The Beat Generation Ginsberg Analysis

Literature is an interesting way of viewing American society. After WWII the new American Poetry emerged, and one of the poetic movements was the Beat Generation. The Beat Generation, of which Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso were prominent members, was a group of students from Colombia University in New York City. They rejected materialism, followed Eastern spirituality like Buddhism, they were often homosexual so they stood for alternative forms of sexuality, and freedom from societal constraints. These poets went against mainstream culture, their drive was counterculture, and they believed that if there is conformity people have to be against it. Therefore, the work that was made by the Beats was criticizing conformity and consumerism after

It is a description of desperation and suffering of a group that does not belong in society. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” (Ginsberg 2367). He refers to the other poets of his time, he sees them as not belonging in society. He saw them as people who were thinking outside the box instead of thinking in consumerist terms. Ginsberg finds that the society moves in multiple directions and society does not recognize that. He uses the figure Moloch. “Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars!” (Ginsberg 2372). He wants to show the reader what America had done with

One of the critical points is the fact that there was a homosexual character that killed himself, Blanche’s late husband. In this period in time homosexuality was a taboo. It is not acceptable and it was regarded as a sin. Blanche was a widow because her husband committed suicide and that is not an ideal of family life. Furthermore, Blanche had dated younger men in her hometown Laurel, Mississippi where she was exiled. She lost her job because of this. This goes against the ideals of relationships in that time “Yes I had many intimacies with strangers. After the death of Allan—intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with” (Williams 118). After Blanche was sent away out of Laurel her only option was coming to New Orleans, where she has to face her true identity. With the depiction of Blanche by Tennessee Williams he wants to show a different side of relationships and family life. Blanche is controversial and not at all the ideal of family