A Literary Analysis Of Howl By Allen Ginsberg

1328 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Affects of social influences

A Cry to Society: A Literary Analysis of Howl by Allen Ginsberg
“If people believe it is real, it is real in its consequences.” -W.I. Thomas
Could there be people who are consciously aware about how they live and the way society shapes them? The quote that W.I. Thomas, in other words, means that when people think something is true, there will be consequences from that belief. For example, when I was young, these girls for some reason did not like who I was and began to spread rumors about me. Therefore, people believed them. Although I told people personally that the rumors were false, they still did not believe me and that was the consequence. With this example, it portrays how each day, people behave and interact with the environment around …show more content…

Throughout their fun and crazy adventure, they realize more what the world has to offer, opening their realistic minds. At this part of the poem, he begins to sound frustrated, confused, questioning the status quo. By line 65 and beyond, he begins talking about the time he spent in a psychiatric ward. Ginsberg wants people to know that someone like him, whose mind wandered over life’s truths, ends up at a madhouse. Why? Because he practiced Dadaism, a artistic art movement that opposed social, political, and cultural values, when he threw potato salad at a professor in CCNY. At this psychiatric ward, he was introduced to many therapies such as ping pong, shock therapy, and hydrotherapy. Also, his close friend, Carl Solomon, and Ginsberg’s mother was in a psychiatric ward, blamed for their insanity. For this, Ginsberg grew angry at …show more content…

That’s his belief. Of all the religions he mentions in Howl, he practices Buddhism, stated in line 64.
This good that he exclaims is in the footnote to Howl where he preaches “Holy! Holy! Holy!” (line 1). Everything is holy. This footnote is like Ginsberg’s own little prayer. Not those formal prayers that some would hear in a church. Ginsberg’s prayer is full of support, that all these happenings in the world is all bad but there is good to it. He wants readers and people to know that social injustice is inevitable and that it is alright. In part two he mentions that Moloch is evil, but in the footnote, he prays for the “Angel in Moloch.” Every little thing in the world, good or bad, it is holy.
Overall, what Ginsberg was trying to say is that we are ALL mad and crazy, but we are all also good. Ginsberg questions the human social actions throughout his journey with his friends, and wrote Howl to help others understand the social discrimination and chaos in the world. For me, I understand the reason behind the actions those bullies and their rumors have done to me, and that’s okay. It is a social truth, that society is unfair and cruel, also

Show More
Related

  • Comparing the Gettysburg Address and Ginsberg's America

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    The "Poet of the New Violence" On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg. Ed. Lewis Hyde. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984. 29-31.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

    2383 Words  | 5 Pages

    Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five Section One- Introduction Slaughterhouse-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut Junior, was published in 1968 after twenty-three years of internal anguish. The novel was a "progressive work" after Vonnegut returned from World War II. Why did it take twenty-three years for Kurt Vonnegut to write this novel?

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    By looking at Billy’s condition during the war, we can see that the war was not as glorious as the countries wanted you to think which at the time was not obvious. This adds a critical and significant point of view on the war to Vonnegut’s anti-war book. During WWII, the fighting countries didn’t want to show how terrible war really was, instead they showed images of patriotic men fighting in the war. In reality, these “men” were just kids out of high school and some from college, not ready to fight battles in a war. Vonnegut tries to show this in his book by inserting passages throughout Slaughter House Five, to help explain this to his readers. By describing Billy’s poor body structure and inadequate clothing and tools, one can clearly see

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis: Literary Analysis Of Kurt Vonnegut

