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Allen Ginsberg Howl Analysis

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An atomic blast ended World War II, precipitating the subsequent Cold War and with it, a strong sense of disillusionment. As the prospect of communism created widespread panic and Joseph McCarthy took on the role of “Grand Inquisitor” for the House Un-American Activities Committee, Americans chose to continue the livelihood they had left off before the war began. It was expected that the younger generation would continue that tradition and focus their attentions on receiving a successful education, beginning work, and living principled lives that advocated for the nuclear family, later passing that lifestyle onto their own children. Conformity remained as the safest option, the prerequisite for good citizenship in the eyes of a post-war society. …show more content…

During this time, the nation experienced a public examination of its most adverse flaws, with the establishment of an ideal society perceived as the end result. This societal shift was most vividly reflected by Allen Ginsberg, with his notorious poem “Howl”, which was a cry of desperation against the heavy-handed conformism of the era and an affirmation of the glory of the human experience. Ginsberg begins his poem by writing, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” (Ginsberg), capturing the essence of what incited the Beat Movement, where the “best minds” referred to those figures whose unwillingness to conform had ostracized them from society. In order to adhere to this conviction, Beat writers commonly refused to promote inhibition and censoring of self expression in their work. With this in mind, Jack Kerouac, another leading figure of the Beat Movement, declared that one should “believe in the holy contour of life… [and have] no fear or shame in the dignity of [their] experience, language & knowledge” (You’re A Genius All The Time). Kerouac is famous for his solidifying of the chaotic Beatnik writing style, where the journey of his characters is mirrored by the fast pace and energetic nature of his sentences. (On The Road). His novel, On The Road, was a key element in relaying the Beat Movement values of free-spiritedness and unconventionality

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