls miserably because of his lack of self-assurance. Prufrock is a man for whom, it seems, everything goes wrong, and for whom there are no happy allowances. The emptiness and shallowness of Prufrock's "universe" and of Prufrock himself are evident from the very beginning of the poem. He cannot find it in himself to tell the woman what he really feels, and when he tries to tell her, it comes out in a mess. At the end of the poem, he realizes that he has no big role in life.
In his poem Eliot paints the picture of an insecure man looking for his niche in society. Prufrock has fallen in with the times, and places a lot of weight on social status and class to determine his identity. He is ashamed of his personal appearance and looks towards social advancement as a way to assure himself and those around him of his worth and establish who he is. Throughout the poem the reader comes to realize that Prufrock has actually all but given up on himself and now sees his balding head and realizes that he has wasted his life striving for an unattainable goal.
Prufrocks next thoughts tell of his old age and his lack of will to say what is on his mind. He mentions his bald spot in his hair and his thin arms and legs. This suggests that he knows he is growing old, and therefore contradicts what he had mentioned earlier in the poem about having plenty of time. Throughout the poem he is indecisive and somewhat aloof from the self-involved group of women. One part of him would like to startle them out of their frustratingly polite conversations and express his love for her, but to accomplish this he would have to risk disturbing their ?universe? and being rejected. He also mentions ?sprawling on a pin?, as though he pictures himself being pinned in place and viciously analyzed like that of an insect being literally pinned in place. The latter part of the poem captures his sense of overwhelming lack of willpower for failing to act daringly, not only at that tea party, but throughout his life.
For example in the poem he says, “…Time to turn back and descend the stair, With a bald spot in the middle of my hair- [They will say: “How his hair is growing so thin!] My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, My necklace rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin- [They will say:” But how his arms and legs are so thin!”]…” This quotation is an example of Prufrock overthinks situations. He wants to go to the party and ask a question but cannot stop thinking about if he will be judged by the people at the party because of his hair balding and thin body. But a typical person today would acknowledge the fact that the people who will attend the party will be concerned with the party they are attending rather than minor details on him. This is another instance where Prufrock is not typical of people today. People today do tend to over think things but Prufrock takes it to another level with overthinking about things normal people wouldn’t and allows it to affect each choice he makes even the simplest ones in his
In conclusion, after exploring the theme of this poem and reading it for myself, Eliot has created this persona, in industrialised England or somewhere else. A man of low self-esteem, you embark his journey as he struggles with a rational fear of being rejected by a woman. Which gives the reader sympathy to Prufrock, as he lives within his own personal
T.S. Eliot, a notable twentieth century poet, wrote often about the modern man and his incapacity to make decisive movements. In his work entitled, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'; he continues this theme allowing the reader to view the world as he sees it, a world of isolation and fear strangling the will of the modern man. The poem opens with a quoted passage from Dante's Inferno, an allusion to Dante's character who speaks from Hell only because he believes that the listener can not return to earth and thereby is impotent to act on the knowledge of his conversation. In his work, Eliot uses this quotation to foreshadow the idea that his character, Prufrock, is also trapped in a world he can not escape, the world where his own thoughts and feelings incapacitate and isolate him.
Eliot and Kafka characterize their respective characters as having negative self-images, a prior lack of success, and as being fundamentally lonely. Prufrock views himself as undesirable, and his self-image seems to grow worse with age. While Prufrock has the chance early on to make something of his life, he sits in a room, presumably one in which there is a display of artwork, and “the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” (ll. 13-14). Prufrock goes by unnoticed next to what could be the beautiful works of Michelangelo. It can especially be presumed that he feels inadequate next to the Statue of David, a sculpture for which Michelangelo is famous. As time goes on, his feelings of inadequacy increase when he begins to fear what others will think of his aged appearance, for “They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’” and “They will say: ‘But how his arms and legs are thin!’” (ll. 41, 44). Prufrock’s lack of self-confid...
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, the character Prufrock demonstrates his self pity caused by the fear of rejection by society. Prufrock also reveals anxiety and indecisiveness when encountering situations. Prufrock feels that society forces paralysis upon him, thereby stripping him of his individuality, restricting his independence and, in turn, producing all troubles encountered throughout his life. J. Alfred Prufrock consistently allows his feelings of inadequacy to prevent him from participating in social events. He feels that society judges him according to his place in the class system “...With a bald spot in the middle of my hair - [They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]” (40-41 T.S. Eliot).
T.S. Eliot has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. His poem“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is different and unusual. He rejects the logic connection, thus, his poems lack logic interpretation. He himself justifies himself by saying: he wrote it to want it to be difficult. The dissociation of sensibility, on the contrary, arouses the emotion of readers immediately. This poem contains Prufrock’ s love affairs. But it is more than that. It is actually only the narration of Prufrock, a middle-aged man, and a romantic aesthete , who is bored with his meaningless life and driven to despair because he wished but
As many men grow older they seem to question their life and the things in it as T.S Eliot shows, Prufrock is questioning even the simplest act of eating a peach. He sees that as he has been looking for love all this time as men before him have, he has lost sight of who he even
From the twentieth century modernism has established and expanded concepts that both progressed and clarified literature. Fragmentation, anxiety, hopelessness, and a sense of meaningless are all examples of modernism that can be used and are especially utilized in the works of T.S. Eliot who was very well known for use of modernism throughout his career. The poem's narrator, “Prufrock” suffers from anxiety and a hopeless heart considering the consequences he fears to face. The readers get an understanding of Prufrock’s thoughts as he suffers from social anxiety and discouragement pondering how his actions and thoughts don’t match others because of his age. Disturbing others and the peace is a fear for Prufrock who wonders, “Do I dare,
The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot, is the story of the life of a man. It tells of a man reminiscing over his life, regretting decisions that he made. Of a man who is thinking back on his life, and toward the end, it is told how the man is closely approaching death. He wants to be able to escape it, but alas, cannot, and, in the end, he dies. In The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot expresses a sense of regret using literary devices, such as imagery, metaphors, and allusion.
...ing line the eloquently depicts the act of daydreaming and having a quiet fantasy abruptly disturbed by reality (131-133). It is only in his ruminations that Prufrock can escape the demands of society and the expectation of rejection.
One of T.S. Eliot’s earliest poems, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is a prime example of a text that takes a turn inwards in terms of conveying the experience it presents. The poem provides a look into the distressed mind of an archetypal modern man of the times. It does this using the speaker’s stream of consciousness presented as a dramatic monologue. Prufrock, the poem’s speaker, seeks to advance his relationship with a woman who has caught his eye. He wonders if he has “the strength to force the moment to its crisis” (Eliot, 80). Prufrock is so entrenched in self-doubt that he is uncertain whether he is capable of having a relationship with this woman. His knowledge of the world he lives in and his circumstances keep him from attempting to approach this prospective lover. He contemplates the reasons for which he believes he cannot be with her and scolds himself for even thinking that it was possibl...
In this passage, it's clear that Prufrock desires a woman's attention but doesn't think he will ever have it. This pessimistic outlook gives no hope at all and is just depressing.