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut, born on November 11, 1922, was an American writer. He was best known for his use of humor, science fiction, and satire in works such as Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut was born into a family of three and enlisted in the United States Army while in college at Cornell. A while later, on Mother’s Day, in 1944, Vonnegut discovered that his mother had committed suicide. That same year Vonnegut was assigned to a new combat unit and captured during the Battle of the Bulge while serving as a private with the 423rd Infantry Regiment (Bio). Throughout his stay as a prisoner of war he was able to take up a position as a leader but was soon revoked when he spoke out to the German guard. In February of 1945, Vonnegut witnessed the Allied firebombing of Dresden, which destroyed the city. Along with other American survivors, Vonnegut was one of the few that survived the bombing in an underground slaughterhouse meat locker. The German guards called the meat locker “Schlachthof Fünf” which translated to “Slaughterhouse Five" (Wiki). After the unforgettable experience of the bombing the name stuck with the building and was soon his inspiration for his famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five was Vonnegut’s novel written about the journey and experience of a young solider named Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut makes the biggest event in his novel the bombing of Dresden to make the novel a semi-autobiography because like Billy, Vonnegut experienced the horrible bombing personally. The main character, Billy Pilgrim portrays the experiences that Vonnegut went through while he was a suffering POW. It is clear after reading the novel and essay written by Vonnegut over a forty y...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Kurt Vonnegut's Writing Style

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many times it is easy for a reader to identify the specific writing style of a piece, but people rarely analyze how the style is communicated. Style can be communicated through tactics such as juxtaposition. The use of this tactic propels the author’s writing style and many times reveals an underlying message that the writer is attempting to convey to their audience. In Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut concerns himself with the issue of the destruction of free speech rights by the equal rights movement in the 1950’s and early 1960’s and communicates his feelings toward the issue through a satirical writing style and juxtaposition.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Lord of the Flies, Golding proves that fear draws out man’s inner evil and barbarism. Within the novel, Golding uses characterization of the boys and symbolism of the beast to show the gradual change from their initial civility to savagery and inhumanity. Learned civility, order and humanity become ultimately futile in the face of fear. The author teaches that without logic, fear consumes endlessly. He shows that fear clouds the mind, thus making it absolutely imperative to maintain reason and logic throughout life. Fear will always end in a fate worse than death for those who survive it.

    Read More

  • Choice and Direction in the Writings of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

    2862 Words  | 6 Pages

    Satire in American literature has evolved in response to the development of the American mind, its increasing use of free will, and the context that surrounds this notion.  Satire is the biting wit that authors (labeled satirists) bring to their literature to expose and mock the follies of society.  Satirists can be divided, however, into two groups with very different purposes.   One type  mocks simply for the enjoyment of mocking.  These satirists are found almost everywhere in the world, on every street corner, household, and television sitcom.  It is the second type of satirist who is a strong force in the world of literature.  The satirical author will mock to heighten the reader's awareness of the problems that threaten to destroy the world that they believe has so much potential. They do this with the hope that their satire will encourage others to better society.  "I have often hoped that the arts could be wonderfully useful in times of trouble" (32) says the writer who is perhaps the king of this second type of American satire, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.  Vonnegut uses his literature to help guide a disillusioned America, in which free will has been  fundamental since the writing of the Constitution.  As a humanist, Vonnegut uses the idea of free will as a constant motif in his writing. He believes that every soul has the freedom to do anything, but that the problem with society is that people lack  direction.  Free will, used as a  theme in Timequake, is an enormous responsibility. Acknowledging the free will that one has also involves accepting the responsibility that is necessary to use this privilege in a way that will benefit humanity.  In several essay...

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Whitman’s Song of Myself with Ginsberg’s Howl

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...erg’s lines are inwardly. The self of Whitman is all-encompassing but Ginsberg’s self is passive, lacking diversity by excluding rural settings. In short, Ginsberg’s Howl” is a journey through a different route to reality by leaving the doubts behind and taking the lead role of a public American poet-prophet, which Whitman only dreamt of in his life by composing poetry for an imagined audience.

    Read More

  • The Mind of Kurt Vonnegut

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Mind of Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut is one of the preeminent writers of the later half of the twentieth century. His works are all windows into his mind, a literary psychoanalysis. He examines himself as a cog in the corporate machine in "Deer in the Works"; as a writer through the eyes of Kilgore Trout in several works; and most importantly, as a prisoner of war in Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut created short stories and novels that dealt with events in his life. One of the most obvious self examinations is in "Deer in the Works".

    Read More

  • Cat's Cradle And Slaughterhouse Kurt Vonnegut Analysis

    1690 Words  | 4 Pages

    The meaning of religion can be different for everyone; some use it to justify events happening, while others use it to turn people against each other. As Kurt Vonnegut describes tragic events during World War II, unrealistic adventures in space and destructive scientific advances, he shares his unique perspective on life and religion. Although many of his works were set during 20th century, Vonnegut satirically addresses issues that are present in today’s society. Despite efforts to prevent wars, people have not found a solution to do it. And while mankind progresses toward scientific way of life, the destruction of life is inevitable. New machines are invented every day to make genocide easier and faster. So, in Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse

    Read More

  • Lunatics Taking Over the Asylum: Cultural Chaos in 1960s America

    7167 Words  | 15 Pages

    Homosexuality remained illegal in most parts of America until the 1960s, but Ginsberg refused to equate his Gay identity with criminality. He wrote about his homosexuality in almost every poem that he wrote, most specifically in ‘Many Loves’ (1956) and ‘Please Master’ (1968), his paeans to his errant lover Neal Cassady. Ginsberg’s poems are full of explicit sexual detail and scatological humour, but the inclusion of such details should not be interpreted as a childish attempt to incense the prudish and the square.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Francesca Lia Block's 'Wolf'

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Francesca Lia Block’s Wolf, displays a young girl struggle to over come and admit to escape her abusive home life. Throughout time women have struggled to escape the gruesome home life that they have to go through. Whether that be from the struggles of rape of men throwing them self on to the women, or from an abusive relationship in that man beating them. Although Block story is about the little girl story of overcoming the abusive relationship the little girl believes in so much more than that. Within the passage in the Wolf where the little girl discusses how she is not a victim by nature which represents block’s fear of women being blamed for being in abusive relationship. Throughout all of the passages she displays this courage to face the man and to protect her mother from every thing that she has to go through.

    Read More

  • "A Supermarket in California"

    1543 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California” criticizes America during the midst of the twentieth century, in which society had acquired an attitude that heavily valued the materialistic aspects of life. In order to efficiently express the speaker’s discontent with society, he paints images by using vivid detail throughout the entire poem to allow the reader to experience what the speaker experiences himself. He begins by describing the setting on the streets of California, “I walked down the sidestreets under the trees./. looking at the full moon” (2-3) and had thoughts of Walt Whitman, a nineteenth century poet whom Ginsberg deeply admired. The setting is essential as it describes the two worlds in which the speaker lives; one represented by the metropolitan landscape of downtown California and another represented by nature, which the speaker longs to be a part of.... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Spirituality in Howl by Allen Ginsberg

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" is a complex and intriguing poem about the divine in the common world. The minor themes of drugs and sexuality work together to illuminate the major theme of spirituality. The poem reveals through a multitude of sharp images and phrases that everything from drug use to homosexuality to mental illness is holy, even in a world of atom bombs and materialistic America, which Ginsberg considers not to be holy and he refers to as Moloch. As it is stated in Ginsberg's "Footnote To Howl," "The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is/ holy! The tongue and cock and hand and *censored* holy! / Everything is Holy! Everybody's holy! Everywhere is holy!" (3-5).

    Read More

  • Madness In Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl'

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ginsberg says that Moloch is a “sphinx of cement and aluminum”, a “heavy judger of men”, and “whose soul is electricity and banks” (line 79-85). All these can point towards higher powers such as the Government. Such things like government buildings, the law makers, and the banks that control all the money in our cities and states. This means that our government can be the Moloch in our lives just like how they were to Ginsberg. Ginsberg says that it is “Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy” and that it is Moloch in which he “wakes up in”. The word play used confirms that he is suffering by the hands of “Moloch”, the ridged and unchangeable false god that we sacrifice our very lives

    Read More

More about A Literary Analysis Of Howl By Allen Ginsberg

Open Document